Pilsner Urquell (; ) is a

lager Lager (; ) is a Type of beer, style of beer brewed and Brewing#Conditioning, conditioned at low temperature. Lagers can be Pale lager, pale, Amber lager, amber, or Dark lager, dark. Pale lager is the most widely consumed and commercially availab ...

beer brewed at

Asahi Breweries The is a Japanese beverage holding company headquartered in Sumida, Tokyo. In 2019, the group had revenue of JPY 2.1 trillion. Asahi's business portfolio can be segmented as follows: Alcoholic drink, alcoholic beverage business (40.5%), over ...

Pilsner Urquell Brewery Plzeňský Prazdroj, a. s. (; Pilsner Urquell Brewery) is a Czech brewery which opened in 1842 in Plzeň, Bohemia. It was the first brewery to produce a pale lager, branded as Pilsner Urquell, which became so popular and was so much copied tha ...

Plzeň Plzeň (), also known in English and German as Pilsen (), is a city in the Czech Republic. It is the Statutory city (Czech Republic), fourth most populous city in the Czech Republic with about 188,000 inhabitants. It is located about west of P ...

(German name: Pilsen),

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

. Pilsner Urquell was the world's first

pale lager Pale lager is a pale-to- golden lager beer with a well- attenuated body and a varying degree of noble hop bitterness. In the mid-19th century, Gabriel Sedlmayr took British pale ale brewing and malt making techniques back to the Spaten Bre ...

, and its popularity meant it was much copied, and named ''pils'', ''pilsner'' or ''pilsener''. It is hopped with Saaz hops, a noble hop variety that is a key element in its flavour profile, as is the use of soft water. Almost all draught Pilsner Urquell is sold filtered, but small quantities are available in limited amounts unfiltered. The majority of the beer is sold in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany and South Korea, it is also sold in China, Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, United States, Sweden, Hungary and Austria. In recent years, the unpasteurized "tank" version of the beer has become increasingly available. It is available in 330 ml, 355 ml and 500 ml aluminium cans and green or brown bottles. The brewery was part of the SABMiller group of companies from 1999 to 2017. As part of agreements with regulators before

Anheuser-Busch InBev Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, known as AB InBev, is an American-Belgian Multinational corporation, multinational Drink industry, drink and brewing company, brewing company based in Leuven, Belgium. It is the largest brewer in the world, and in 20 ...

was allowed to acquire SABMiller in 2016, Pilsner Urquell was sold to

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

-based

in 2017.

History

Pilsner Urquell was the first

, and the name ''

pilsner Pilsner (also pilsener or simply pils) is a type of pale lager. It takes its name from the Bohemian city of Plzeň (), where the world's first pale lager (now known as Pilsner Urquell) was produced in 1842 by Pilsner Urquell Brewery. History ...

'' is often used by its copies. It is characterised by its golden colour and clarity, and was immensely successful: nine out of ten beers produced and consumed in the world are pale lagers based on Pilsner Urquell. The German name, which means 'original source', was adopted as a trademark in 1898. By 1839, most beer in Bohemia was dark and top fermented. Nonetheless, bottom-fermented lagers were gaining popularity. The people of Plzeň preferred imported cheaper bottom-fermented beers to local top fermented ales. The burghers of Plzeň invested in a new, state-of-the art brewery, the ''Měšťanský pivovar'' (Burghers' Brewery), and hired Josef Groll, a Bavarian brewer, to brew a bottom-fermented beer. On 5 October 1842, Groll had a new mash ready and on 11 November 1842, the new beer was first served at the feast of St. Martin markets. The brewery registered ''Pilsner Bier B. B.'' name in 1859. In 1898, they also registered names ''Original Pilsner Bier 1842'', ''Plzeňský pramen'', ''Prapramen'', ''Měšťanské Plzeňské'', ''Plzeňský pravý zdroj'' and finally ''Pilsner Urquell'' and ''Plzeňský Prazdroj'', which are in use today. Pilsner Urquell is today brewed solely in the

brewery. It was brewed between 2002 and 2011 in

Tychy Tychy (Polish pronunciation: ; ) is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, approximately south of Katowice. Situated on the southern edge of the Upper Silesian industrial district, the city borders Katowice to the north, Mikołów to the west, Bie ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and between 2004 and 2017 in

Kaluga Kaluga (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Kaluga Oblast, Russia. It stands on the Oka River southwest of Moscow. Its population was 337,058 at the 2021 census. Kaluga's most famous residen ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

.Plzeň už opravdu jenom z Plzně. Výroba Prazdroje v Rusku skončila
/ref> File:Pilsner urquell mug.jpg, A mug of Pilsner Urquell File:Pilsner Urquell 330mL Bottle.jpg, left, up330 ml bottle of Pilsner Urquell File:A_bottle_of_Pilsner_Urquell.jpg, up500 ml bottle of Pilsner Urquell and a glass in a pub

References

External links

Official website Pilsner Urquell

Official website Plzeňský Prazdroj

Beer production chart: an interactive scheme of the Pilsner Urquell production

{{SABMiller Asahi brands Beer brands of the Czech Republic Beer in the Czech Republic Purveyors to the Imperial and Royal Court Products introduced in 1842 Plzeň

History

See also

References

External links