BEER CHRONICLES
An Interactive Beer History Timeline
CHRONICLES
An Interactive Beer History Timeline
Beer Storylines
Follow beer’s connected histories across styles, science, industry, and culture.
Follow beer’s connected histories across styles, science, industry, and culture.
April 18, 2026
On April 18, 2026, Christian Tille won the ninth Maisel & Friends hobbybrewing competition at HOME BREW Bayreuth with his Cold IPA, “Bavarian Olaf.” The jury selected…
March 2, 2026
On March 2, 2026, BrewDog’s principal UK business entered administration, and Tilray Brands acquired selected assets for £33 million through a pre-packaged sale. The…
March 14, 2025
On March 14, 2025, South Africa published amended regulations under the Liquor Products Act that established “Traditional African beer” as a separate legally defined…
2025
In 2025, Laura Weber and Lennart Köhl of the Saarbrücken-based craft brewery Zum WØL BrauArt won the title of World's Best IPA at the World Beer Awards with their beer…
August 9, 2023
On August 9, 2023, homebrewers Paul Schüßler, known as Friedies Brauhaus, and Florian Erdel, known as C.H.A.O.S. Homebrewing, launched the German-language Brautag…
May 23, 2023
On May 23, 2023, the Brewers Association announced that “Dessert or Pastry Stout” had been added to its Beer Style Guidelines. The new description defined beers in the…
2023
Max Senner, co-founder of the Ingolstadt brewery Yankee & Kraut, passed away in 2023 at the age of 34. Senner was known as the “Kraut” in the brewery’s name, while his…
September 14, 2022
In 2022, Seb’s Pale Ale from Kraft Bräu in Trier, Germany, won the gold medal in the European Beer Star category “English-Style Bitter.” Kraft Bräu reported that it was…
May 14, 2022
On May 14, 2022, the monks of Saint Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts, announced that Spencer Brewery would close. The abbey said that, after more than a year of…
April 2022
Linzer Bier returned to brewing in Linz in April 2022, when the Linzer Bier brewery opened in the former power plant of the city’s Tobacco Factory. The revival followed…
February 27, 2022
On February 27, 2022, days after Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Pravda Brewery in Lviv suspended its normal beer operations and redirected its…
2022
In 2022, homebrewers in Trier, Germany, formed Brewderschaft Trier, a loose association representing the homebrewing community of Germany’s oldest city. The group…
2022
In 2022, Sudden Death Brewing opened its own brewery and brewpub at the historic Gollan shipyard in Lübeck, Germany. The move gave founders Oliver “Olli” Schmökel and…
June 2021
In June 2021, a fire destroyed the warehouse and office of Sudden Death Brewing in Pönitz, Germany. Because the building contained asbestos-based Eternit panels,…
2021
In 2021, Zum WØL BrauArt was founded in Saarbrücken, Germany, by the creative partners Lennart and Laura. The brewery emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the…
January 2021
In January 2021, Achel lost the right to use the Authentic Trappist Product label for its beer after the last monks left Saint Benedict’s Abbey in Hamont-Achel, Belgium.…
2021
In 2021, Georg Fürst and Lukasz Wiacek began producing Fuerst Wiacek beer in their own brewery on Wohlrabedamm in Berlin-Siemensstadt. The opening gave the company a…
October 26, 2020
On October 26, 2020, Guinness launched Guinness 0.0 in Great Britain, introducing an alcohol-free version of its internationally recognized dry stout. Developed over…
2020
In 2020, German breweries and beer warehouses sold about 87 million hectoliters of beer, according to Germany’s Federal Statistical Office. The figure represented a 5.5…
2020
In 2020, Wayfinder Beer's Relapse IPA helped bring attention to Cold IPA, a new interpretation of India Pale Ale developed by brewmaster Kevin Davey in Portland, Oregon.…
2020
In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the brewing project later known as TRVRS began its first barrel-aging experiments in Trier, Germany. At the time, the project…
April 12, 2019
On April 12 and 13, 2019, Maisel & Friends held the first Home Brew Bayreuth at Maisel’s Bier-Erlebnis-Welt in Bayreuth, Germany. Created as a meeting place for the…
2019
Messorem is a craft brewery created by three friends — Marc-André Filion, Sébastien Chaput and Vincent Ménard — and opened in 2019 in the south-west of Montréal, Quebec,…
2019
In 2019, brewers Michał Gref and Kamil Dworczyński founded TankBusters with Aleksandra Garcon. Gref and Dworczyński had developed their skills through homebrewing and…
December 15, 2018
On December 15, 2018, Nikola Weiler opened the Craftprotz Kreativbierbar at Palaststraße 10 in Trier’s historic city center. Weiler, a trained brewmaster and beer…
October 2018
In October 2018, Michał Langier, Karol Mizielski, and Grzegorz Korcz founded Funky Fluid in Warsaw, Poland. The company began as a contract brewery, developing its…
March 20, 2018
MilestoneOn March 20, 2018, the Brewers Association added three “Juicy or Hazy” ale categories to its 2018 Beer Style Guidelines: Juicy or Hazy Pale Ale, Juicy or Hazy IPA, and…
2018
In 2018, Mount Saint Bernard Abbey in Leicestershire, England, began brewing Tynt Meadow, an English Trappist ale produced at the monastery. The abbey had installed a…
2018
In 2018, Benedikt Steger founded Blech.Brut as a craft-beer project in Bamberg, one of Germany’s most historically important beer cities. Steger had previously brewed…
2018
Le Ketch opened in Sainte-Flavie, Quebec, in the winter of 2018. The pub was established on the bank of the St. Lawrence River, while Le Ketch began brewing its own beer…
2018
In 2018, Norwegian homebrewer and software developer Thomas Gangsøy launched Brewfather. He developed the application after beginning to brew at home in 2015 and looking…
November 17, 2017
On November 17, 2017, Brasserie du Bas-Canada opened in Gatineau, Quebec. The brewery was founded by Gabriel Girard-Bernier and Marc-André Cordeiro-Lima, friends who had…
July 18, 2017
On July 18, 2017, Vadim Kamkalov opened Protokoll Taproom on Boxhagener Straße in Berlin-Friedrichshain. The bar began with twenty-four rotating taps and an…
June 27, 2017
On June 27, 2017, the Brewers Association introduced the Independent Craft Brewer Seal as a certification mark for eligible small and independent American breweries.…
May 12, 2017
On May 12, 2017, Heineken announced the international launch of Heineken 0.0, an alcohol-free version of its flagship lager. The product was introduced in fourteen…
2017
In 2017, Latvian craft-beer enthusiasts founded Ārpus Brewing Co. as an independent microbrewery. Its Latvian name means “outside,” “out of,” “beyond,” or “off limits,”…
2017
In 2017, Bill Shufelt and brewer John Walker founded Athletic Brewing Company in Connecticut to focus exclusively on non-alcoholic craft beer. Shufelt had stopped…
2017
In 2017, Gutshofbrauerei Das Freie in Rethmar added a Broyhan interpretation to its range, bringing Hannover’s historic beer style back into commercial production after…
2017
In 2017, Totenhopfen Brauhaus from Luxembourg moved from homebrewing to commercial brewing. The brewery describes itself as an independent craft-beer project from…
2017
Sudden Death Brewing was founded in 2017 by longtime friends Oliver “Olli” Schmökel and Jan Eric “Ricky” Nagel. Raised in Timmendorfer Strand on Germany’s Baltic coast,…
December 2016
In December 2016, Georg Fürst and Lukasz Wiacek scaled up one of their homebrew recipes at the CAMBA Old Factory in Gundelfingen an der Donau, Bavaria. Their first beer…
November 30, 2016
On November 30, 2016, UNESCO inscribed “Beer culture in Belgium” on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The recognition concerned…
August 25, 2016
Italy’s Law No. 154 of July 28, 2016, came into force on August 25, 2016, and introduced a legal definition of birra artigianale. Article 35 amended Italy’s earlier beer…
April 22, 2016
Anheuser-Busch InBev confirmed on April 22, 2016, that it would acquire Birra del Borgo, the Italian craft brewery founded by Leonardo Di Vincenzo in Borgorose. Reports…
February 25, 2016
On February 25, 2016, BrewDog released DIY Dog, a free digital collection containing detailed recipes for 215 beers from the brewery’s back catalog. The recipes were…
February 25, 2016
On February 25, 2016, friends Bryan France and Max Senner officially founded Yankee & Kraut in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. France, an American known as the “Yankee,”…
2016
In the winter of 2016, Augsburg brewers Enzo Frauenschuh and Matthias Gruber founded FrauGruber Brewing. The brewery’s name combines parts of their surnames: FRAUenschuh…
2016
In late 2016, Burley Oak Brewing Company in Berlin, Maryland, launched its J.R.E.A.M. series with Berry Cherry J.R.E.A.M. The name abbreviates “Juice Rules Everything…
2016
In 2016, brewer Nico Döring founded the company now known as Atelier VRAI under the name Atelier der Braukünste. It began at Romrod Castle in Hesse with a small…
2016
In 2016, Great Notion Brewing in Portland, Oregon, introduced Blueberry Muffin, a kettle-soured beer designed to reproduce the aroma and flavor of a freshly baked…
2016
In 2016, Camba Bavaria moved from its original site in Truchtlaching to the neighboring town of Seeon. The small brewpub in Truchtlaching had become too cramped, and the…
December 2015
In December 2015, Timo Thoennißen opened Straßenbräu on Neue Bahnhofstraße near Berlin’s Ostkreuz station. He had left a career in finance and converted a former…
October 1, 2015
On October 1, 2015, Noctem Artisans Brasseurs opened as a brewpub on Rue du Parvis in Quebec City’s Saint-Roch neighborhood. The brewery was founded by Jean-Michaël…
May 2015
In May 2015, the beer brewed by the monks of Tre Fontane Abbey in Rome was recognized as an Authentic Trappist Product. The recognition made Tre Fontane the first…
2015
In 2015, three friends with a shared interest in food, beer, and whisky opened BreWskey in Old Montreal. The original establishment combined pub food with a broad drinks…
2015
Italian Grape Ale entered the Beer Judge Certification Program style guidelines in 2015 as a local Italian beer style. The style combines beer with grapes, grape must,…
2015
Ritual Lab was founded in Formello, near Rome, in 2015. The brewery grew from the work of Giovanni Faenza and the Faenza family, after Roberto and Giovanni Faenza…
2015
In 2015, Swedish beer producer Omnipollo introduced Bianca Mango Lassi Gose. Inspired by the Indian yogurt-based mango lassi, the sour beer combined mango purée,…
2015
In 2015, Kees Bubberman opened Brouwerij Kees in his hometown of Middelburg in the Netherlands. Bubberman had previously been a passionate homebrewer before beginning…
2015
In 2015, Georg Fürst and Lukasz Wiacek began brewing together in Wiacek’s kitchen in Berlin. The two had met at a bouldering gym and shared an interest in whiskey. After…
2015
CRAK Brewery opened its own brewery in Campodarsego, near Padua, in 2015. The brewery describes itself as a completely independent craft and farm brewery and says that…
October 18, 2014
On October 18, 2014, Kraft Bräu held the first Trier Beer Festival at Blesius Garten in Trier-Olewig. The inaugural event brought breweries and beer enthusiasts together…
August 25, 2014
On August 25, 2014, New Zealand company Imake released the Grainfather to the public after presenting the all-in-one brewing system at Beervana in Wellington. Developed…
July 2, 2014
On July 2, 2014, Anheuser-Busch InBev announced that it had acquired the operating Samson brewery in České Budějovice, the Czech city historically known in German as…
February 2014
In February 2014, homebrewer Marshall Schott launched Brülosophy as a website for publishing and discussing the results of brewing experiments. Schott had begun…
2014
In 2014, Katharina Kurz, Christian Laase, and brewmaster Michael Lembke founded BRLO in Berlin. The company entered the market with its first beer in early November…
December 11, 2013
On December 11, 2013, Zundert received approval to use the Authentic Trappist Product logo for its beer. The beer was brewed at Maria Toevlucht Abbey in the Netherlands…
December 10, 2013
On December 10, 2013, Spencer Trappist Ale from Saint Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts, was awarded the Authentic Trappist Product designation. The recognition…
November 2013
In November 2013, Riegele presented a range of eight brewing specialties developed by Sebastian Priller-Riegele and brewmaster Frank Müller. The collection expanded the…
October 18, 2013
EurHop Beer Festival began in Rome on October 18, 2013, with its first edition running from October 18 to 20 at the Salone delle Fontane in the EUR district. The event…
July 1, 2013
On July 1, 2013, a Mississippi law permitting adults to make beer at home for personal, family, domestic, or household use took effect. Mississippi was the final state…
January 22, 2013
On January 22, 2013, the General Court of the European Union dismissed challenges brought by the Czech brewery Budějovický Budvar against the registration of several…
2013
In 2013, Alexander Himburg’s Amarsi India Pale Ale received five stars and the designation “world-class beer” in a blind tasting of more than 80 domestic and…
2013
In 2013, the monks of Maria Toevlucht Abbey in Zundert, the Netherlands, began brewing Trappist beer at Brouwerij De Kievit. The first beer was launched as Zundert…
November 23, 2012
On November 23, 2012, Trierer Petrusbräu introduced its locally brewed beer in Trier. The small brewery was founded by four partners who sought to establish another…
2012
In 2012, Jeff Maisel created Maisel & Friends with a group of friends in Bayreuth, Bavaria. The project introduced creative interpretations of international beer styles…
2012
In 2012, the Dutch company Lightweight Containers introduced a new generation of KeyKeg featuring an inner beverage bag and double-wall PET construction. The beer…
2012
In 2012, St. Bernardus produced a one-off beer called Tokyo to mark the opening of Brasserie St. Bernardus, the first St. Bernardus-themed café in the Japanese capital.…
2012
In 2012, former chefs Sanne Slijper and Martijn Disseldorp began Two Chefs Brewing in Amsterdam. They started with a homemade brewing system and applied their culinary…
2012
In 2012, the Bayreuth brewery Gebr. Maisel launched Maisel & Friends as a modern beer-specialty and craft-beer brand. The project connected the long family history of…
November 11, 2011
On November 11, 2011, Julia and Oliver Wesseloh signed the founding declaration for Kehrwieder. The declaration formalized their plan to establish a brewery that became…
May 1, 2011
On May 1, 2011, Anheuser-Busch completed its acquisition of Chicago-based Goose Island Beer Company, legally organized as Fulton Street Brewery LLC. The agreement had…
2011
In 2011, Mario Hanel and Timm Schnigula founded the brewery that became CREW Republic in Munich. The two former work colleagues began brewing on a home-brewing system in…
2011
In 2011, an international research team led by Diego Libkind isolated and described the wild yeast Saccharomyces eubayanus from forests in northwestern Patagonia,…
October 22, 2010
On October 22, 2010, Greg Avola and Tim Mather launched Untappd as a social platform for beer drinkers. The two founders had developed the idea during the summer of…
September 23, 2009
Open Baladin Roma opened on Via degli Specchi in Rome on September 23, 2009. Baladin describes the venue as the flagship of the Open project, located in the historic…
April 13, 2009
On April 13, 2009, Easter Monday, brewmaster Martin Matuška founded the Matuška Brewery in Broumy and brewed its first batch, a special dark lager. Matuška had worked in…
2009
In 2009, BrewDog launched Equity for Punks, an equity-crowdfunding program through which members of the public could buy shares in the Scottish brewery. Rather than…
November 6, 2008
On November 6, 2008, České pivo became a Protected Geographical Indication in the European Union when Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1014/2008 entered into force. The…
2008
In 2008, Markus Lohner founded Camba Bavaria in an old mill on the banks of the Alz in Truchtlaching. It initially served as a showroom for his brewery-equipment company…
April 2007
In April 2007, James Watt and Martin Dickie founded BrewDog in Fraserburgh, a fishing town in northeastern Scotland. Both founders were 24 years old. They leased a…
April 2007
In April 2007, the newly founded Scottish brewery BrewDog produced the original version of Punk IPA. Created by James Watt and Martin Dickie as their interpretation of…
2007
In 2007, Schneider Weisse and Brooklyn Brewery collaborated on two versions of Hopfenweisse. Georg Schneider VI, Schneider brewmaster Hans-Peter Drexler, and Brooklyn…
2007
In 2007, the Hop Breeding Company released Citra, officially designated HBC 394, as a new American aroma-hop variety. The plant originated from a controlled cross made…
2007
In 2007, American brewmaster Teri Fahrendorf founded the Pink Boots Society during a 139-day guest-brewing journey across the United States. As she visited breweries,…
October 2006
Teo Musso of Baladin and the Italian beer expert Lorenzo Dabove, known as Kuaska, developed the TeKu glass in October 2006. Baladin explains that the name TeKu comes…
2006
In 2006, Warsteiner became one of the first German breweries to market a beer explicitly as containing 0.0 percent alcohol. Warsteiner Premium Alkoholfrei 0.0 entered…
2006
In 2006, brewer Fred Karm founded Hoppin' Frog Brewery in Akron, Ohio. Karm had begun homebrewing in 1994 and entered professional brewing in 1996 before establishing a…
2006
In 2006, Mikkel Borg Bjergsø established Mikkeller in Copenhagen without building a permanent production brewery. Instead, Mikkeller developed recipes and brewed them…
2006
In 2006, Oskar Blues Brewery first brewed Ten FIDY at its brewpub in Lyons, Colorado. The imperial stout was built from large quantities of two-row malt, chocolate malt,…
2005
Around 2005, Australian homebrewers including Patrick Hollingdale began systematically documenting and promoting Brew in a Bag, commonly abbreviated BIAB. Earlier…
March 6, 2004
On March 6, 2004, the first Zythos BierFestival opened in the Stadsfeestzaal in Sint-Niklaas, Belgium. The two-day festival was organized by Zythos, the recently…
2004
In 2004, the Beer Judge Certification Program introduced “American Wheat or Rye Beer” as a new style in its revised guidelines. The definition distinguished these beers…
2004
In 2004, the Beer Judge Certification Program included Imperial IPA as subcategory 14C in its beer style guidelines, placing it within Category 14, India Pale Ale. The…
2004
In 2004, the first European Beer Star competition was held in Germany. Created by the association Private Brauereien Bayern, the competition was intended to recognize…
2004
In 2004, HomebrewTalk was founded as an online discussion forum for homebrewers. The community developed dedicated sections for brewing beer, wine, mead, and cider, as…
2003
In 2003, Scottish brewer Dougal Gunn Sharp launched Innis & Gunn Original, an oak-matured golden beer whose development began with an unusual whisky project. William…
2003
In 2003, Lervig Aktiebryggeri was founded in Stavanger, Norway, as a local response to the closure of Tou Brewery and the transfer of Tou beer production away from the…
2003
In 2003, German manufacturer Speidel introduced the original concept behind the Braumeister, a compact stainless-steel brewing system developed for hobby and home…
2003
In 2003, John and Jen Kimmich opened The Alchemist as a brewpub in Waterbury, Vermont, and John Kimmich first brewed Heady Topper during the brewery's early period. The…
November 2002
In November 2002, Oskar Blues Brewery in Lyons, Colorado, began packaging Dale’s Pale Ale in aluminum cans. Founder Dale Katechis had acquired a small tabletop canning…
June 1, 2002
On June 1, 2002, the United Kingdom introduced reduced beer-duty rates for independent small breweries through the Finance Act 2002. The system, officially known as…
2002
In 2002, Founders Brewing Company brewers Jeremy Kosmicki and Nate Walser created Breakfast Stout on a one-barrel pilot system at the brewery in Grand Rapids, Michigan.…
2001
In 2001, Erdinger Weißbräu repositioned Erdinger Alkoholfrei as an isotonic thirst quencher for athletes. Rather than presenting the alcohol-free wheat beer primarily…
2000
In 2000, Bill Buchanan founded RateBeer as an online forum where beer drinkers could exchange information and publish ratings and reviews. Beer writer Josh Oakes joined…
October 16, 1999
On October 16, 1999, Privatbrauerei Ayinger opened its newly constructed brewery in Aying, Bavaria. Franz Inselkammer II had initiated the project to replace the older…
September 9, 1999
On September 9, 1999, the historic Ritterguts Gose tradition was formally revived after an interruption of more than fifty years. Homebrewer Tilo Jänichen had begun…
1999
MilestoneIn 1999, Russian River Brewing Company first brewed Pliny the Elder at its original Korbel Winery location in Guerneville, California. The beer was created by Vinnie…
1999
By 1999, Vienna Lager was already present in the Beer Judge Certification Program style materials as a recognized beer style. In the 1999 BJCP guide, it appeared as…
September 28, 1998
After the closure of Löwenbrauerei, Trier was left without a local brewery of comparable visibility. Restaurateur Hans-Werner Kraft and his managing director Klaus…
July 18, 1998
On July 18, 1998, “Münchener Bier” was registered in the European Union as a Protected Geographical Indication under Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1549/98. The…
1998
In 1998, Belgian Beer Weekend was established to highlight Belgium’s brewing heritage. Held on the Grand-Place in Brussels, the annual festival brings together…
November 25, 1997
On November 25, 1997, Kölsch became a Protected Geographical Indication under European law. Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2325/97, adopted on November 24 and published…
November 21, 1997
On November 21, 1997, Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2301/97 entered into force and registered several traditional Belgian beer names in the European Register of…
October 19, 1997
On October 19, 1997, HORAL organized the first Toer de Geuze in Belgium’s Pajottenland and Senne Valley. Six Lambic producers and Gueuze blenders—3 Fonteinen, Boon, De…
1997
MilestoneIn 1997, the International Trappist Association introduced the Authentic Trappist Product label to identify products made according to strict Trappist criteria. For…
1997
MilestoneIn 1997, the Beer Judge Certification Program published its first formal set of style guidelines. Derived from earlier New England homebrew guidelines, the document…
1997
In 1997, Korbel Champagne Cellars founded Russian River Brewing Company at its winery in Guerneville, California. Vinnie Cilurzo was hired as brewmaster and initially…
1997
In 1997, eight Trappist abbeys founded the International Trappist Association to protect the Trappist name from commercial misuse. The founding abbeys included six…
1997
In 1997, producers of traditional Lambic established HORAL, the High Council for Artisanal Lambic Beers, in Belgium. The association was formed following the publication…
July 1996
Le Baladin became a brewpub in Piozzo, in the Langhe area of Piedmont, in July 1996. Baladin’s history states that beer was then produced and directly sold on site, with…
April 3, 1996
Birrificio Italiano opened to the public in Lurago Marinone, near Como, on April 3, 1996. Agostino Arioli had founded the project in 1994, and the brewery began with a…
April 1996
MilestoneIn April 1996, an international research consortium released the complete genome sequence of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The project involved more than 600 scientists…
1996
Tipopils was first brewed by Birrificio Italiano in 1996. Birrificio Italiano describes the beer as born in 1996 and as the first dry-hopped pils in the world, while the…
1996
MilestoneIn 1996, the first World Beer Cup was held in Vail, Colorado. Developed by the Association of Brewers, a predecessor of today’s Brewers Association, the competition…
1996
In 1996, Adam Firestone and David Walker introduced Double Barrel Ale as the first beer produced by Firestone Walker Brewing Company in California’s Santa Ynez Valley.…
1996
In 1996, brothers Todd and Jason Alström launched the website that later became BeerAdvocate. Originally called BrewGuide, the early site published the brothers’ own…
1996
In 1996, Brouwerij Bosteels in Buggenhout, Belgium, launched Tripel Karmeliet. Antoine Bosteels had spent approximately three years developing the strong golden ale,…
1996
Birrificio Lambrate was founded in Milan’s Lambrate district in 1996. The brewery’s own history states that, when it first poured beer in 1996, it had three partners,…
1995
In 1995, North Coast Brewing Company in Fort Bragg, California, released Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout. The brewery presented the beer as an American…
1995
MilestoneIn 1995, Goose Island Beer Company in Chicago created the beer that became Bourbon County Stout. The idea followed an October 1994 beer, bourbon, and cigar dinner…
1995
In 1995, Goose Island opened its Fulton Street Brewery in Chicago, Illinois, US — a dedicated commercial production facility built to keep pace with surging demand for…
June 23, 1994
On June 23, 1994, Vinnie Cilurzo brewed Inaugural Ale as the first beer made at Blind Pig Brewery in Temecula, California. Cilurzo later described the beer as his first…
June 16, 1994
On June 16, 1994, the first Mondial de la bière opened on the Esplanade of Place des Arts in Montréal. Vincent Blair, Pierre Lalumière, and Jeannine Marois founded the…
March 1, 1993
In 1890, Friedrich Mohr took over the Trierische Actienbrauerei — a brewery that had sat idle since 1887 — nestled in Trier's Gartenfeld district along Bergstraße, at…
1993
In 1993, retired brewmaster Andreas Wagenführer resumed the production of Goslarer Gose at the Gosebrauhaus Goslar-Oker. Gose brewing in Goslar had largely disappeared…
1992
In 1992, British grain merchants H. Banham Ltd and Robin Appel Ltd acquired the exclusive rights to market Maris Otter barley. Once widely grown for brewing, the variety…
1992
In 1992, the license agreement between Saint-Sixtus Abbey at Westvleteren and the brewery in Watou expired for good. St. Bernardus had brewed and commercialized the…
1992
During the Siege of Sarajevo, which began in 1992, the city’s public water system was repeatedly disrupted and access to safe drinking water became a daily struggle.…
October 26, 1991
On October 26, 1991, Stanislav Bernard, Josef Vávra, and Rudolf Šmejkal purchased the bankrupt brewery in Humpolec at an auction held under Czechoslovakia’s…
1991
In 1991, Westmalle renovated its brewery, continuing a long pattern of technical modernization inside one of Belgium’s oldest Trappist brewing traditions. The renovation…
1990
The story of Caspary-Brauerei begins with Johann Baptist Caspary (1796–1885). Having honed his craft at a brewery and vinegar works in Bernkastel, he founded his own…
December 19, 1989
On December 19, 1989, the British government completed a pair of statutory instruments commonly known as the Beer Orders. The measures responded to a Monopolies and…
July 1988
In July 1988, the first Oregon Brewers Festival was held at Tom McCall Waterfront Park in Portland. Art Larrance, cofounder of Portland Brewing Company, helped create…
1988
In 1988, John Hall opened the Goose Island Brewpub on Clybourn Avenue in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood. Inspired by the variety of beer he had encountered while…
1988
In 1890, Friedrich Mohr took over the Trierische Actienbrauerei — a brewery that had sat idle since 1887 — nestled in Trier's Gartenfeld district along Bergstraße, at…
1988
In 1988, Alaskan Brewing Company in Juneau introduced Alaskan Smoked Porter. Rather than reproduce a Bamberg Rauchbier directly, the brewery combined a porter base with…
March 12, 1987
On March 12, 1987, the European Court of Justice ruled against the Federal Republic of Germany in Commission v Germany. German law reserved the designation Bier for…
1987
In 1987, Carol Stoudt established Stoudts Brewing Company in Adamstown, Pennsylvania. She created a 30-barrel brewhouse alongside the family’s existing restaurant and…
1987
In 1987, the Great American Beer Festival introduced a formal judged competition alongside its public tasting festival. Before then, the festival had used a consumer…
May 13, 1986
On May 13, 1986, Lothar Goldhahn reopened the restored Gosenschenke “Ohne Bedenken” in Leipzig. The historic Gose tavern had originally been established by Carl Cajeri…
1986
In 1986, Widmer Brothers Brewing in Portland, Oregon, introduced Hefeweizen by serving its filtered Weizenbier without removing the yeast and haze. Brothers Kurt and Rob…
June 25, 1985
On June 25, 1985, the competition rules known as the Kölsch Convention were published in Germany’s Federal Gazette after recognition by the Federal Cartel Office.…
May 31, 1985
MilestoneOn May 31, 1985, the Beer Judge Certification Program held its first examination during the American Homebrewers Association conference in Estes Park, Colorado. The BJCP…
September 1984
In September 1984, Charlie Papazian published The Complete Joy of Homebrewing through Avon Books. The practical guide introduced readers to brewing ingredients,…
December 28, 1983
On December 28, 1983, Belgium repealed and replaced the Vandervelde Law, formally ending the alcohol regime introduced on August 29, 1919. Promoted by Minister of…
1983
In 1983, Bert Grant's Yakima Brewing and Malting Company in Yakima, Washington released Grant's India Pale Ale. The beer appeared early in the American craft beer…
August 27, 1982
On August 27, 1982, brothers-in-law Pierre Gobron and Chris Bauweraerts brewed the first batch of La Chouffe in Achouffe, a small village in the Belgian Ardennes. The…
July 1, 1982
On July 1, 1982, Bert Grant opened Yakima Brewing and Malting Company in Yakima, Washington. The brewpub operated in Yakima's historic Opera House and is widely…
June 4, 1982
MilestoneOn June 4, 1982, the first Great American Beer Festival was held at the Harvest House Hotel in Boulder, Colorado. Charlie Papazian and Daniel Bradford organized the…
1982
In 1982, Gaston Debelder and Raymonde Dedoncker transferred the 3 Fonteinen family business in Beersel to their sons, Armand and Guido. Armand took responsibility for…
December 22, 1981
On December 22, 1981, Germany introduced the requirement to print a Mindesthaltbarkeitsdatum, or best-before date, on beer packaging. The measure formed part of a…
1981
In 1981, anthropologist Mahir Saul published a study of sorghum-beer production and trade in rural Upper Volta, now Burkina Faso. His research showed that women malted…
November 15, 1980
MilestoneOn November 15, 1980, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. brewed the first batch of its flagship Sierra Nevada Pale Ale in Chico, California. Ken Grossman and Paul Camusi had…
1980
In 1980, a group including brothers Kris and Jo Herteleer took over an unused brewery in Esen, West Flanders, and established De Dolle Brouwers. Their first beer was…
May 5, 1979
On May 5, 1979, the American Homebrewers Association held its first National Homebrew Competition and Gala Homebrewers Ball in Boulder, Colorado. Twenty-four homebrewers…
1979
MilestoneIn 1979, Frankfurt’s Binding Brewery launched Clausthaler, an alcohol-free beer developed specifically to acquire its flavor while producing very little alcohol. Unlike…
December 7, 1978
MilestoneOn December 7, 1978, Charlie Papazian and Charlie Matzen founded the American Homebrewers Association in Boulder, Colorado. The organization was launched through the…
October 14, 1978
MilestoneOn October 14, 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed H.R. 1337 into law as Public Law 95-458. The legislation amended the Internal Revenue Code by exempting beer produced…
1978
In 1978, Jean-Pierre Van Roy and Cantillon established the Brussels Gueuze Museum inside the family’s working brewery in Anderlecht. Conceived as a living museum, it…
1978
In the summer of 1978, the Campaign for Real Ale held its first Beer of the Year competition at the second Great British Beer Festival, staged at Alexandra Palace in…
1977
MilestoneIn 1977, British beer writer Michael Jackson published The World Guide to Beer. Rather than treating beers only as isolated brands or broad types, Jackson organized…
1977
In 1977, the Campaign for Real Ale held the first event formally known as the Great British Beer Festival at Alexandra Palace in London. It followed CAMRA’s successful…
April 18, 1975
On April 18, 1975, Anchor Brewing in San Francisco first brewed Liberty Ale to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Paul Revere's ride. Developed under Fritz Maytag, the…
1975
In 1975, Miller Brewing launched Miller Lite nationally with an intensive advertising campaign built around the contrasting promises of great beer taste and a less…
1972
In 1972, Anchor Brewing in San Francisco first brewed Anchor Porter under owner and brewmaster Fritz Maytag. It was the brewery’s first new beer style after Maytag had…
1972
In 1972, brewmaster Ulrich Wappler and his colleagues at the state-owned VEB Engelhardt brewery in Berlin-Stralau developed AUBI, short for Autofahrerbier, or “motorist…
1972
In 1972, the United States Department of Agriculture released Cascade, an aroma hop developed through its breeding program at Oregon State University in Corvallis. The…
1971
MilestoneOn March 16, 1971, four beer enthusiasts—Michael Hardman, Graham Lees, Bill Mellor, and Jim Makin—founded the Campaign for the Revitalisation of Ale while on vacation in…
1971
In 1971, Fuller, Smith & Turner launched ESB at the Griffin Brewery in Chiswick, London. The beer developed from an earlier seasonal strong ale and replaced Old Burton…
1970
In 1970, Diebels brewery in Issum began concentrating its production on top-fermented beer and developed an Altbier-specialist strategy. Until then, the formerly…
1966
In 1966, Pierre Celis began brewing witbier in a small brewery in Hoegaarden, Belgium. Celis had assisted at the local Tomsin brewery in his youth and retained…
1966
In 1966, the British Plant Breeding Institute released Maris Otter, a two-row winter barley variety developed under the direction of plant breeder Dr. G. D. H. Bell. The…
1966
In 1966, the small Friedrich Wurzler brewery in Leipzig closed. Wurzler had revived Gose production in 1949 using knowledge and a recipe associated with the former…
1965
Around 1965, Bavarian Weissbier began a major revival after more than a century of declining demand. During the 1950s and early 1960s, wheat beer had accounted for less…
March 15, 1963
On March 15, 1963, Guinness filled and dispatched its last wooden beer cask from the St. James’s Gate brewery in Dublin. Wooden casks had been used to condition, store,…
1960s
In the late 1960s, the Moortgat family introduced a distinctive tulip-shaped glass for serving Duvel. The brewery wanted a unique glass for its flagship beer, large…
1960
In 1960, the Genesee Brewing Company introduced Genesee Cream Ale in Rochester, New York. Brewmaster Clarence Geminn developed the beer as a replacement for the…
1959
MilestoneIn 1959, Guinness launched Guinness Draught, the world’s first commercially released nitrogenated beer, during the brewery’s bicentennial year. The system emerged from…
1957
In 1957, Brouwerij Tomsin, the last brewery in Hoegaarden still producing the town’s traditional white beer, ceased production. Hoegaarden had been closely associated…
November 11, 1954
Ken Grossman was born on November 11, 1954, in the Los Angeles area of California. Fascinated by fermentation from an early age, he began homebrewing in 1969 after…
1952
In 1952, Cyrille Nys, abbot of Notre-Dame de Leffe, and brewer Albert Lootvoet agreed to revive the abbey’s brewing tradition. Rather than rebuilding a working brewery…
1950s
By the mid-twentieth century, traditional India Pale Ale had lost much of the strength, export identity, and prestige it had held during the nineteenth century. The…
1950s
During the 1950s, bitter overtook mild as Britain’s leading draught ale. Mild had long been the dominant everyday pub beer, especially in industrial districts, but…
1949
In 1949, Leipzig brewmaster Friedrich Wurzler resumed Gose production in a small brewery on Arthur-Hoffmann-Straße. Wurzler had previously worked at the Rittergut…
1949
In 1949, the European Brewery Convention established an Analysis Committee to coordinate brewing-analysis methods used in its participating countries. European…
1946
In 1946, the monks of Saint-Sixtus Abbey at Westvleteren licensed Evarist Deconinck to brew and market their Trappist beers at the St. Bernardus site in Watou. St.…
October 24, 1945
On October 24, 1945, Czechoslovak president Edvard Beneš issued Decree No. 101/1945 on the nationalization of selected food-industry enterprises. The decree included…
1945
In 1945, Georg Schneider IV prepared G. Schneider & Sohn to continue brewing after the destruction of its Munich production facilities during the Second World War. He…
1945
In 1945, after the end of the Second World War, the Rittergut Döllnitz was expropriated by the Soviet occupation authorities. Its brewery equipment was dismantled in…
September 9, 1940
On September 9, 1940, Whitbread brewed its final batch of porter at the Chiswell Street Brewery in London. The brew took place while air-raid sirens sounded during the…
December 9, 1937
Frederick Louis “Fritz” Maytag III was born on December 9, 1937, in Des Moines, Iowa. He was a member of the Maytag family and later became one of the central figures in…
October 26, 1937
On October 26, 1937, the United States Patent Office granted Richard T. Cornelius Patent No. 2,097,020 for a beer-dispensing device. Cornelius had founded the Cornelius…
1936
In 1936, Schlenkerla owner Michael Graser had a new brewhouse constructed on Stephansberg in Bamberg, on the site of the brewery’s former beer cellar and beer garden.…
August 29, 1935
On August 29, 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Federal Alcohol Administration Act, creating a permanent federal framework for regulating the…
January 24, 1935
MilestoneOn January 24, 1935, Krueger’s Finest Beer and Krueger’s Cream Ale became the first beers sold commercially in cans. The Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company of Newark, New…
1935
Around 1935, Schlenkerla and Brauerei Spezial became the only breweries in Bamberg still producing Rauchbier through the city’s traditional method. Both breweries…
1934
In 1934, scientists representing the American brewing and malting industries began the cooperative work that created the American Society of Brewing Chemists. At a…
1934
In 1934, the monks of the Abbaye Sainte Marie du Mont des Cats sold their Belgian property in Watou to Evarist Deconinck. The site had been used as a refuge and…
1934
MilestoneIn 1934, Westmalle brewed the strong golden beer that later became known as Westmalle Tripel. The beer was first known as Superbier, or "super beer," and was connected…
December 5, 1933
MilestoneOn December 5, 1933, the Twenty-first Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, repealing the Eighteenth Amendment and ending National Prohibition after nearly…
April 7, 1933
On April 7, 1933, the Cullen–Harrison Act took effect in the United States, permitting the manufacture and sale of beer and light wine containing no more than 3.2…
April 7, 1933
On April 7, 1933, Anheuser-Busch introduced the Budweiser Clydesdales when August A. Busch Jr. presented a hitch of the horses to his father, August A. Busch Sr., to…
1932
In 1931, a new brewery was installed at Orval to help finance the reconstruction of the abbey, and in 1932 Orval beer was shipped for the first time. The modern brewery…
February 1929
In February 1929, Guinness launched its first official advertising campaign in the British national press. Created with the London advertising agency S. H. Benson, the…
1926
In 1926, the de Harenne family offered the ruins of Orval and the surrounding land to the Cistercian Order so that monastic life could be re-established there. Dom…
1926
In 1926, members of the German Brewers Association founded the Society for Hop Research in response to the spread of hop downy mildew, commonly known as Peronospora. The…
1926
In 1926, Brouwerij Artois introduced Stella Artois in Leuven as a pale, bottom-fermented lager. Its arrival reflected the growing popularity of pilsner-type beer in…
October 25, 1925
On October 25, 1925, Cervecería Modelo opened in Tacuba, Mexico, and served Negra as its first Modelo beer. Modelo’s own history describes Negra, later known as Negra…
1923
In 1923, Brouwerij Moortgat in Breendonk began producing the beer that became known as Duvel. Albert and Victor Moortgat had developed the strong, top-fermented beer…
1922
In 1922, Westmalle began using a dark caramelized sugar syrup, also known as candi sugar, in its Dubbel. The addition made the beer stronger without making its body…
1921
In 1921, Westmalle beer moved beyond small-scale abbey-gate sales and entered the general marketplace. The Oxford Companion to Beer describes this as the first time beer…
1921
In 1921, Belgian researchers Henri Kufferath and Marc H. Van Laer published studies of yeasts isolated from Lambic beer. They identified organisms with characteristics…
January 17, 1920
When National Prohibition took effect in the United States on January 17, 1920, the Volstead Act defined beverages containing more than 0.5 percent alcohol as…
January 17, 1920
MilestoneOn January 17, 1920, the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution took effect, beginning nationwide Prohibition. Ratified one year earlier, the amendment prohibited…
August 29, 1919
On August 29, 1919, Belgium enacted the law on the alcohol regime commonly known as the Vandervelde Law, after Minister of Justice Émile Vandervelde, who promoted the…
1919
In 1919, production of Broyhan ended at the Hannover brewers’ guild’s communal brewery. The guild had established the brewhouse on Köbelingerstraße in the late…
1918
In 1918, the Sünner brewery began advertising its pale, top-fermented beer with the designation “Echt Kölsch.” Sünner had added the beer to its range in 1906, but the…
1917
In 1917, the Budweiser name dispute was temporarily addressed by an agreement that allowed Anheuser-Busch to use the name “Budweiser” exclusively in North America. In…
1915
In 1915, the brewery later known as Brauerei Hans Schieffer was founded in Trier, Germany, under the name Brauerei Eduard Schieffer Söhne. It became Brauerei Hans…
1913
In 1913, Chicago businessman Hugo Pick received a United States design patent for a drinking glass with a shallow bulge near its upper section. He subsequently received…
1910s
During World War I, British brewing was reshaped by wartime controls, higher taxation, and restrictions on raw materials. Brewers were forced to reduce the strength of…
1909
In 1909, Danish chemist Søren Peter Lauritz Sørensen introduced the pH concept while directing the Department of Chemistry at the Carlsberg Laboratory in Copenhagen.…
1907
In 1907, Anheuser-Busch registered the trademark “Budweiser” with the American trademark office. The registration intensified the conflict over the name, because…
1907
In 1907, Mackeson & Co. of Hythe, Kent, brewed an experimental stout containing lactose. Unlike the sugars normally present in wort, lactose is not fermented by standard…
1907
In 1907, Michael Graser succeeded his father Andreas as the owner and brewmaster of Hellerbräu, popularly known as Schlenkerla. The brewery’s own family history…
June 3, 1906
On June 3, 1906, the German Empire enacted a new Brewing Tax Law, or Brausteuergesetz. For the territory of the North German Brewing Tax Community, it combined beer…
1906
In 1906, the Sünner brewery in Cologne-Kalk added a pale, top-fermented beer to a product range that also included Bock, Export, and lager beer. Cologne had maintained a…
1906
In 1906, Budweiser Budvar began selling beer in the United States. The move brought a Czech brewery from České Budějovice, historically known in German as Budweis, into…
1906
L’Antica Birreria Peroni opened in Rome in 1906. The venue is located at Via di San Marcello 19 and became a place where Romans and visitors gathered to eat, drink, and…
1905
In 1905, the results of a competition intended to improve Belgian beer were presented at the international exposition in Liège. Organized by the Union of Belgian…
April 18, 1904
On April 18, 1904, Niels Hjelte Claussen, director of the laboratory at the New Carlsberg Brewery in Copenhagen, presented a paper to the Institute of Brewing in London…
1903
In 1903, Michael J. Owens developed the first commercially successful fully automatic bottle-making machine in Toledo, Ohio. Working with financial backing from glass…
1900s
Around 1900, Gose reached the height of its popularity in Leipzig. Although the beer had originated around Goslar and much of the Gose consumed in Leipzig was brewed at…
1900
In 1900, Paul Cantillon and Marie Troch established a Lambic blending business in Anderlecht, Brussels. Rather than brewing its own wort, the company initially purchased…
1899
In 1899, brewing was re-established at the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Saint-Rémy in Rochefort, Belgium. The abbey had a much older brewing tradition, with written records of…
1898
In 1898, the Dreher brewing business reached a new industrial scale when the Anton Dreher export brewery was founded in Saaz, now Žatec in the Czech Republic. According…
1897
In 1897, German chemist Eduard Buchner demonstrated that alcoholic fermentation could occur without intact, living yeast cells. Buchner ground yeast with quartz and…
October 7, 1895
On October 7, 1895, the Czech Joint-Stock Brewery in České Budějovice, the direct predecessor of Budweiser Budvar, brewed its first batch of beer. Its first brewmaster,…
June 20, 1895
MilestoneOn June 20, 1895, Spaten officially launched its “Helles Lagerbier” in Munich. The beer had first been brewed in 1894 and tested outside Munich, especially in Hamburg,…
1895
Beginning in 1895, Munich’s large breweries started erecting temporary beer halls at Oktoberfest with room for approximately 1,500 guests. These structures began…
May 24, 1893
On May 24, 1893, a new temperance organization was formed in Oberlin, Ohio, under the leadership of minister Howard Hyde Russell. Initially organized as an Ohio…
February 2, 1892
MilestoneOn February 2, 1892, Baltimore inventor William Painter received U.S. patents for the bottle-sealing system that became known as the crown cork. Its final design used a…
1892
In 1892, glass beer mugs began to be used for serving beer at the Munich Oktoberfest. Until then, beer had generally been served in opaque earthenware or stoneware…
1890
In 1890, Friedrich Mohr took over the Trierische Actienbrauerei — a brewery that had sat idle since 1887 — nestled in Trier's Gartenfeld district along Bergstraße, at…
November 22, 1887
Joseph Groll died in Vilshofen an der Donau on November 22, 1887. He had been born in the same Bavarian town on August 21, 1813, and learned brewing in his father’s…
1886
In 1886, more than one hundred brewers entered a competitive exhibition of beers held at the Agricultural Hall in Islington, London, alongside the Brewers’ Exhibition.…
1884
In 1884, the monks of Koningshoeven Abbey near Tilburg in the Netherlands began brewing beer. The brewery, later known through the La Trappe beer brand, was created on…
1884
In 1884, Sebastian Riegele Sr. acquired the Augsburg brewery and beer tavern Zum Goldenen Ross. The brewery’s documented history extended back centuries, but the…
November 1883
MilestoneIn November 1883, Carlsberg began using a pure culture of bottom-fermenting yeast developed by Emil Christian Hansen at the Carlsberg Laboratory in Copenhagen. Hansen…
1883
In 1883, Emil Christian Hansen of the Carlsberg Laboratory in Copenhagen developed a method for obtaining a pure yeast culture from a single cell. By repeatedly diluting…
1882
In 1882, Henri Vandervelden established the brewery that later became Oud Beersel in Beersel, southwest of Brussels. Vandervelden had worked seasonally at the De Kroon…
1881
In 1881, French engineer Charles Saladin developed a pneumatic malting box that combined controlled aeration with mechanical turning. Earlier pneumatic systems,…
August 12, 1880
On August 12, 1880, the Inland Revenue Act received royal assent in the United Kingdom. Commonly known as the Free Mash Tun Act, it repealed the longstanding excise duty…
1880s
The "Munich Beer Heart" is a historical medical term describing a pathological enlargement of the heart muscle — known today as cardiomyopathy — caused by extreme…
1880s
In the late 19th century, Vienna Lager survived and developed further in Mexico after declining in its original Central European context. The BJCP describes Vienna Lager…
1880s
During the 1880s, mild ale became the dominant everyday beer in Britain. The word mild had originally described fresh, unaged beer rather than a particular color or…
1879
In 1879, Johann Baptist Weyermann founded the company that became Weyermann Specialty Malts in Bamberg, Bavaria. The business initially produced malt coffee and other…
June 4, 1878
On June 4, 1878, Lorenz Adalbert Enzinger registered the first beer filter with the German Imperial Patent Office. Enzinger, a Bavarian brewer and inventor who had moved…
February 2, 1878
On February 2, 1878, Johann Liebhard served the first beer from his newly built brewery in Aying, Bavaria. Liebhard recorded the occasion in his diary, noting that the…
1878
In 1878, merchant Christian Weber acquired the insolvent Jacoby brewery in Homburg and established the business that became the Karlsberg Brewery. He renamed it…
1878
In 1878, British chemist Charles William Vincent published a process for reproducing the mineral character of Burton-on-Trent brewing water. Burton’s groundwater was…
January 1, 1876
On January 1, 1876, Bass, Ratcliff and Gretton registered the red triangle used on its pale ale as United Kingdom Trade Mark No. 1. The registration followed the Trade…
1876
MilestoneIn 1876, Louis Pasteur published Études sur la bière, a major scientific study of beer fermentation, spoilage, and preservation. Pasteur showed how microorganisms other…
1876
In 1876, Anheuser-Busch began making a beer in St. Louis under the name “Budweiser.” Adolphus Busch, Eberhard Anheuser’s son-in-law and business partner, used the name…
1876
MilestoneIn 1876, Carl von Linde developed an ammonia-compression refrigeration machine after earlier work with methyl ether systems. Cooling Post describes the 1876 ammonia…
1875
In 1875, Andreas Graser succeeded his father Konrad as the owner and brewer of Hellerbräu in Bamberg. Graser was known locally for the unusual swinging movement of his…
1875
The story of Caspary-Brauerei begins with Johann Baptist Caspary (1796–1885). Having honed his craft at a brewery and vinegar works in Bernkastel, he founded his own…
1873
In 1873, Carl von Linde presented his refrigeration ideas to brewers at the International Brewing Congress in Vienna, held during the Vienna World Exhibition. Historical…
1873
In 1873, Belgian engineer Nicolas Galland constructed an early pneumatic malting system at Maxéville near Nancy, France. Instead of spreading germinating barley in a…
August 10, 1872
On August 10, 1872, the British Parliament enacted the Licensing Act, formally titled “An Act for regulating the Sale of Intoxicating Liquors.” Applying to England,…
1872
In 1872, brewmaster Georg Schneider I and his son Georg Schneider II founded G. Schneider & Sohn in Munich. Georg Schneider negotiated with the Bavarian Hofbräuamt and…
1872
By 1872, Bavarian wheat beer had declined sharply from the dominant position it had once held. Drinkers increasingly preferred brown and other bottom-fermented beers,…
1872
In 1872, the Budweis burghers’ brewery, later known as Budweiser Bürgerbräu, began exporting its Budweiser beer to the United States. The brewery came from České…
1872
At the 1872 Oktoberfest in Munich, Josef Sedlmayr of the Franziskaner brewery introduced an amber-colored Märzen inspired by Vienna lager. Sedlmayr had first brewed and…
1870s
During the 1870s, Dortmunder Export emerged as a distinct pale lager tradition in Dortmund, an industrial brewing center in Germany’s Ruhr region. Bottom-fermented…
1870s
During the 1870s, lager beer became an increasingly powerful force in the United States brewing industry. German immigration, German-American brewing culture, and the…
November 17, 1869
On November 17, 1869, the Suez Canal officially opened, creating a direct maritime route between Europe and Asia through the Mediterranean and Red Seas. The new waterway…
September 6, 1869
On September 6, 1869, a joint-stock company was formed to establish a new brewery in Smíchov, then a rapidly industrializing suburb of Prague. Construction plans were…
1868
In 1868, Bavaria fully abolished the general summer brewing ban that had restricted commercial brewing to the cold season between Michaelmas, September 29, and St.…
1866
In 1866, Konrad Graser took over Hellerbräu in Bamberg, bringing the brewery into the Graser and Trum family line that still shapes Hellerbräu and Schlenkerla today.…
1864
Francesco Peroni opened a second beer factory in Rome in 1864, near Piazza di Spagna. The Rome branch was entrusted to Giovanni Peroni, Francesco’s son, while Rome was…
1864
In 1864, Jacobus Vanderlinden and his wife, Joanna Brillens, opened an inn in Beersel at the site now known as Hoogstraat 13. Current research by 3 Fonteinen traces the…
December 27, 1863
Anton Dreher died in Schwechat on December 27, 1863. He had taken over the Klein-Schwechat brewery in 1836 and became one of the defining figures of 19th-century Central…
January 4, 1862
On January 4, 1862, innkeeper and brewer Wilhelm Cürten purchased the Bergischer Hof on Berger Straße in Düsseldorf’s Old Town. He immediately installed a brewery in the…
1862
In 1862, the monks of Scourmont Abbey near Chimay in Belgium began brewing beer. The monastery itself had been founded only a few years earlier, after a small group of…
1859
Luigi Moretti founded his beer and ice factory in Udine, in the Friuli region, in 1859. Birra Moretti’s own history presents the company as a long Italian brewing story…
1857
MilestoneIn 1857, French chemist Louis Pasteur published studies of lactic and alcoholic fermentation that connected particular fermentations with the growth and activity of…
1856
In 1856, the monks of Westmalle began selling beer to the public in very small quantities directly from the abbey. This marked a change from the brewery’s first two…
1856
In 1856, the monks of Westmalle began selling small quantities of beer at the abbey gate, and beer-history accounts also associate this period with Westmalle’s first…
June 2, 1851
On June 2, 1851, Maine enacted a law prohibiting the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages except for limited medicinal, mechanical, and manufacturing purposes.…
1850s
During the 1850s, India Pale Ale became a fashionable drink in Britain, especially among middle-class consumers in London. Burton-on-Trent brewers had already built a…
1850
In 1850, a young master baker acquired the building on Bolkerstraße that became Hausbrauerei Zum Schlüssel and began producing beer there. The property itself had a…
1850
In 1850, brewer Friedrich Wilhelm Enderlin acquired land in Lörrach and built the brewery that later became Privatbrauerei Lasser. Johann Jakob Grether-Dietschy…
1850s
By the mid-to-late 19th century, Vienna Lager had moved beyond its initial creation at Anton Dreher’s Klein Schwechat brewery and become an influential Central European…
1848
In 1848, the beer later known as Füchschen Alt was first brewed at the house on Ratinger Straße 28 in Düsseldorf. Brewing at the property may have older roots: the…
1848
The California Gold Rush began in 1848 and drew migrants from the United States and abroad to the rapidly growing communities of the American West. Among them were…
1846
Francesco Peroni founded Birra Peroni in Vigevano, Lombardy, in 1846. Birra Peroni’s own history states that Peroni started a small beer factory in Vigevano with an…
1846
In 1846, brewing writer William Tizard described the production of “blown malt,” a variety of brown malt made by maltsters in and around London. Germinated barley was…
1844
In 1844, the Rimaux-Deridder farm in Tourpes, in Belgium’s Hainaut province, became a farm-brewery producing honey beer and beers described as Saison. The site had…
1844
In 1844, London’s Barclay Perkins brewery advertised an “Imperial Double Brown Stout” in The Times. The name combined “imperial,” indicating exceptional strength or…
1844
In 1844, John Gorrie first produced ice mechanically while experimenting with artificial cooling in Apalachicola, Florida. Gorrie had begun using cooling as part of his…
1843
In 1843, Karl Josef Napoleon Balling, professor of chemistry at the Prague Polytechnic, introduced the Balling saccharimeter and corresponding tables for determining the…
November 11, 1842
On November 11, 1842, Josef Groll’s new beer was first served to the public in Pilsen. Traditional accounts name three local inns as the first places where the beer was…
October 5, 1842
MilestoneOn October 5, 1842, Josef Groll brewed the first batch of the new Pilsen beer at the Burghers’ Brewery in Pilsen. The brewery had been built after local dissatisfaction…
1842
In 1842, the townspeople of Pilsen who held the privileged right to brew beer joined forces to found and build the Burghers’ Brewery. The brewery was created as a shared…
1842
In 1842, Patrick Stead, a Scottish maltster, patented an early pneumatic method of malting. Brewing-science sources describe his system as using steam and hot air to…
1842
In 1842, Josef Groll, a Bavarian brewer from Vilshofen in Lower Bavaria, was brought to Pilsen to brew at the new Burghers’ Brewery. The decision followed…
1841
MilestoneIn 1841, Anton Dreher began brewing bottom-fermented lager beer at Schwechat near Vienna. He applied technical knowledge gathered from his study travels, including…
1841
In 1841, Spaten Brewery in Munich developed a modern pale Märzen beer under Gabriel Sedlmayr the Younger. The timing connected Munich brewing with the same technical…
1840
MilestoneIn the traditional account, lager brewing reached the United States in 1840 when John Wagner brought bottom-fermenting lager yeast from Bavaria to Philadelphia. The…
1840s
During the 1840s, British drinkers increasingly used the term bitter for pale, well-hopped ales served on draught. Brewers generally continued to describe these beers as…
1840s
During the 1840s, Bass & Co. expanded its India Pale Ale exports throughout the British Empire and beyond. Building on the success of Burton-on-Trent's brewing industry,…
1840s
By the 1840s, industrialization and the growing use of pressed-glass production had made clear tableware increasingly affordable. Glass drinking vessels had previously…
February 26, 1838
Samuel Allsopp died on February 26, 1838. By the time of his death, he had transformed the Burton-on-Trent brewery he purchased in 1807 into one of the most important…
1838
In 1838, citizens of Pilsen protested against the poor quality of local beer by spilling 36 barrels in front of the town hall. The protest became a turning point for the…
1838
In 1838, trained brewer Johann Mathias Schumacher purchased the Im Sonnenaufgang brewery at Citadellstraße 12 in Düsseldorf’s Carlstadt district. He acquired the…
1837
In 1837, French physicist Charles Cagniard-Latour and German researchers Theodor Schwann and Friedrich Traugott Kützing independently published observations identifying…
1836
In 1836, the monastery at Westmalle was officially designated a Trappist abbey, and Abbot Martinus Dom began building a small brewery there. On December 10, 1836, the…
1836
Franz Lehner founded a small brewery in Linz in 1836, at the site of today’s Brau Union headquarters in Poschacherstraße. Brau Union Österreich describes this as the…
1836
In 1836, Anton Dreher took over the Klein-Schwechat brewery near Vienna by leasing it from his mother. His father, Franz Anton Dreher, had acquired the Klein-Schwechat…
July 25, 1833
On July 25, 1833, Anton Dreher and Gabriel Sedlmayr the Younger met in London with fellow brewers Georg Lederer and Franz Xaver Meindl during a wider study journey…
July 23, 1830
On July 23, 1830, Parliament gave royal assent to the Beerhouse Act, formally titled “An Act to permit the general Sale of Beer and Cyder by Retail in England.” From…
1830s
During the 1830s, Burton-on-Trent emerged as the leading center of India Pale Ale production in Britain. Following the success of Samuel Allsopp's exports to India,…
1830
In 1830, Franz Hess established the small house brewery Zum Schiffgen on Deutzer Freiheit in Deutz, across the Rhine from Cologne. The business combined a brewery with a…
August 29, 1829
MilestoneOn August 29, 1829, an advertisement published in the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser included the term "East India Pale Ale." The advertisement offered…
1829
In 1829, Munich had 51 active breweries, reflecting the extraordinary density and economic importance of brewing in the Bavarian capital. Their production still followed…
1829
In 1829, Leuven physician Jean-Baptiste Vrancken used the term “geuze-bier” in a detailed treatise on Belgian brewing. He described it as Lambic brewed by private…
1828
In 1828, King Ludwig I of Bavaria authorized the public serving of food and drink inside Munich’s Hofbräuhaus. The royal brewery had been founded in 1589 to supply the…
September 27, 1826
The story of Caspary-Brauerei begins with Johann Baptist Caspary (1796–1885). Having honed his craft at a brewery and vinegar works in Bernkastel, he founded his own…
1824
In 1824, Johann Philipp Ledermann began brewing Gose at the brewery of Rittergut Döllnitz, a manor near Halle. Ledermann had come from Goslar and brought knowledge of…
1821
In 1821, Arthur Guinness II set down precise brewing instructions for Guinness Superior Porter at the St. James’s Gate Brewery in Dublin. The stronger porter was…
1821
In 1821, Alexander, Gregoor, Pedro, and Amalia Rodenbach established the Rodenbach brewery in Roeselare, West Flanders. Heritage records describe the event as the…
1820s
During the 1820s, the British East India Company sought an alternative supplier to George Hodgson's Bow Brewery, which had dominated the India beer trade for decades.…
September 28, 1818
On September 28, 1818, the first Cannstatter Volksfest was held on the Cannstatter Wasen near Stuttgart. King Wilhelm I of Württemberg and Queen Katharina had supported…
1818
In 1818, the exclusive privilege that had reserved the brewing of Bock beer in Munich for the Hofbräuhaus came to an end. The court brewery had held this privilege since…
March 28, 1817
MilestoneOn March 28, 1817, London chemist and manufacturer Daniel Wheeler received British Patent No. 4112 for a “new or improved method of drying and preparation of malt.” His…
October 17, 1814
On October 17, 1814, one of the enormous wooden porter vats at Henry Meux & Co.’s Horse Shoe Brewery in St Giles, London, burst after one of its iron hoops failed. The…
August 21, 1813
Joseph Groll was born in Vilshofen an der Donau, Bavaria, on August 21, 1813. He came from a brewing family: public regional sources describe him as the son of the…
January 4, 1812
On January 4, 1812, King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria issued a rescript allowing local brewers to sell their beer from their own Märzen cellars during the months of…
October 17, 1810
On October 17, 1810, a public horse race outside Munich concluded five days of official celebrations for the marriage of Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig and Princess…
June 7, 1810
Anton Dreher senior was born in Schwechat near Vienna on June 7, 1810. He grew up in the family environment of the Klein Schwechat brewery and later became one of the…
September 1807
In September 1807, Gabriel Sedlmayr the Elder acquired the Spaten Brewery in Munich. Sedlmayr had been appointed brewmaster at Munich’s Royal Brown Brewhouse the…
May 31, 1802
On May 31, 1802, Matthew Wood received British Patent No. 2625 for a malt-based coloring agent intended principally for the brewing market. The patent also referred to…
1801
In 1801, Guinness brewed West India Porter at the St. James’s Gate Brewery in Dublin. Developed specifically for overseas trade, it was made with a higher alcohol…
1800s
By the early nineteenth century, Hodgson's Bow Brewery had become the dominant supplier of pale ale to British merchants and officials in India. Located near the East…
1800
Around 1800, brewers in and around Düsseldorf continued producing beer through the region’s established top-fermenting method as bottom-fermented beers from southern…
1799
In 1799, Arthur Guinness stopped brewing ale at the St. James’s Gate Brewery and concentrated the business entirely on porter. Guinness had begun producing porter during…
August 6, 1798
On August 6, 1798, Elector Karl Theodor abolished the Wittelsbach wheat-beer monopoly in Bavaria. The ruling dynasty had controlled the profitable privilege of brewing…
June 18, 1798
On June 18, 1798, František Ondřej Poupě became brewmaster of the municipal brewery in Brno. During his years there, brewers traveled to the city to learn from his…
October 31, 1797
On October 31, 1797, British inventor and hydraulic engineer Joseph Bramah received a patent for a system designed to retain, preserve, and draw beer and other…
1795
In 1795, a history of the parish of St. Saviour in Southwark described the international trade of Thrale & Co.’s Anchor Brewery. Its porter was exported from London to…
1790s
During the 1790s, George Hodgson's Bow Brewery in east London became one of the best-known suppliers of pale ale to British merchants and officials in India. Located…
1787
In 1787, the anonymous political pamphlet La lanterne magique du Brabant mentioned a Brussels beer called “alembic.” In a fictional scene of public celebration in…
1785
In 1785, Samuel Whitbread installed a rotative steam engine built by Boulton & Watt at his brewery in Chiswell Street, London. Ordered in 1784 to replace an…
1784
In 1784, English brewer and writer John Richardson published Statical Estimates of the Materials of Brewing, in which he explained how brewers could use the…
August 12, 1780
Samuel Allsopp was born on August 12, 1780, in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. He later became the brewer and businessman behind Samuel Allsopp & Sons, one of…
1770s
During the 1770s, Arthur Guinness began brewing porter at the St. James’s Gate Brewery in Dublin. He had initially concentrated on ale after leasing the brewery in 1759,…
1762
In 1762, London brewer Michael Combrune published The Theory and Practice of Brewing, one of the earliest detailed brewing manuals to make systematic use of the…
December 31, 1759
On December 31, 1759, Arthur Guinness leased a disused brewery at St. James’s Gate in Dublin. The agreement covered a four-acre site and was made for 9,000 years at an…
1750
In 1750, Hannover-based historian and librarian Daniel Eberhard Baring published his Kurze Historische und Physicalische Nachricht von dem in Hannover zuerst erfundenen…
1750s
During the 1750s, London porter brewers began replacing maturation in numerous smaller casks with storage in increasingly large wooden vats. Porter required prolonged…
December 11, 1742
On December 11, 1742, Samuel Whitbread entered into partnership with Godfrey and Thomas Shewell to establish a brewing business in London. Whitbread had begun an…
1721
By 1721, porter had emerged as a recognizable type of dark beer in London. The earliest known printed use of the name appears in a political pamphlet by Nicholas…
1703
Around 1703, the term “pale ale” began to appear in England for beers made from pale malt dried with coke rather than over smoky wood or straw fires. Coke-fired kilning…
1680
In 1680, a documented reference to “Berlinisches Weitzenbier” identified wheat beer as an established part of Berlin’s brewing culture. Some accounts place wheat-beer…
1678
In 1678, the brewery that later became known as Schlenkerla was established in Bamberg. The property on Dominikanerstraße had been documented earlier as the “House of…
1664
In 1664, Armand Jean le Bouthillier de Rancé introduced an austere reform at La Trappe Abbey in Normandy, France. The reform renewed strict monastic observance within…
1642
MilestoneIn 1642, coke was first recorded as a fuel for drying and roasting malt in England. Unlike many older drying fuels, coke could provide heat with less smoke, making it…
1638
The Linz brewhouse, located at today’s Donaulände, went into operation in 1638. Brau Union Österreich’s corporate history also notes that some sources mention an earlier…
July 23, 1635
On July 23, 1635, King Charles I of England granted Sir Nicholas Halse of Cornwall a patent for a new type of kiln that could dry malt and hops without contact with…
1628
In 1628, records at Orval refer to beer and wine consumption by the monks, making this one of the earliest documented beer-related references in the abbey’s history.…
1614
In 1614, the Hofbräuhaus in Munich began brewing bock beer with the help of Elias Pichler, a brewer brought from Einbeck. Hofbräu München describes its Hofbräuhaus…
1612
In the early 17th century, the Munich Hofbräuhaus tried to reproduce the strong beer associated with Einbeck. By 1610, the beer was being sold not only to the ducal…
1609
In 1609, Hannover’s city council recognized the city’s brewers’ guild as an independent legal entity. The decision gave formal institutional status to the association…
1607
In 1607, Bavarian Duke Maximilian I established a ducal white brewery in Kelheim. After the male Degenberg line had ended in 1602, the family’s wheat-beer privilege and…
1603
In 1603, Cologne’s city council ordered that only top-fermented beer could be brewed within the city. The measure prohibited the production of bottom-fermented beer,…
June 10, 1602
On June 10, 1602, Hans Sigmund von Degenberg died without a male heir. He was the last male representative of the Degenberg family, which had held the privilege to brew…
March 23, 1601
On March 23, 1601, Jan Ostroróg, the owner of Grodzisk, granted new statutes to the town’s guild of maltsters and brewers. The document abolished and replaced earlier…
1600
By around 1600, commercial brewing in England had become predominantly male. Three centuries earlier, women had brewed and sold most English ale, but men gradually took…
1553
In 1553, Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria limited the brewing of brown beer to the cold season between Michaelmas, September 29, and St. George’s Day, April 23. The rule was…
August 3, 1548
On August 3, 1548, Bavarian Duke Wilhelm IV granted Hans VI von Degenberg the privilege to brew and sell white or wheat beer in northeastern Bavaria. Hans served as…
1546
In 1546, Hannover’s brewers organized themselves in a guild. The association emerged within a brewing economy transformed by the success of Broyhan, the pale,…
1540
In 1540, Einbecker beer was imported for the Bavarian ducal court in Munich. The older trade route connected Einbeck beer with southern German destinations such as…
1538
In 1538, a hop seal for Spalt in Franconia was documented for the first time. The seal officially confirmed the origin and quality of hops marketed under the Spalt name,…
1536
In 1536, cooper Linhard Großkopf established the brewing site that later became Brauerei Spezial in Bamberg. A surviving document identifies Großkopf as the founder of…
1526
Hannover’s brewing tradition credits Cord Broyhan with producing the first local Broyhan in 1526. Broyhan had gained brewing experience in Hamburg before returning to…
April 23, 1516
MilestoneOn April 23, 1516, Dukes Wilhelm IV and Ludwig X issued a comprehensive Bavarian territorial ordinance at a meeting of the estates in Ingolstadt. Its beer provisions…
1499
In 1499, maltster Vít Skřemenec purchased a house in Prague’s New Town at the site later known as U Fleků. The surviving record of this transaction is the earliest known…
November 30, 1487
On November 30, 1487, Duke Albrecht IV issued a new brewing ordinance for the city of Munich. It required beer to be brewed from hops, barley, and water and prohibited…
1450
Around 1450, as the Inca state expanded across the Andes, it organized the production of maize beer, or chicha, at imperial and provincial centers. Archaeological…
1400
During the fourteenth century, beer became an important commodity in the commercial networks linking towns around the North Sea and Baltic. Hanseatic brewing centers…
1397
In 1397, the council of Goslar sent a barrel of Gose beer to Gerhard vom Berge, the Bishop of Hildesheim. The gift thanked the bishop for mediating a legal dispute in…
1386
In 1386, the Augsburg brewery later known as Zum Goldenen Ross was first documented. This early brewing operation forms the historical origin of today’s Brauhaus Riegele…
April 28, 1378
On April 28, 1378, the oldest surviving invoice for the sale of Einbeck beer recorded two barrels of beer sold to Celle. Einbecker Brauhaus describes the document as the…
1368
In 1368, Einbeck joined the Hanseatic League. The city already had a strong brewing tradition, and Einbeck tourism describes many burghers as holding brewing rights and…
1351
Einbecker beer is first mentioned in written records in 1351. A later account in the Einbecker Morgenpost states that the oldest known reference to Einbecker beer…
March 27, 1332
On March 27, 1332, a charter connected with the Benedictine monastery at Ilsenburg recorded Gose by name. The document established an annual memorial observance for…
1328
Augustinian friars began settling on the Haberfeld outside Munich’s gates in 1294, and their monastery was completed within the city walls in the early fourteenth…
1300
Around 1300, women brewed and sold most of the ale consumed in England. Known as brewsters or alewives, they produced ale both for their households and for local sale.…
1266
Around 1266, the English Assize of Bread and Ale established a framework for regulating two essential grain-based foods. Its ale provisions tied the permitted selling…
1158
MilestoneBetween about 1151 and 1158, the Benedictine abbess and natural historian Hildegard of Bingen compiled the work now commonly known as Physica. In its chapter on hops,…
1132
In 1132, Orval became a Cistercian abbey when monks from the Abbey of Trois-Fontaines arrived after the existing community had requested affiliation with the Cistercian…
1070
In 1070, the first monks settled at Orval in what is now Villers-devant-Orval, Belgium. Orval Abbey’s own history says that these monks arrived from southern Italy, were…
900
Around 900 CE, brewers at the Wari administrative center of Cerro Baúl in southern Peru produced chicha on a large scale for political and ceremonial gatherings. The…
825
Around 825 CE, the Plan of Saint Gall depicted an ideal Carolingian monastery containing three separate bake-and-brew houses. One served the monks’ quarters, another…
822
In 822, Abbot Adalhard issued statutes regulating the organization and obligations of the Benedictine Abbey of Corbie in Picardy. The rules required tenants to gather…
800
Around 800 CE, the Carolingian royal administration issued the Capitulare de villis, a collection of instructions governing the management of royal estates. Its…
736
The beginning of hop cultivation in Bavaria’s Hallertau region is traditionally dated to 736. Local traditions identify either Geisenfeld or Gründl near Nandlstadt as…
301
In 301 CE, the Roman emperors of the First Tetrarchy issued the Edict on Maximum Prices in an attempt to restrain inflation across the empire. The law prescribed maximum…
98
In 98 CE, the Roman historian Tacitus described the drinking customs of the Germanic peoples in his ethnographic work Germania. He wrote that they produced a fermented…
77
Around 77 CE, the Roman author Pliny the Elder described grain-based alcoholic drinks in Book Fourteen of his Natural History. He wrote that the western provinces…
440 BC
Around 440 BCE, the Greek historian Herodotus described Egyptian dietary customs in Book Two of his Histories. He wrote that Egyptians regularly consumed a drink made…
500 BC
Around 500 BCE, people at the early Iron Age settlement of Eberdingen-Hochdorf in present-day southwestern Germany deliberately malted hulled barley. Archaeologists…
1750 BC
MilestoneAround 1750 BCE, a collection of legal judgments issued under the Babylonian king Hammurabi included several provisions concerning female tavern keepers and the sale of…
1800 BC
MilestoneAround 1800 BCE, scribes in Old Babylonian Mesopotamia copied a Sumerian hymn honoring Ninkasi, the goddess associated with beer. The surviving text praises the deity…
2000 BC
Around 2000 BCE, wooden models placed in Egyptian tombs depicted workers carrying out different stages of beer production. A model from a tomb beside the mortuary…
2600 BC
Around 2600 BCE, Egypt’s royal administration supplied bread and beer as staple rations to people working on state projects. Old Kingdom food production and storage were…
3000 BC
Around 3000 BCE, a large brewery operated at North Abydos near the burial grounds of Egypt’s earliest kings. The complex consisted of eight long production…
3100 BC
Around 3100 BCE, an administrator in southern Mesopotamia used a clay tablet to record allocations of beer. The tablet was impressed with numerical symbols representing…
3400 BC
Around 3400 BCE, people at Godin Tepe in the central Zagros Mountains of present-day Iran stored barley beer in a large ceramic jar. The vessel, dated to the Late Uruk…
3600s BC
MilestoneAround 3600 BCE, brewers at Hierakonpolis in Upper Egypt produced beer on a scale extending beyond ordinary household preparation. Radiocarbon analysis dated residue…