Budweiser Budvar Starts to Brew

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, Antonín Holeček, produced approximately 200 hectoliters. The brewery had been organized earlier that year as a Czech-owned counterpart to the city’s older German-speaking brewing enterprise, Budweiser Bürgerbräu. The brewery became one of the major producers of Czech lager and a central party in the later international dispute over the Budweiser name. The designation referred to the brewery’s place of origin: České Budějovice, historically known in German as Budweis. Nationalized after the Second World War, Budweiser Budvar remains state-owned and exports its beer widely beyond the Czech Republic.