A New Brewery Company Is Founded in Žatec (Saaz)

In 1898, the Saazer Genossenschaft Brauerei company was founded to develop a new brewery in Žatec, also known as Saaz, in present-day Czech Republic. The city's regional museum dates the approval of the building project to 1899 and the start of beer production to March 19, 1902. The company later became Export-Brauerei in 1916; the name Anton Drehers Exportbrauerei Gesellschaft appeared only at the end of 1926. The brewery complex combined maltings, a brewhouse, boiler and engine rooms, lager cellars, and its own railway siding, illustrating the infrastructure needed for industrial brewing and distribution. Its later Dreher connection places it within the wider history of a brewing family associated with Schwechat and Vienna lager. The 1898 milestone, however, concerns the founding of the Žatec company, rather than the start of large-scale brewing at Schwechat.