Bavaria Takes Over the Weihenstephan Monastery Brewery

In 1803, the secularization of Weihenstephan placed its monastery brewery under Bavarian state control. The monastery was dissolved on March 24, and Elector Maximilian IV Joseph took over the brewery. Brewing continued under secular administration after the religious institution had ended. The transfer established the state ownership that shaped the brewery’s subsequent identity. In 1921 it received the name Bayerische Staatsbrauerei Weihenstephan. The surviving brewery and the later brewing schools at Weihenstephan followed different institutional paths: the 1803 change concerned ownership of the brewery.