Top 10 oldest breweries in the world
Brewing is one of the longest-running global industries, with the world’s oldest still operating now nearly 1,000 years old. db looks at the 10 oldest that are still functioning, all of which predate the Renaissance, the printing press and the fall of Constantinople. The post Top 10 oldest breweries in the world appeared first on The Drinks Business.
Brewing is one of the longest-running global industries, with the world’s oldest still operating now nearly 1,000 years old. Luxembourg, Belgium, Serbia, Hungary, Romania, Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia, and Germany all claim a brewery as their oldest company still in operation. db looks at the 10 oldest that are still functioning, all of which predate the Renaissance, the printing press and the fall of Constantinople.
The oldest brewery in the world predates the Norman conquest. Founded in 1040, this Bavarian State Brewery was then the monastery brewery of the Benedictine monks. Now operating as a state-directed enterprise under the control of the Bavarian Government, it specialises in classic German wheat beers.
Coming up just short of the “World’s Oldest Brewery” title is the Weltenburg Abbey Brewery, though it does make the claim of being the world’s oldest monastic brewery. Located at a bend of the Danube river, Weltenburg also brews damn-good wheat beers, but is particularly famous for its Barock-Dunkel dark beer.
Affligem Brewery was founded in 1074, when six knights, tired of the hectic early medieval period, became monks, started an abbey, and brewed beer for their guests. Today the monks are still intrinsically linked with the brewing process – serving an important function as quality keepers of their beer collection, which ranges from a rich and smooth Blonde to a full-bodied Triple.
Bolten Brewery is located in the Rhineland in western Germany, an area of particular contention during the inter-war years. The brewery specialises in Altbier, a copper-coloured traditional German beer, distinctive in being top-fermented. Alongside two altbier variants, the brewery produces: a wheat beer; two bottom-fermented, less hopped light beers; a heavily hopped pilsner; a seasonal special dark beer during Advent and a sweet, non-alcoholic malt beer.
Gaffel Kölsch traces its roots to a brewery at Eigelstein 41 in Cologne, first documented in 1302, over a decade before the Scots won independence from the English at Bannockburn. Situated next to the city’s world-renowned cathedral, the brewery specialises in Kölsch beer, a light and crisp ale/lager hybrid. Today, Cologne’s oldest brewery remains incredibly prolific – for every third tapped Kölsch worldwide is a Gaffel Kölsch.
1. Weihenstephan Brewery: 1040 – Germany
The oldest brewery in the world predates the Norman conquest. Founded in 1040, this Bavarian State Brewery was then the monastery brewery of the Benedictine monks. Now operating as a state-directed enterprise under the control of the Bavarian Government, it specialises in classic German wheat beers.
2. Weltenburg Abbey Brewery: 1050 – Germany
Coming up just short of the “World’s Oldest Brewery” title is the Weltenburg Abbey Brewery, though it does make the claim of being the world’s oldest monastic brewery. Located at a bend of the Danube river, Weltenburg also brews damn-good wheat beers, but is particularly famous for its Barock-Dunkel dark beer.
3. Affligem Brewery: 1074 – Belgium
Affligem Brewery was founded in 1074, when six knights, tired of the hectic early medieval period, became monks, started an abbey, and brewed beer for their guests. Today the monks are still intrinsically linked with the brewing process – serving an important function as quality keepers of their beer collection, which ranges from a rich and smooth Blonde to a full-bodied Triple.
4. Bolten Brewery: 1266 – Germany
Bolten Brewery is located in the Rhineland in western Germany, an area of particular contention during the inter-war years. The brewery specialises in Altbier, a copper-coloured traditional German beer, distinctive in being top-fermented. Alongside two altbier variants, the brewery produces: a wheat beer; two bottom-fermented, less hopped light beers; a heavily hopped pilsner; a seasonal special dark beer during Advent and a sweet, non-alcoholic malt beer.
5. Gaffel Kölsch: 1302 – Germany
Gaffel Kölsch traces its roots to a brewery at Eigelstein 41 in Cologne, first documented in 1302, over a decade before the Scots won independence from the English at Bannockburn. Situated next to the city’s world-renowned cathedral, the brewery specialises in Kölsch beer, a light and crisp ale/lager hybrid. Today, Cologne’s oldest brewery remains incredibly prolific – for every third tapped Kölsch worldwide is a Gaffel Kölsch.
