König Brewery is a brewery situated in Beeck, a neighborhood of

Duisburg Duisburg () is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine and the Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruhr Region, Duisburg is the 5th largest city in No ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

that brews the well-known König Pilsener (known in colloquial German as ''KöPi'').

History

Theodor König was born in 1825 at Üppenhagen (known today as

Selm Selm is a town in the district of Unna, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated approximately 20 kilometers north of Dortmund and 25 kilometers west of Hamm. Geography The town belongs to the southern part of the Münsterland. ...

-Cappenberg); in 1858, he opened a brewery in the country district of Beeck which, at that time, did not yet form part of the city of Duisburg. He brewed lager in the

Pilsener Pilsner (also pilsener or simply pils) is a type of pale lager. It takes its name from the Bohemian city of Plzeň (german: Pilsen), where the world's first pale lager (now known as Pilsner Urquell) was produced in 1842 by Pilsner Urquell Bre ...

style, despite the fact that this bottom-fermented style of beer was relatively unpopular at the time. First records of König Pilsener appear in 1911. At first, König Pilsener was known for its bitter hoppiness; later, the beer was adapted to the requirements of a premium lager intended for mass consumption. On 1 February 2000, König Brewery became a subsidiary of the

Holsten Holsten Brewery (Holsten-Brauerei AG) is a brewing company founded in 1879 in what is now Hamburg's Altona-Nord quarter. The group now has seven breweries in Germany. Its nationally distributed premium brand is the pale lager ''Holsten Pilsen ...

Group; this group was then sold to Denmark's Carlsberg in 2004. Carlsberg broke up the Holsten Group, selling the König and

Licher Licher is a brewery in Lich, Germany. With 250 employees, the brewery is the largest in Lich. "Licher Beer" has been market leader since 1988 in Hessen and is known to be one of the top 20 beers in the German beer market. Founding and beginni ...

breweries to Bitburger.

Beers

The brewery's most popular beer is König Pilsener. König Alt, a beer brewed in the Rhineland

Altbier Altbier (German: ''old beer'') is a style of beer brewed in the Rhineland, especially around the city of Düsseldorf, Germany. It is a copper coloured beer whose name comes from it being top-fermented, an older method than the bottom ferme ...

style, was developed in the 1970s, but then discontinued along with König Export and König Malz, a malt beer. New products include the alcohol-free Kelts beer, renamed König Pilsener Alkoholfrei in 2005. From 2006 to 2011, a beer-lemonade mix was available under the name König Pilsener Lemon. In 2011, the production of König Pilsener Lemon was discontinued and a new beer-lemonade mix was introduced under the name of König Pilsener Radler.Press release König Pilsener Lemon: http://www.koenig.de/brauerei/pressedetail/24/ Konigpils

Sponsorship

König Brewery sponsors several sports teams in the Rhine-Ruhr region. König Pilsener appears on the ice hockey kit of EV Duisburg and is also the official sponsor of the Nordkurve terraces at the

MSV Duisburg Meidericher Spielverein 02 e. V. Duisburg, commonly known as simply MSV Duisburg (), is a German association football club based in Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia. Nicknamed ''Die Zebras'' for their traditional striped jerseys, the club was on ...

football stadium. The brewery advertises elsewhere in the stadium, as well as in the Georg-Melches stadium in the neighbouring city of Essen. The brewery lends its name to the

König-Pilsener-Arena The Rudolf Weber-Arena (originally the Arena Oberhausen) is a multi-purpose arena, located in Oberhausen, Germany. Opening in 1996, the arena is a part of leisure and shopping center, CentrO. The venue was built in Neue Mitte Oberhausen, a forme ...

in Oberhausen, just east of Duisburg, and the KönigPALAST multi-purpose sports arena in nearby

Krefeld Krefeld ( , ; li, Krieëvel ), also spelled Crefeld until 1925 (though the spelling was still being used in British papers throughout the Second World War), is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, i ...

Advertising

Actor, director and producer

Til Schweiger Tilman Valentin Schweiger (; born 19 December 1963) is a German actor, voice actor and filmmaker. He runs his own production company, Barefoot Films, in Berlin. Early life Schweiger was born in Freiburg, West Germany, to two teachers. He grew ...

is a corporate representative for König Pilsener. He has appeared on billboard advertising, in print and on television.

References

External links