The Mohrenbrauerei Vertriebs KG is a brewery in

Dornbirn Dornbirn () is a city in the westernmost Austrian state of Vorarlberg. It is the administrative centre for the district of Dornbirn, which also includes the town of Hohenems, and the market town Lustenau. Dornbirn is the largest city in Vorarlberg ...

in the

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n state of

Vorarlberg Vorarlberg ( , ; gsw, label=Vorarlbergisch, Vorarlbearg, , or ) is the westernmost States of Austria, state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also has the second-smallest population, it is ...

. It is Vorarlberg's oldest brewery. With a total market share of 47.2 percent in the gastronomy and retail sectors, in 2013, the Mohrenbrauerei was the market leader among the four Vorarlberg breweries.

History

The origin of the current Mohrenbrauerei is the in "Zum Mohren", licensed to the owner of the inn and brewery Josef Mohr. The oldest found documentation on the new name "Mohrenwirt" dates back to 1784. In 1834, the catering and brewery business was transferred to the Huber family. Franz Anton Huber, trader and locksmith in Dornbirn-Markt, bought the inn including the estate and associated brewery in 1834 from a farmer from

Hohenems Hohenems (High Alemannic: ''Ems'') is a town in the Austrian state of Vorarlberg in the Dornbirn district. It lies in the middle of the Austrian part of the Rhine valley. With a population of 15,200, it is the fifth largest municipality in Vorarlbe ...

. The brewery has been family-owned since that day. At the turn of the century, an amount 30,000 hl of beer per year has been produced under the East Silesian master brewer Anton Decker. The end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and declining demand had to stop production eventually. The brewery was temporarily converted into barracks and hosted Moroccan soldiers. The Mohrenbrauerei only recovered from this around 1951. In 2012, the beverage production amounted to 222,911 hl per year, which sank to 180,000 in 2019.

Name and logo

The name and logo of the Mohrenbrauerei are controversial. The logo has repeatedly been criticized for reproducing racist streoptypes. The logo depicts a heraldic

Moor's head A Moor's head, since the 11th century, is a symbol depicting the head of a black moor. Origin The precise origin of the Moor's head is a subject of controversy. But the most likely explanation is that it is derived from the heraldic war flag ...

, showing an African with bulging lips and curly hair. ''Mohr'' is an outdated term for people of African descent, widely in use during the 18th and 19th centuries. Duden, Germany’s standard dictionary, calls it “archaic” and “discriminatory by contemporary standards.” The company's communication has been described as constructing their own myth about their own „Mohren“ and therefore not considering racial meanings. In 1834, today's co-owner, the Huber family, took over the Mohr from the family crest of the original brewery founder Josef Mohr, who had the literal depiction of his last name, namely an African, incorporated into the logo. The Mohrenbräu brewery argues that it has been using the logo for almost 200 years. The brewery further states that the crest is based on early depictions of

Saint Maurice Saint Maurice (also Moritz, Morris, or Mauritius; ) was an Egyptians, Egyptian military leader who headed the legendary Theban Legion of Roman Empire, Rome in the 3rd century, and is one of the favorite and most widely venerated saints of that Ma ...

. Due to the rising awareness of racism in 2020 (see ''

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police bruta ...

''), the discussion about the Mohrenbräu's logo has been reignited. More than 6,000 people signed a petition to keep the depiction of the African as part of the logo, Mohrenbräu's arguments for keeping the logo being tradition as well as the lack of racist intention.

Mohren Biererlebniswelt

The

Mohren Biererlebniswelt The Mohren Biererlebniswelt is a museum about the history of the Mohrenbrauerei, Mohren brewery, the art of brewing and regional brewing customs and is located at the headquarters of the Mohren brewery in Dornbirn, Vorarlberg (Austria). It was open ...

is a museum about the history of the Mohrenbrauerei and the art of

brewing Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source (commonly cereal grains, the most popular of which is barley) in water and #Fermenting, fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with Yeast#Beer, yeast. It may be done in a brewery ...

in general. It was opened on 22 October 2016. The museum is located at the headquarters of the Mohrenbrauerei in Dornbirn. There are about 10,000 exhibits on display, from small as beer coasters to a replica of the facade of the former inn "Zum Mohren" or a brewery from the 19th century.

References

External links

Official website

History of the brewery
{{in lang, de Dornbirn Economy of Vorarlberg Breweries in Austria Beer in Austria Austrian brands