Pivovar Samson a.s., formerly known as is a brewery founded by mostly

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

-speaking burghers of the city of

České Budějovice České Budějovice (; ) is a city in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 97,000 inhabitants. The city is located in the valley of the Vltava River, at its confluence with the Malše. České Budějovice is the largest ...

(known as ''Budweis'' in German) in the

Kingdom of Bohemia The Kingdom of Bohemia (), sometimes referenced in English literature as the Czech Kingdom, was a History of the Czech lands in the High Middle Ages, medieval and History of the Czech lands, early modern monarchy in Central Europe. It was the pr ...

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

in 1795. Its beer was known as or since 1802 and as trademark officially since 1899. In 1894, the official company name was "". In 2023, the brewery has been losing tens of millions of

CZK The koruna, or crown (currency sign, sign: Kč; ISO 4217, code: CZK, ), has been the currency of the Czech Republic since 1993. The koruna is one of the European Union's eight currencies, and the Czech Republic is legally bound to Czech Repub ...

annually for about 30 years in a row.

History

As early as 1875, beer from Budějovice was being exported to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. In 1876

Anheuser-Busch Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC ( ) is an American brewing company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Since 2008, it has been wholly owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (AB InBev), now the world's largest brewing company, which owns multiple ...

started selling beer named ''Budweiser'' inspired by the original Budweiser beer. In 1895, when Budweiser Bürgerbräu became official court supplier to the

King of Württemberg King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a constitutional monarch if his power is restrained by f ...

, the growing Czech population founded local competition as a joint stock company, today called

Budějovický Budvar Budweiser Budvar ( ) is a brewery in the Czech city of České Budějovice (), best known for its original Budweiser or Budweiser Budvar pale lager brewed using artesian water, Moravian barley and Saaz hops. Budweiser Budvar is the fourth large ...

. In the

Budweiser trademark dispute The Budweiser trademark dispute is an ongoing series of legal disputes between two beer companies (from the Czech Republic and the United States) who claim trademark and geographic origin rights to the name "Budweiser". The dispute has been ongoin ...

, the three companies divided the rights to use the name, with the Europe-based companies giving up the Northern American rights to ''Budweiser''. Shortly before World War I Budějovický Budvar exceeded production of Bürgerliches Brauhaus. During World War II 237 out of 387 owners of Bürgerliches Brauhaus were Germans, while 150 were Czechs. In January 1945, Bürgerliches Brauhaus stopped brewing and in March 1945 the brewery was damaged during US bombing of Budějovice. After WWII most Germans were expelled and both Budějovice breweries were nationalized in 1948 by the communist government. The German-sounding names of the company and its products were renamed "Crystal" or "Samson". Accordingly in 1960 and 1989 the company was renamed "První budějovický pivovar Samson" (First Budweiser brewery Samson). After the

fall of communism The revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, were a revolutionary wave of liberal democracy movements that resulted in the collapse of most Marxist–Leninist governments in the Eastern Bloc and other parts of the world. Th ...

, the company owned rights to "Crystal", "Czech Beer Crystal", "Biere Tcheque Crystal" and "Samson", but in 1991 reacquired national naming rights and international

Protected Geographical Indication Three European Union schemes of geographical indications and Traditional food, traditional specialties, known as protected designation of origin (PDO), protected geographical indication (PGI), and traditional speciality guaranteed (TSG), promote ...

to "" and "", and in 1993 to "", "", "Biere de Budweis" and "Budweis Beer". In July 2001, the company was renamed '' (Budweiser Burghers' brewery)'', which corresponded with the original German name. The company used German naming like "" also in Czech and English, also stating that the

hops Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant ''Humulus lupulus'', a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in beer, to whic ...

comes from the "Czech city of Saaz", the German name for the Czech city of

Žatec Žatec (; ) is a town in Louny District in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 19,000 inhabitants. It lies on the Ohře River. Žatec is famous for an over-700-year-long tradition of growing Saaz hops, Saaz noble hops u ...

, known for

Saaz hops Saaz is a "noble" variety of hops. It was named after the Czech town of Žatec (). This hop is used extensively in Bohemia to flavor beer as the Czech pilsner. Saaz hops accounted for more than of total 2009 hop production in the Czech Republi ...

. Since 2005, due to the legal situation, the brewery offered its beer in the USA as "B.B. Bürgerbräu", described as "Budweis City Bier" rather than "Budweiser beer". In 2014 Anheuser-Busch InBev bought the brewery and renamed it to ''Samson''.

Beers

* Samson 10° * Samson 11° * Samson 12° Pale Lager * Samson 12° Dark Lager * Samson 1795 Premium Lager * Samson Bock * Samson HefeWeizen * Pito Budweiser Bier (alcohol free) * Samson Dianello (diabetic beer)

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Budweiser Bier Burgerbrau Anheuser-Busch Products with protected designation of origin Beer in the Czech Republic Food and drink companies established in 1795 1795 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire

History

Beers

See also

References

External links