Location |
Panevėžys, Lithuania |
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Opened | 1902 | ||||||||||||||||||
Owned by | Royal Unibrew | ||||||||||||||||||
Active beers | |||||||||||||||||||
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Kalnapilis is a Lithuanian brewery, established by Albert Foight in Panevėžys in 1902. A landowner of German origin, Foight named the brewery "Bergschlösschen", meaning a small castle on the hill. In 1918, the name was changed to a Lithuanian equivalent of Bergschlösschen, Kalnapilis.
Kalnapilis was taken over by Baltic Beverages Holding (established by Pripps of Sweden and Hartwall of Finland) in 1994. Ownership passed to Royal Unibrew in 2001, which merged the Kalnapilis with Tauras brewery in Vilnius into AB Kalnapilio-Tauro Grupė.
In April 1996, new fermentation and storage equipment enabled significantly different processing, the result being the introduction of three new brands. The brewery has an annual maximum capacity of 600,000 hectolitres.
Kalnapilis won 2 gold awards at the 2004 World Beer Cup, the Olympics of beer competitions; one in the German Style Heller Bock or Maibock category, for 'Kalnapilis 7.3', and one in the Muenchener style Helles category, for 'Kalnapilis Original'.
The brand has a significant presence in sports advertising, and promotes a sporty image.