Starobrno
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| Manufacturer | Starobrno Brewery, Brno, Czech Republic |
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| Alcohol by volume |
Ležák: 5% |
| Style | Various Pale lagers, Dark lager, Alcohol-free beer |
Ležák: 5%
Medium: 4.5%
Řezák: 4%
Traditional: 4%
Dark lager: 3.8%
Starobrno Brewery (in Czech: Pivovar Starobrno) is a Czech brewery located in the city of Brno. It was built as a successor of the brewery founded in 1325, as a part of Cistercian convent. The brewery was named Starobrno Brewery only in the second half of the 19th century. In 2009, Starobrno Brewery produced more than one million hectoliters of beer. The same year, the brewery merged with the Royal Brewery of Krušovice and became a part of the Dutch brewing company Heineken.
The beginnings of the brewery were connected with the Cistercian convent, built by Elisabeth Richeza of Poland, and located in the Old Brno district. The brewery was initially independent from the city council; it was managed by a burgher named Mořic. However, the quality of the beer was strictly controlled by the city councillors.
During the Hussite Wars in the first half of the 15th century, the brewery and convent buildings were burned down several times, but were always restored in something like their old form. Following the Battle of White Mountain, in 1624, the city of Brno was forced to pay a special charge per beer, called "pivní tác". After the successful defense of the city against Swedish sieges in 1645, Brno was allowed to levy the charge for its own purposes.
In 1782, the convent was closed by decision of emperor Joseph II, and the property passed to the hands of St Thomas's Abbey. There is no evidence of the existence of the brewery between 1782 and 1825, as the archives were destroyed.
The second half of the 19th century in the Czech lands was marked by expansion of the brewing industry. The outdated equipment and the low capacity of the Old Brno brewery were insufficient for increasing demands of the rapidly growing city. The last owners of the original brewery, Josef Mandel and his son-in-law Herrmann Hayek therefore decided to build new, representative and modern brewing buildings. In 1872, the company "Mandel a Hayek" began construction of a new brewery on "V hlinkách" street. The buildings of the former brewery were used to construct a new malt-house. In the last decade of the 19th century, the brewery merged with another brewing company, located in Brněnské Ivanovice. The production was moved to the new capacities in Old Brno. At the end of the 19th century, the annual production of the consolidated brewery was 236,490 hectoliters.
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