Aktienbrauerei Kaufbeuren

Aktienbrauerei Kaufbeuren is the oldest brewery in Swabia, Germany, the first written record about it is from 1308. Its legal form is a joint stock company with shares traded at Börse München.

Aktienbrauerei Kaufbeuren
LocationKaufbeuren, Bavaria, Germany Hohe Buchleute 3
Coordinates47°52′38″N 10°37′3″E
Opened1308
Key peopleJonathan Kendrick, Alexey Dozhdalev, Gottfried Csauth
Websiteaktienbrauerei.de
Aktienbrauerei building in Kaufbeuren

History

A document from 1308 records that Heinrich der Twinger, citizen of Kaufbeuren, bequeathed all his property to the town's Holy Ghost Hospice including his brewhouse. This formed the basis of what became the Aktien brewery in Kaufbeuren. The name changed over the centuries as it bought up other producers, with its current name dating back to 1920. Aktienbrauerei means literally "share brewery", meaning that it is owned by its shareholders.

The Kaufbeuren Brewers Guild was formed in 1325 making a declaration that all beers produced in the town could only use barley, hops, yeasts and pure water. All other ingredients were banned. This pre-dated the Bavarian Reinheitsgebot (Purity Order) of 1516 by almost 200 years. In the 17th century the brewery became one of the first in Bavaria to offer wheat ales, a speciality previously reserved for Bavarian royalty. Today’s brewery buildings with deep cellars were built in 1807. Aktien Brewery won several international beer competitions from the late 1800s on. It continues to use locally grown Hallertau hops and grains from the same farms they have been using for over 700 years.

In 1997 it bought out the Rosen-Brauerei, its last remaining competitor in Kaufbeuren. The start of the 2000s saw changes of trading names and of ownership of the majority of the company's shares. In 2004/2005 it reported an operating loss of around 600,000 Euros. In 2013 US billionaire John Paul DeJoria took a 55% stake in the company, acquiring the remaining 45% in September 2017. The brewery forms part of DeJoria's ROKit group of companies through which it is marketed internationally under the name ABK Beer,[1] appearing on Williams Formula One racing cars since the start of 2019.[2][3]

See also

References
  1. http://www.abkbeer.com/?page_id=33
  2. "Kaufbeuren goes Königsklasse: So kommt das ABK-Logo auf einen Formel-1-Renner". Allgäuer Zeitung (in German). 15 February 2019. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  3. "ROK Group expands Williams commitment". SportBusiness. SBG Companies Limited. 24 October 2019. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
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