Żywiec Brewery
Żywiec Brewery is a brewery founded in 1852, in Żywiec, Poland, then part of Austria-Hungary. It was nationalised after the Second World War. Grupa Zywiec S.A. consists of five main breweries: Żywiec Brewery, Elbrewery, Leżajsk, Warka Brewery and Cieszyn Brewery. Currently the Dutch Heineken Group (Heineken International Beheer B.V.), with a 61% shareholding, has control over major operations. The brewery has the capacity of producing 5 million hls a year, making it the largest brewery in Grupa Zywiec.
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[edit] History
The brewery started operating in 1856. [1][2] It was owned by the Habsburgs until it was confiscated by the post-WWII Communist government of Poland. At the beginning of the 1990s a court case was started by the descendants of the original owners, who sued the Polish government demanding $77 million[3] compensation for the nationalisation and the use of the Habsburg family name and coat of arms for marketing purposes. The case was settled out of court on undisclosed terms in December 2005.[4][5]
[edit] Products
The brewery produces several brands of beer, usually pale lagers of varying strengths from usually 10.5° to 14° Balling or 5.6-9.5% alcohol, including:
- Żywiec Full a pale lager
- Żywiec Full Light a pale lager
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "Newspaper article about the brewery, Gazeta Wyborcza (Katowice), 7 November 2006 (Polish)". http://miasta.gazeta.pl/katowice/1,75700,3723646.html. Retrieved 2007-10-03.
- ^ "Żywiec" entry in Czuma, Mieczysław; Leszek Mazan (1998) (in Polish). Encyklopedia Galicyjska. Kraków: Anabasis. ISBN 83-85931-06-6.
- ^ Radio Free Europe report, 14 December 1999"Friar Sues State Treasury Over Sold Brewery". http://www.rferl.org/reports/pbureport/1999/12/28-141299.asp. Retrieved 2007-10-08.
- ^ http://miasta.gazeta.pl/katowice/1,35019,3054465.html (Polish)
- ^ "Beer Battle Comes to a Head". http://www.warsawvoice.pl/view/10117/. Retrieved 2007-10-03.
[edit] External links
- Żywiec Official Website (English) (Polish)
- Żywiec Group
- Brewery Museum (German) (English) (Polish)
- Documents about the brewery and its owners at the Żywiec branch of Katowice State Archive.
