Dudák - Czech Breweries 3.

Location: Strakonice, South Bohemia

Strakonice has a long beer brewing tradition. The town grew from the villages below the castle built in 1230. Beer had been brewed there since before 1308. Bavor IV of Strakonice granted the local people the right to brew beer on 8^th December 1367. 

Due to the hardships of the Thirty Years’ War, the impoverished beer makers agreed with the town authorities to establish a common brewery in house No. 47 in 1649. At that time, there were 158 houses with the right to brew beer in Strakonice. The town brewery was expanding, and the old technology was replaced by new industrial ones. In 1873-74 a steam-driven brewery was built on the bank of the Otava river, and the old house turned into a malt house. The World War I. and II. was a catastrophe for the local beer making too, and in 1948 the brewery was nationalized and incorporated into South Bohemian Breweries. After the Velvet Revolution the life of the brewery has been changed. After a long process of privatization, in 2005 the Strakonice Brewery went to the ownership of the city, and now the town of Strakonice is the only shareholder of this company. Extensive modernization was started and it will completed in 2019. In 2011 the company changed its name to DUDÁK (Bagpiper). The brewery offers various types of beer that are demanded, among others Švanda draught pale ale, Dudák premium pale and dark lager, Klostermann semi-dark lager, or Král Šumavy pale lager. Another popular brand is Sklepák unfiltered lager. The taste of Strakonice beer is strong and popular.

Bernard - Czech Breweries 2.

Location: Humpolec, Highlands Region

In 1991 Stanislav Bernard, Josef Vávra and Rudolf Šmejkal won an auction for the small privatization of the bankrupt brewery in Humpolec, established in the 16th century. They have started a long renovation and development process, including the whole modernization of the factory. In 2000, the brewery became a part of a join-stock company. Since July of 2001, Bernard Brewery is in strategic partnership with the Duvel Moortgat from the Kingdom of Belgium. In the past twenty years the Bernard Family brewery continued its growing, and became a well-known premium brand throughout the entire Czech Republic. 

Nowadays the Bernard is well known not only at home, but also in many countries worldwide. In 2009 more than 200.000 hl of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beer was produced and exported to 26 countries. The success of their product is based upon the special recipe, the use of the best ingredients (malt from the own malt house, czech hop, own yeast culture, own spring water from the Czech-Moravian highlands), and other special brew making technologies. And the main difference between the Bernard and other czech beers is the use of the microfiltration technology, a special procedure for the final beer treatment that really makes Bernard an exceptional, unpasteurized beer.

Eggenberg - Czech Breweries 1.

Location: Český Krumlov, South Bohemia

The tradition of brewing beer in Český Krumlov (one of the most beautiful czech town) dates right back to the origins of the town. Under the reign of the last of the Rosenbergs, in 1560, a new brewery was built in the castle grounds and a year later, regent Jakub Krčín established a source of very high quality water, which the brewery still uses today. In 1662 the entire Český Krumlov estate, together with the brewery, was acquired by the Eggenbergs. The rising demand for beer was the reason why the former seat of the mother of Vilém and Petr Vok of Rosenberg), the former armoury building, was converted in 1625–30 into what is now the brewery.

In 1945, the brewery came under state ownership and together with Budějovický Budvar was incorporated into the national concern Jihočeské pivovary (South Bohemian Breweries). After privatisation in 1991, new, modern technology was installed and the brewing capacity increased, and the Eggenberg brand quickly became well known and popular again. Visitors can take a tour iin the brewery (every day from 11.00 a.m) to sample some of the beer produced here.