Industry Beverages Founded 1785 | Products Beers Type of business National corporation | |
Revenue CZK 2.47 billion (USD 102 million) in 2015 Profiles | ||
Budweiser budvar brewery beer tasting tour budweis czech republic
Budweiser Budvar Brewery (Budějovický Budvar) ( [ˈbuɟɛjovit͡skiː ˈbudvar]) is a brewery in the city of České Budějovice (German: Budweis), Czech Republic, that is best known for brewing a beer known as Budweiser Budvar, brewed in accordance with the 1516 Reinheitsgebot law, using water, barley and hops.
Contents
- Budweiser budvar brewery beer tasting tour budweis czech republic
- Budweiser budvar brewery
- History
- Trademark dispute
- Privatization discussion
- Brands
- Advertising
- Awards
- References
The dispute has been ongoing since 1907 with American brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev over the name "Budweiser". In the United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama, Brazil and Peru, the Budvar beer is marketed as Czechvar. In other countries, it is sold as Budweiser Budvar.
Budweiser Budvar is one of the highest selling beers in the Czech Republic in 2014, it was exporting into approximately 66 countries. It is the best selling imported beer in Germany and in Austria and Great Britain the best selling Czech beer.
Budweiser budvar brewery
History
The history of brewing in České Budějovice, dates back to the 13th century Kingdom of Bohemia, when the city received the brewing rights. The original Budweiser Bier or Budweiser Bürgerbräu (Czech:Budějovický měšťanský pivovar), was founded here in 1785. The company began exporting to the United States in 1871. In the U.S., Anheuser-Busch started using the Budweiser brand in 1876 and registered it two years later.
A second company (now named Budvar) was established in 1895 in same town by mainly Czech brewers, which also started exporting beer under the name Budweiser (being the German way of referring to something from the city such as a beer, while "Budějovický" means the same in Czech). These exports into the US market led to the Budweiser trademark dispute. Negotiations between the three companies, the two from the original town and the American Anheuser-Busch, about using "Budweiser" reached an agreement in March 1938 that allowed Anheuser-Busch to use the brand "Budweiser" only in North America.
After the fall of communism, both local breweries tried to secure rights to traditional names.
Trademark dispute
Since the American company Anheuser-Busch InBev also have trademark for the name "Budweiser", the two companies have been party to many lawsuits in a number of countries since the beginning of the 20th century.
Because of such disputes, Czech Budweiser is sold in North America under the label Czechvar and American Budweiser is labelled as Bud in all European Union markets, except for the United Kingdom, Ireland and Sweden, where both beers are sold as Budweiser.
On 29 July 2010, Anheuser-Busch lost its last-instance appeal, which means that Anheuser-Busch may not register the name Budweiser as an EU-wide trademark for beer.
Privatization discussion
On 6 April 2007, Czech Agriculture Minister Petr Gandalovič, whose ministry is in charge of the state-owned company, announced that the Budvar brewery would be privatized. Gandalovič repeated the possible privatization process would depend on the outcome of the trademark dispute with Anheuser-Busch.
The company did not later go through privatization.
Brands
Advertising
In 2002, Budějovický Budvar set up a subsidiary company in the UK, Budweiser Budvar UK Limited, and saw a dramatic rise in sales for Budweiser Budvar in the UK, where the brand gained far wider distribution. For the start of the 2002–03 Scottish football season, Budweiser Budvar began sponsoring Scottish First Division side Falkirk F.C.. In the 2002–2003, Falkirk won the First Division but were denied entry to the Scottish Premier League as the member clubs voted out their groundsharing proposals. Budweiser Budvar UK Ltd subsequently released a statement confirming their continued sponsorship of Falkirk in spite of this setback showing support for the club. Budweiser Budvar continued to sponsor Falkirk F.C. for another two seasons when Falkirk won the First Division again in 2004–2005 in the new Falkirk Stadium and were this time promoted to the SPL as a fitting end to Falkirk's Budweiser Budvar era.
Awards
Awards include a gold medal at the World Exhibition in Prague in 1896, three times in succession two gold awards (for a lager and special) at the non-competitive Monde Selection quality contest in 1999, 2000, and 2001, and third place at the 2010 Australian International Beer Awards. As for domestic awards, it has been six times "Beer of the Year" in Beer courier magazine (1996, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004).