Opened 1998 Type of business Brewery | Founded 1998 | |
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Annual production volume 2 million hectolitres (1,700,000 US bbl) | ||
The Elbląg Brewery is Poland's largest brewery and belongs to the Żywiec Group, established in 1998 after merging Zakłady Piwowarskie Żywiec SA and Brewpole B.V..
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Brewery
The history of the Elbing Brewing Tradition dates back to 1309, when Teutonic Master Siegfried von Leuchtwangen granted brewing privileges to the town of Elbing. The present brewery was founded in 1872 as the Elbinger Aktien-Brauerei. In the early 1900s, the brewery was the exclusive supplier of Pilsner beer to the court of German Emperor Wilhelm II.
After Soviet Communist take-over at the end of WW II, Elbing became the Polish Elbląg (El-blang), and the brewery was reopened as a state-owned enterprise. Following the 1990 collapse of Communism, the brewery's owners Żywiec S.A. and Brewpole BV (Elbląg, Warka, Leżajsk) merged to form Grupa Zywiec S.A.. The Dutch Heineken Group (Heineken International Beheer B.V.) then became a majority shareholder in Grupa Zywiec S.A. with a 61% shareholding. Harbin B.V., a private investment company and the former owner of Brewpole B.V. owns 36.2% and the remaining shares are publicly traded on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
The brewery has a capacity of approximately 2 million hectolitres (1,700,000 US bbl).
EB beer
"EB" was a popular brand of beer introduced by Elbląg Brewery in 1993 and marketed toward young consumers. Although Grupa Żywiec no longer includes EB in its product line, the beer is still available in the United States, Germany and other export markets. According to the Grupa Żywiec website, Elbląg Brewery currently produces the following beers: Specjal Jasny Pełny, Specjal Mocny, Warka Gdańskie, and Hevelius Kaper.
Logo
The Elbląg Brewery's logo features a kangaroo and an emu.