Staropramen Brewery is the second largest brewery in the Czech Republic, and is situated in the Smíchov district of Prague. It was founded in 1869 and the brand name Staropramen, literally meaning “old spring”, was registered in 1911. It is owned by Molson Coors and its products are exported to 37 different countries, mostly in Europe and North America.
History
Staropramen Brewery's history begins in 1869 when shares for a "Joint Stock Brewery in Smíchov" were offered for sale. The brewery building was completed and beer first brewed in 1871. The Ostravar Brewery opened in 1898 followed a year later by the Braník brewery; these two breweries would later merge with Staropramen. Due to competition from other Prague breweries, the brand name Staropramen, which translates as “old spring", was registered in 1911. After the First World War, all three breweries saw a period of sustained growth, and by the 1930s Staropramen was the largest brewery in Czechoslovakia. With socialism after the Second World War, all Czechoslovakian breweries were nationalised, including Staropramen. After socialism ended in 1989, the brewery, along with the Braník and Měšťan breweries, became in 1992 part of the Prague Breweries group, which by 1996 came under control of the Bass company. Bass brought Ostravar into the group in 1997, then in 2000 sold its brewing operations to Interbrew, which merged with AmBev in 2004 to form Inbev. Staropramen has seen steady growth and is currently the Czech Republic's second largest beer producer with a 15.3% share of the domestic market. In mid October 2009, private equity fundCVC Capital Partners bought all of Anheuser–Busch InBev's holdings in Central Europe for €2.23 billion. They renamed the operations StarBev. In April 2012, Molson Coors bought StarBev.
Staropramen Extra Chmelená – an extra bitter pale lager, contains 5.2% ABV.
Staropramen Déčko – pale beer with reduced sugar content, and 4.0% ABV.
Staropramen Granát – a semi-dark lager with 4,8% ABV.
The company also produces beers under the Ostravar, Braník and Velvet brands. Staropramen beers are also produced under licence in several other European countries, including Serbia, Croatia, Romania, and Georgia.
Controversy
In September 2015, Carlsberg Group, which is involved in the import of Czech brand into Northern Europe, had ordered a recall of Staropramen draft beer from 680 Swedish pubs, after the beer caused bleeding and blisters in the mouth for two people. Both persons were involved in the distribution of beer, and the devalued beer did not go on sale. Two containers of draft beer had contained a highly corrosive cleaning agent instead of beer. The solution did not smell or taste like beer. Staropramen assured, that it had introduced a new mechanism that strengthens the control of the presence of cleaning solutions in the barrels.
