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Spaten Franziskaner-Bräu

Endurance is crucial for any brewery to keep up with the times, innovate and succeed, and it’s something Spaten Franziskaner-Bräu knows well. As early as 1397, the Munich, Germany, tax registry listed a brewery in the building that would become the Spaten brewery. The brewery was owned by a number of families, including three that ran the operation for a century each. The Spatts, who gave the business its current name, were in charge from 1622 to 1704.


Spaten merged with Franziskaner, another local brewery, in 1861, and by 1867 Spaten was the largest brewery in Munich – a title it held until the 1890s, when it won a gold medal for beer at the Paris World Exhibition.


Always with innovation in mind, Spaten became the first Munich brewery to brew a light lager using the Pilsner method, its Spaten Munich Helles Lager, in 1894. Exports to the United States began in 1909.


World War II bombing raids on Munich damaged the brewery, halting exports until 1950. During Oktoberfest 1964, Spaten released Champagner Weisse, its first Weissbier, and that tradition continues today. Other Spaten Franziskaner exports include Spaten Optimator and Munich Dunkel, as well as Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse and Oktoberfest beers.


Source: Spaten Franziskaner-Bräu

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