Region & History

Where does Gösser beer come from? From Göss, a district of Leoben in Upper Styria. As early as 1459, a brewmaster named Lenhart Newmaister is recorded at the women's abbey there. The abbey was dissolved in 1782, but brewing continued.

Göss made the leap to industrial-scale brewery under Max Kober. The brewmaster from Żywiec in Galicia bought the operation in 1860. By around 1892, Göss was the largest brewery in Upper Styria, and in 1973 it surpassed one million hectoliters a year for the first time.

In 1838, the Puntigam brewery was founded south of Graz. Franz Knabl of Graz established it at Puntigamhof, a name originally belonging to a family. Franz Hold took over in 1840, the Schreiner family in 1889, and in 1913 the brewery hit its record output of 380,000 hectoliters.

Today Gösser and Puntigamer belong together. In 1977, Gösser joined the Steirerbrau group; in 1991 it merged into Brau-Beteiligungs-AG, and since 1993 both brands have operated under the umbrella of Brau Union. The Heineken group took over Brau Union in 2003.

Alongside these stand two breweries that go their own way. Murau has been brewing since 1495, operating as a cooperative since 1910 that, according to the brewery, belongs to 468 regional members. In Hirt near Micheldorf in Carinthia, an inventory of the Gurk Cathedral Chapter first mentions the brewery in 1270; today it's Carinthia's only private brewery, still a family business.

There's no EU protected designation of origin for a Styrian or Carinthian beer. What is protected, however, is Styrian Pumpkin Seed Oil, which will get its own spotlight later at the table.