Region & History

How old is the oldest brewery in Prague? That depends on who you ask. At the house U Fleků in the New Town, maltster and brewer Vít Skřemenec bought a building in 1499 and set up a brewery there, and beer has been brewed there without interruption ever since. The house takes its name from Jakub Flekovský, who took over the operation in 1762.

The history of the U Medvídků brewery, the house "At the Little Bears," reaches back even further. Written sources mention the house as early as 1404, and a certain Jan Medvídek is said to have begun brewing here in 1466. Brewing continued until 1898, when the owners could no longer compete with the rising industrial breweries and gave up the operation. Production only resumed after 1989.

The Strahov Monastery above the city also once brewed its own beer. The Premonstratensians founded their monastery in 1142, and Abbot Kaspar Questenberg had a new brewery built in 1628. It closed in 1907, and the buildings long served afterward as storage and utility rooms for the monastery. In 2000, the Strahov Monastery Brewery reopened following renovation.

Large-scale industry arrived in the 19th century. On October 23, 1869, a brewery was founded in Smíchov on the banks of the Vltava, which would become Staropramen. The first brew was produced on May 1, 1871, and the brand name, literally "old spring," was registered in 1911. Today Staropramen belongs to the Molson Coors group.

There is no protected designation of origin specifically for Prague beer. Since October 17, 2008, "České pivo" has been registered as a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) for Czech beer. Prague does not appear there as its own name; it falls under the region of Bohemia.