The oldest brewery in the Czech Republic: Břevnov, U Fleků or Černá Hora?

Czech heritage records · the oldest breweries

“The oldest brewery in the Czech Republic” is a question answered mostly by the breweries themselves, each in its own way. One claims the year its monastery was founded, another the first mention of beer in its village, a third the year a maltster bought its house. We went through the National Archives, the National Heritage Institute, Kudy z nudy, Prague's tourist portal and Wikipedia, and for each year we explain what it actually means. Claims that come only from the breweries are marked as such.

Břevnov: the oldest tradition (993)

Břevnov Monastery was founded in 993 by Prince Boleslaus II and Bishop St Adalbert. It is the oldest monastery for men in Bohemia, and the oldest brewing tradition in the country is attached to it. Czech Television calls it the oldest known brewery in Bohemia, founded together with the monastery, and Kudy z nudy the oldest Czech monastery brewery.

The evidence is more modest, though. According to the National Archives, the “993” foundation charter is a forgery, probably made in the mid-13th century. Prague's tourist portal says the brewery is indirectly documented by a charter from the mid-13th century. During the Hussite Wars the monastery and brewery were almost destroyed; a new brewery was built in 1720, and brewing stopped in 1889. The old brewery and malthouse buildings were demolished in 1952–1953 to make way for today's Patočkova Street; they stood between the monastery and the U Kaštanu inn.

Today's Břevnov Monastery Brewery of St Adalbert brews in the monastery's Baroque stables. Sources differ on when it started: the brewery and Wikipedia give 2011, Deník 2012, and Prague's tourist portal and Kudy z nudy 2013. Kudy z nudy adds explicitly that no Czech monastery brewery can claim an unbroken brewing tradition since the early Middle Ages.

The Vyšehrad charter and hops (1088)

Popular texts often repeat that the oldest mention of beer in Bohemia is in King Vratislaus II's founding charter for Vyšehrad of 1088, which mentions a tithe of hops. But the charter survives only in four later copies, and according to the Vyšehrad chapter it “cannot be considered genuine”, though its content probably has a real core. We have not verified the mention of hops in the primary text ourselves.

U Fleků: the longest in one place in Prague (1499)

The U Fleků brewery in Křemencova Street claims 1499. That year the maltster Vít Skřemenec bought the house, so it is the first written record, not a documented start of brewing. It is named after Jakub Flekovský, who bought the house in 1762. English Wikipedia describes it as the oldest brewery in Prague.

Whether beer has really been brewed here without a break for more than 500 years, sources do not agree. The brewery itself says it is “one of the few” such breweries in Central Europe, and one page of Prague's tourist portal even “the only one”. Another page of the same portal, however, says the house fell into decline after the Battle of White Mountain. The building with its beer hall is a protected monument: it consists of several medieval houses whose walls survive in the basement, rebuilt in Baroque style in 1675. Incidentally, the Croatian football club Hajduk Split was founded at the brewery in 1911.

Other Prague breweries with an old tradition: Strahov Monastery has a brewery documented around 1400. According to the National Heritage Institute, today's building is a late Renaissance new build of 1629, and a microbrewery has been brewing in the complex again since 2000. The house U Medvídků was bought by the maltster Mikuláš in 1433, and beer was brewed there until 1898.

Moravia: Černá Hora or Starobrno?

The Černá Hora brewery near Blansko gives 1298 as the first written mention of Černá Hora beer; the brewery itself is documented in 1530. Seznam Zprávy calls it “probably the oldest working brewery in Moravia”. The story of the Knights Templar enjoying the beer comes only from the brewery and tourist websites.

Its rival is Starobrno in Brno, which claims 1325, when a brewery is said to have been founded at the Cistercian convent. According to the National Heritage Institute, however, the oldest buildings of today's complex date from the 1870s. Which claim is stronger depends on what we count: the year a brewery claims, or the first mention of beer.

Plzeň: the birthplace of lager (1842)

Beer was brewed in Plzeň from the founding of the town in 1295, when King Wenceslas II granted the burghers brewing rights. World fame, however, came only with the Burghers' Brewery, today's Pilsner Urquell. On 5 October 1842 the Bavarian brewer Josef Groll brewed the first batch of Pilsner lager there. A whole beer style is still named after Plzeň. It is therefore the oldest brewery still operating in Plzeň.

The Jubilee Gate of 1892, built for the brewery's 50th anniversary, and the water tower have been protected monuments since 2008.

More old breweries and monastery traditions

• České Budějovice received brewing rights from Ottokar II in 1265. The Budějovice Burghers' Brewery was formed by merging breweries in 1795, and Budějovický Budvar brewed its first beer on 7 October 1895.
• Krušovice: the year 1517 on its labels is the year of the St Wenceslas Agreement, which gave the nobility the right to brew beer. The first specific mention of the brewery is from 1581; two years later Emperor Rudolf II bought it, hence “royal”.
• Svijany has a brewery documented before 1564.
• Vyšší Brod: the monastery brewery is mentioned in 1380. It no longer brews, but the old and new brewery buildings are protected as part of the monastery.
• Osek: the monastery brewery building dates from 1700–1702, and beer is brewed there again today.
• Broumov: the brewery claims a tradition from 1348, when Benedictines came to the town. According to Wikipedia, however, the monastery brewery dates only from 1712.

And there would be no beer without hops: Žatec and the Landscape of Saaz Hops has been on the UNESCO list since 2023 as the world's first hop-growing landscape. The town also has a Hop Museum.

The oldest brewery in the world

For comparison: Bavaria's Weihenstephan, which claims 1040, is often called the oldest brewery in the world. German and English Wikipedia point out, however, that the date comes from a document considered a forgery. Weltenburg Abbey on the Danube claims 1050 and calls itself the oldest monastery brewery in the world. Both are the breweries' own claims, much like Břevnov.

Table: the oldest breweries in the Czech Republic

Trip ideas

Beer in Prague: Břevnov Monastery with its monastery brewery, Strahov with its monastery microbrewery, and U Fleků in the centre. Břevnov and U Fleků offer tours and small brewing museums; Strahov has a brewery restaurant with a microbrewery.

Plzeň: a brewery tour with the lagering cellars, the Brewery Museum in a historic brewing house, and the Plzeň Historical Underground.

We do not list opening hours or admission prices because they change. You will find them on the breweries' and tourist centres' websites.

More Czech heritage records

• The oldest town hall in the Czech Republic
• The oldest town in the Czech Republic
• The oldest house in the Czech Republic, in Prague and in Brno
• The oldest castle in the Czech Republic
• The largest castle in the Czech Republic and the world
• The largest chateau in the Czech Republic
• The oldest church in the Czech Republic
• The oldest synagogue in Europe and the oldest monasteries in the Czech Republic
• The oldest bridge in the Czech Republic

All records in one place: Czech heritage records.

END

Frequently asked questions

Information from the National Archives, the National Heritage Institute, the Vyšehrad chapter, prague.eu, Kudy z nudy, Czech Television, Seznam Zprávy, Deník, Czech, English and German Wikipedia, the journal Kvasný průmysl and brewery websites (claims made only by breweries are marked in the text). Photographs from Wikimedia Commons. Lead photo: Břevnov Monastery, ŠJů, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.