Pécsi Sörfőzde – Pécs beer factory
I found myself in my wife’s old hometown of Pécs, a small university city and former Roman settlement about 200 km south of the Hungarian capital Budapest. She kindly organised a visit to the Pécsi Sörfőzde or the “Pécs Beer Factory”. This is the largest brewery in the Transdanubian region of Hungary. It also has family connections because her grandmother and grandfather both worked there at one time.
Our tour guide was József Aradi who made a splendid job. Even though the tour was in Hungarian, he took the time to explain the key issues to me in English. Now this is a man who really enjoys his work. At the end of the tour, he mans the brewery’s cosy bar and invites its guests to sample its various products. I wasn’t particularly impressed with the brewery’s new Cherry beer. But it was the fist time I’d ever drunk its Barna beer on draught. Now that is absolutely delicious!
Potted history
The site started life as a monastery, way back in the middle ages. This was back in the days before clean drinking water came out of a tap. Monks made beer because the small percentage of alcohol killed the harmful bacteria in the water, thus making it safer to drink than water. The profits from selling the beer helped to fund a hospital run by the monks. The brewery was turned into a commercial undertaking in 1848 by Hirschfeld Lipót (which translates to “Leopold Hirschfeld” in English).
Following the death of Leopold Hirschfeld, his son Sámuel took over the brewery. He expanded the facilities and drilled a spring to provide a steady supply of high quality water. The trademark “Szalon Sör” (Parlour Beer) was registered as a trademark by the Iparkamara” (Industry Chamber) in 1907. The brand is still produced today.
In 1911, Sámuel founded the company that would later become known as “Pécsi Sörfőzde Rt.” It was first known as Hirschfeld S. Sörgyár Részvénytársaság (S. Hirschfeld Brewery Incorporated). In the following years, the company remained successful. It survived the depression, and two world wars. The company was nationalised during the communist takeover following World War 2. The Hungarian Government ordered it to increase production. Consequently, and it saw significant growth during the the 1970s and 1980s.
Post communism
In 1992, just after the Velvet revolution saw the end of communism in Hungary, the brewery returned to the private sector. In 1993, a large portion of the company was purchased by the Austrian Ottakringer Group. The new ownership and additional capital paid for modernising brewery. In 1994 the company’s name was changed to “Pécsi Sörfőzde Rt.” (Brewery of Pécs, Inc.). The company was majority-owned by the Austrian Ottakringer, but run independently of its parent organisation.
Today
With a capacity of 75 000 m³ Pécs Brewery Rt. is a significant player in the Hungarian beer market. It employs around 270 people, making it one of the most important companies in the southwestern Hungary. Since privatisation, it has spent more than 3.2 billion forints on improving its manufacturing facilities. The clean fresh flavour of its beer is in part determined by its brewing water. This is piped from its own wells deep in the nearby the Mecsek Mountains. This water is combined with Czech-German aromatic hops and malt made with top quality barley selected from all over Europe and the United States.
The Brewery’s top brand is its Szalon beer, which has been on the market continuously since 1907, is a traditional Hungarian beer brand that is among the five most popular beers in Hungary. However, my favourite by far is its excellent Barna. This is a German style brown beer, 5.8% alcohol by volume and ranks amongst my all-time top 3 favourite beers.
Gallery
Pictures taken using a Lumix DMC-GX7, fitted with a Risespray 7.5mm f/2.8 super wide MF lens for most shots, and a Lumix 12-32mm AF Vario for the rest.
Address
Pécsi Sörfőzde zrt
7624 Pécs, Alkotmány u. 94.
Hungary.
Links
Pécsi Sörfőzde zrt:-
https://pecsisor.hu/en/
Pécsi Sörfőzde zrt Wikipedia page:-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A9cs_Brewery
