Beer cities of the world

224 cities in 39 countries where beer history was written or where a lively beer scene is growing today. Ideal for anyone who wants to discover breweries and beer culture on holiday or at home.

Europe

Austria

• Vienna and Schwechat – Vienna lager was born here in 1841.
• Salzburg – At the Augustiner Bräu of Mülln Abbey you take a stone mug from the shelf yourself, rinse it at the fountain and have it filled…
• Obertrum – The Trumer brewery has been brewing since 1601 and is known for its Pils, fermented in open vessels.
• Leoben – Gösser is brewed on the grounds of the former Göss Abbey; the brewery was founded in 1860 and is one of Austria’s best known…
• Vorchdorf – Every year on 6 December, Samichlaus beer is brewed at Schloss Eggenberg.
• St. Martin im Mühlkreis – This is home to the Hofstetten brewery.
• Engelhartszell – At Engelszell Abbey on the Danube, Trappist monks have brewed their own beer since 2012, for example the dark Gregorius.

Belgium

• Antwerp – Legend has it that the giant Druon Antigoon demanded a toll from the boatmen on the Scheldt and cut off the hand of anyone who…
• Bruges – The lords of Gruuthuse held the right to tax gruit, the herb mixture used to flavour beer before hops.
• Ghent – At the Dulle Griet beer bar you only get the big “Max” glass against a deposit: one of your shoes, which is hoisted up to the…
• Brussels – Lambic is brewed in the area around Brussels.
• Leuven – The Den Hoorn brewery is mentioned in Leuven as early as 1366.
• Mechelen – Beer has been brewed in the Great Beguinage since the 15th century, today by the Het Anker brewery.
• Westvleteren – The monks of the Abbey of Saint Sixtus have been brewing since 1838 and only as much as they need to support themselves.
• Orval – Legend has it that Countess Mathilda of Tuscany lost her wedding ring in a spring, and a trout brought it back.
• Hoegaarden – In the late 1950s the last witbier brewery here closed.
• Poperinge – Belgium’s hop capital is surrounded by hop fields.
• Roeselare – The Rodenbach brewery (since 1821) matures its Flanders red ale in huge oak vats called foeders, which fill an entire hall.
• Beersel – This village south of Brussels is a centre of lambic.

Czechia

• Pilsen – Birthplace of Pilsner (1842).
• České Budějovice (Budweis) – The town received brewing rights when it was founded in 1265.
• Prague – The U Fleků brewpub has been brewing since 1499 and still serves only its own dark lager.
• Žatec (Saaz) – Centre of the Saaz hop region, with a hop and beer temple and a hop museum.
• Krušovice – Emperor Rudolf II bought the brewery in 1583, which is why it is still called the Royal Brewery of Krušovice.
• Velké Popovice – Kozel has been brewed here since 1874.
• Chodová Planá – This village in western Bohemia is known for its rock cellars carved deep into the stone.

Denmark

• Copenhagen – The Elephant Gate of the Carlsberg brewery, built in 1901, rests on four granite elephants.
• Hellerup – Tuborg was founded in 1873 at the harbour north of Copenhagen.
• Fredericia – Carlsberg and Tuborg are brewed today in this town in Jutland, including the Christmas beer for J-Day.
• Odense – In Hans Christian Andersen’s home town, the Albani brewery has been brewing since 1859.
• Aarhus – The Ceres brewery brewed here from 1856 to 2008.

Estonia

• Tallinn – Põhjala, one of the best-known craft breweries in northern Europe, brews in the capital.
• Saku – Beer has been brewed in this village south of Tallinn since 1820.
• Tartu – A.
• Saaremaa – Home ale with juniper is still brewed on Estonia’s largest island, for example at the Pihtla farmhouse brewery.

Finland

• Helsinki – Nikolai Sinebrychoff founded the oldest brewery in the Nordic countries here in 1819.
• Kerava – Sinebrychoff now brews in Kerava, north of Helsinki; the brewery belongs to Carlsberg.
• Lammi – This village in Häme is a stronghold of sahti, which is still filtered through a wooden trough in the old way.
• Iisalmi – Home of Olvi, the largest Finnish-owned brewery.
• Lahti – The Hartwall brewery brews Lapin Kulta, “the gold of Lapland”, here, among others.
• Sonkajärvi – This village in Savonia has hosted the Wife Carrying World Championships since 1992.

France

• Strasbourg – The brewery known today as Kronenbourg was founded here in 1664.
• Hochfelden – The Meteor family brewery traces itself back to 1640 and is one of the oldest independent breweries in France.
• Jenlain – The Duyck family has been brewing in this village near the Belgian border since 1922.
• Lille – Capital of the north, whose farmhouse breweries created bière de garde: brewed in winter and spring and stored until summer.
• Chamalières – After 1871, at the small Kuhn brewery near Clermont-Ferrand, Louis Pasteur tested his ideas for cleaner beer.
• Paris – Pasteur researched fermentation here.
• Furiani (Corsica) – The Pietra brewery has been brewing an amber beer with chestnut flour since 1996.
• Metz – Saint Arnulf, one of the patron saints of brewers, is buried here.

Germany

• Munich – The Hofbräuhaus was founded in 1589 as the ducal brewery.
• Bamberg – The city of smoked beer.
• Cologne – Under the 1986 Kölsch Convention, Kölsch may only be brewed in Cologne and a few places nearby.
• Düsseldorf – In the old town, “the longest bar in the world”, brewpubs such as Uerige brew their own Altbier and serve it fresh from the cask.
• Dortmund – In the 1960s and 1970s Dortmund was considered the biggest beer city in Europe.
• Einbeck – In the Middle Ages this Hanseatic town supplied beer to many cities in northern Europe.
• Freising – The Weihenstephan brewery traces itself back to 1040 and is considered the oldest brewery still operating in the world.
• Leipzig – Gose, a sour beer with salt and coriander, comes from Goslar and became so popular in Leipzig that it is still brewed here, for…
• Berlin – Napoleon’s soldiers are said to have called Berliner Weisse “the champagne of the north”.
• Hamburg – In the late Middle Ages Hamburg was the “brewhouse of the Hanseatic League” and shipped its beer across the North Sea and the…
• Kulmbach – Legend has it that at the end of the 19th century a brewery apprentice here left a barrel of bock outside in winter.

Hungary

• Budapest – In 1862 Anton Dreher bought a brewery in Kőbánya; the cellars of the old quarry were perfect for lagering.
• Pécs – Leopold Hirschfeld founded a brewery here in 1848.
• Sopron – This town on the Austrian border is the home of Soproni.
• Bőcs – The Borsodi brewery has brewed in the north-east of the country since 1973.

Iceland

• Reykjavík – On 1 March 1989 the whole city celebrated the first legal beer in 74 years.
• Akureyri – This town just south of the Arctic Circle is home to the Einstök brewery, whose beers are exported to many countries.
• Árskógssandur – The small Kaldi family brewery has been brewing here since 2006 and runs a beer spa.

Ireland

• Dublin – The lease for the brewery at St.
• Cork – The city has its own stouts, Murphy’s and Beamish, which many locals prefer to Guinness.
• Kilkenny – From 1710 Smithwick’s brewed next to the ruins of a Franciscan abbey where monks had already brewed beer in the Middle Ages.
• Dundalk – Harp Lager was created here in 1960, Guinness’s answer to the growing success of lager.

Italy

• Biella – Menabrea, founded in 1846, is considered the oldest brewery still operating in Italy.
• Udine and Tricesimo – Luigi Moretti founded his brewery in Udine in 1859.
• Rome – Peroni moved from Vigevano to Rome in 1864 and, with brands such as Nastro Azzurro, became one of Italy’s best-known breweries.
• Algund near Merano – The Forst family brewery has been brewing in South Tyrol since 1857.
• Piozzo – Teo Musso started brewing here in 1996 at his pub Le Baladin.
• Lurago Marinone near Como – Agostino Arioli opened the Birrificio Italiano here in 1996.
• Pombia – In a grave near this village on the Ticino river, archaeologists found the remains of a beer from the 6th century BC – the…

Lithuania

• Biržai – This town in the north is considered Lithuania’s beer capital.
• Pasvalys – Traditional farmhouse ales are brewed around Pasvalys too, often with house yeast.
• Klaipėda – Švyturys has brewed in this port city, formerly Memel, since 1784.
• Vilnius – The capital has many beer bars with Lithuanian farmhouse and craft beers; the Vilnius Beer Fest takes place in November.

Netherlands

• Amsterdam – The old Heineken brewery from 1867 is now a visitor centre.
• Groenlo – Grolsch was founded here in 1615; today the brand is brewed in nearby Enschede.
• Berkel-Enschot near Tilburg – At Koningshoeven Abbey, Trappist monks have been brewing “La Trappe” since 1884.
• Haarlem – In the Middle Ages one of the most important beer towns in the Netherlands.
• Zundert – At the Abbey of Maria Toevlucht, Trappists have been brewing “Zundert” since 2013.
• Lieshout – The Swinkels family has been brewing Bavaria beer here since 1719.
• Delft – In the 15th and 16th centuries Delft was one of the most important brewing towns in Holland.
• Wijlre – In the south of Limburg, Brand brews – by its own account the oldest brewery in the Netherlands (1340).

Norway

• Voss – Around Voss and in Hornindal in western Norway, farming families have preserved their kveik yeasts for generations.
• Drammen – Aass has been brewing here since 1834 – Norway’s oldest brewery still in operation.
• Oslo – Ringnes was founded in 1876 and is now Norway’s largest brewery; it belongs to Carlsberg.
• Tromsø – Mack was founded in 1877 and was long considered the northernmost brewery in the world.
• Grimstad – The Nøgne Ø brewery was one of the pioneers of the Norwegian craft beer scene.
• Longyearbyen (Spitsbergen) – Svalbard Bryggeri is now considered the northernmost brewery in the world.
• Bergen – Hansa Borg has brewed in this old Hanseatic city since 1891.
• Stjørdal – Around Stjørdal in Trøndelag farmers still brew “Stjørdalsøl” from smoked malt they kiln themselves.

Poland

• Grodzisk Wielkopolski – Home of Grodziskie, a light wheat beer made from oak-smoked malt.
• Wrocław (Breslau) – In the cellar of the town hall lies the Piwnica Świdnicka, the Świdnica Cellar, a tavern since 1273.
• Gdańsk (Danzig) – The Hanseatic city was famous for its Jopenbier: so heavy and dark that in the end it was considered more a medicine than a drink.
• Żywiec – The brewery was founded in 1856, when the town belonged to Austria, and was owned by the Habsburgs until after the Second World…
• Tychy – Beer has been brewed here continuously since 1629.
• Brzesko – The Württemberg brewer Johann Evangelist Götz founded the Okocim brewery here in 1845.
• Lublin – The country’s most important hop-growing area lies around this city in eastern Poland.

Portugal

• Leça do Balio (Porto) – Super Bock brews in this suburb of Porto.
• Lisbon – The Sociedade Central de Cervejas was founded here in 1934.
• Vialonga – Central de Cervejas brews Sagres north of Lisbon.
• Sagres – The Sagres beer is named after this place at the south-western tip of Europe, where seafarers are said to have been trained.

Slovenia

• Žalec – This town in the Savinja valley is the centre of Slovenian hop growing.
• Laško – Beer has been brewed here since 1825.
• Ljubljana – The Kosler brothers founded the Union brewery in the capital in 1864.

Spain

• Begues near Barcelona – In the Can Sadurní cave researchers found evidence of beer from the Neolithic – more than 6,000 years old.
• Barcelona – The Alsatians Louis Moritz (1856) and August Kuentzmann Damm (1876) founded their breweries here.
• Madrid – Mahou was founded in 1890 and, as Mahou San Miguel, is now Spain’s largest brewer.
• A Coruña – The Rivera family has brewed Estrella Galicia here since 1906 and is still independent.
• Seville – Cruzcampo was founded in 1904.
• Granada – Alhambra has been brewing since 1925 in the city of the famous palace and fortress after which the brewery is named.
• Cuacos de Yuste – At the monastery of Yuste, Emperor Charles V had a Flemish brewer brew beer for him in the last years of his life.
• Zaragoza – La Zaragozana has brewed Ambar beer here since 1900.

Sweden

• Gothenburg – Johan Albrecht Pripp founded his brewery in this port city in 1828, and Carnegie Porter was born here too.
• Stockholm – The capital is the centre of Sweden’s craft beer scene.
• Visby – On Gotland, “Gotlandsdricke” is brewed with juniper and smoked malt.
• Grängesberg – In 1923 the Dane Louis Spendrup took over the brewery in this mining town in Dalarna – the beginning of Spendrups, one of…

Switzerland

• St. Gallen – The monastery plan from around 820 shows three brewhouses: for the monks, for distinguished guests and for pilgrims and the poor.
• Rheinfelden – Feldschlösschen was founded in 1876.
• Zurich – Large breweries such as Hürlimann and Löwenbräu once brewed here.
• Basel – The doctor Hans Jakob Nidecker opened the Fischerstube in 1974.
• Appenzell – The Locher brewery has been in the hands of the Locher family since 1886 and is known well beyond the region for its Quöllfrisch…
• Chur – The Calanda brewery goes back to the Rhätische Aktienbrauerei, founded in 1902.
• Saignelégier – In the Franches-Montagnes, the Brasserie des Franches-Montagnes (BFM) has been brewing idiosyncratic, often barrel-aged beers…
• Lucerne – The Eichhof brewery has been brewing in Lucerne since 1834.
• Stammheim – Swiss hops grow in the Stammertal valley in the Zurich wine country.

United Kingdom

• London – Home of porter.
• Burton upon Trent – The hard, sulphate-rich water made the town the capital of pale ale.
• Edinburgh – Once the brewing centre of Scotland.
• Faversham – Shepherd Neame, considered the oldest brewery in the UK, brews in this small town in Kent.
• Tadcaster – This small Yorkshire town has several breweries, including Samuel Smith (1758), which still makes some local deliveries by…
• Innerleithen – At Traquair House, the oldest inhabited house in Scotland, the old 18th-century brewery was revived in 1965.
• Glasgow – Tennent’s has brewed at the Wellpark brewery since the 18th century.

The Americas

Argentina

• Quilmes – Otto Bemberg founded the Quilmes brewery in this city south of Buenos Aires in 1888.
• Buenos Aires – The Alsatian Emilio Bieckert brewed bock and pilsner in the capital in the 19th century.
• Bariloche – This city at the foot of the Andes is considered the capital of Argentine craft beer.
• El Bolsón – Most of Argentina’s hops grow around this small town in Patagonia; the National Hop Festival is held here every year.
• Villa General Belgrano – This village with an Alpine look in Córdoba province has celebrated Argentina’s Oktoberfest since 1963.

Brazil

• Petrópolis – Bohemia, considered the first Brazilian beer, has been brewed since 1853 in the emperors’ former summer residence in the…
• Blumenau – The town was founded in 1850 by the German pharmacist Hermann Blumenau.
• Porto Alegre – DaDo Bier, Brazil’s first craft brewery, opened here in 1995.
• Campos do Jordão – The Baden Baden brewery has been brewing since 1999 in this mountain town, called the “Brazilian Switzerland” because of its…
• Rio de Janeiro – Brahma started brewing here in the 1880s and became one of the most popular beer brands in the world.
• Santa Catarina – The Catharina sour, a sour beer with fruit such as passion fruit or guava, was created in this state with many German immigrants.
• Ribeirão Preto – This city in the state of São Paulo calls itself the “capital of chopp”.

Canada

• Montreal – John Molson founded his brewery here on the St.
• Québec City – Jean Talon set up Canada’s first commercial brewery here in 1668.
• London (Ontario) – John Kinder Labatt founded his brewery here in 1847.
• Saint John (New Brunswick) – Moosehead has been brewing here since 1867 and still belongs to the Oland family – Canada’s oldest independent brewery.
• Chambly – Unibroue brews Belgian-style beers here, such as “La Fin du Monde” (“The End of the World”).
• Victoria – Spinnakers opened here in 1984 and is considered one of Canada’s first brewpubs.
• Halifax – In this port city in Nova Scotia the Scotsman Alexander Keith founded his brewery in 1820.

Mexico

• Monterrey – The Cervecería Cuauhtémoc, founded in 1890, started with the Carta Blanca brand and made the city a centre of the brewing…
• Orizaba – The German brewer Wilhelm Hasse founded the Moctezuma brewery here.
• Mexico City – Grupo Modelo has brewed here since 1925; Corona went on sale the same year.
• Tecate – The beer of the same name was created in this border town in Baja California in the 1940s.
• Ensenada and Tijuana – A lively craft beer scene has developed in Baja California.
• Toluca – In this city west of Mexico City the Swiss-born Agustín Marendaz founded the brewery in 1865 that makes Victoria beer.

Peru

• Cusco – The old capital of the Incas.
• Lima – Jacob Backus and John Howard Johnston founded their brewery here in 1879.
• Arequipa – Cusqueña beer comes from the southern brewing company based in Arequipa.

USA

• Pottsville – Yuengling has been brewing here since 1829 – the oldest operating brewery in the USA, family-owned to this day.
• Milwaukee – Once the beer capital of the USA with Pabst, Schlitz and Miller.
• St. Louis – The Budweiser brand was created here in 1876.
• San Francisco – In 1965 Fritz Maytag saved the Anchor Brewery and its “steam beer”, a warm-fermented beer made with lager yeast, known as…
• Chico – In 1980 Sierra Nevada brewed the pale ale whose Cascade hops shaped the taste of a whole generation.
• Boston – Samuel Adams, one of the founding fathers of the USA, worked as a maltster.
• New Glarus (Wisconsin) – The New Glarus brewery sells its Spotted Cow only in Wisconsin – fans from other states take it home by the case.
• Denver – The Great American Beer Festival, one of the largest beer festivals in the world, takes place here every year.
• Portland (Oregon) – Portland calls itself “Beervana”: hardly any city has so many breweries per resident.
• Richmond (Virginia) – In 1935 the Krueger brewery from Newark test-marketed the world’s first canned beer here – with great success.

Asia and Oceania

Australia

• Sydney – The First Fleet landed here in 1788.
• Hobart – The Cascade brewery at the foot of Mount Wellington is considered the oldest continuously operating brewery in Australia.
• Adelaide – Thomas Cooper founded the Coopers brewery here in 1862.
• Melbourne – In 1907 five breweries merged here to form Carlton & United Breweries.
• Fremantle – Little Creatures has been brewing at the harbour in a former crocodile farm since 2000.
• Brisbane – XXXX, Queensland’s beer, is brewed at the brewery in the suburb of Milton.
• Perth – The Swan Brewery was founded on the Swan River in 1837 – one of the oldest breweries in Western Australia.

China

• Qingdao – In 1903 German and British merchants founded the Germania brewery here.
• Harbin – The Pole Jan Wróblewski founded a brewery here in 1900; further breweries by Germans, Czechs and Poles soon followed.
• Beijing – The big Yanjing brewery is based here, and craft beer bars have opened in the hutongs, the old alleys.
• Xi’an – At the Mijiaya site researchers found traces of a beer around 5,000 years old.
• Shanghai – In the 1930s foreign companies set up breweries in this port city.

India

• Kasauli – Edward Dyer built India’s first brewery in this hill town in the Himalayas.
• Bangalore – United Breweries, the brewer of Kingfisher, is based here.
• Pune – In 2009 Doolally, one of India’s first brewpubs, opened here.
• Goa – An Oktoberfest has been held on the coast every year since 2011.

Japan

• Nagasaki (Dejima) – The Dutch lived and traded on the fan-shaped island of Dejima.
• Yokohama – William Copeland founded the Spring Valley Brewery here in 1869–70.
• Sapporo – In 1876 the government opened a brewery here to help develop Hokkaido.
• Tokyo (Ebisu) – The district is named after Yebisu beer, which was brewed here from 1890.
• Osaka – The Osaka Brewery, which became Asahi, was founded here in 1889.

New Zealand

• Dusky Sound – In this fiord in Fiordland, James Cook brewed New Zealand’s first beer on Resolution Island in 1773.
• Russell (Kororāreka) – New Zealand’s first commercial brewery was founded here in 1835.
• Nelson – New Zealand’s hops grow around Nelson.
• Wellington – Garage Project started in an old petrol station in 2011.
• Dunedin – Speight’s has brewed here since 1876, and Emerson’s was founded here in 1993.
• Greymouth – Monteith’s has brewed on the West Coast since 1868.

South Korea

• Seoul – Korea’s first brewery opened here in 1908.
• Daegu – Every summer the city celebrates the Chimaek Festival with fried chicken and beer.
• Jeju – Magpie has brewed on this volcanic island in the south since 2016; the island also has craft beers of its own.

Vietnam

• Hanoi – The Hommel brewery was founded here in 1890.
• Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) – Victor Larue founded a brewery here in 1875, the origin of Sabeco.
• Huế – Huda beer has been brewed in the old imperial city since 1990.

Africa

Egypt

• Abydos – Archaeologists discovered a large brewery here from around 3100 BC that could brew over 22,000 litres (about 5,812 gal) at once.
• Hierakonpolis – The remains of one of the world’s oldest breweries, over 5,000 years old, lie in this ancient city on the Nile.
• Giza – The workers who built the pyramids received bread and beer as wages.
• Alexandria – In 1897 Belgian businessmen founded the Crown Brewery here, which brewed the first Stella.

Kenya

• Nairobi – Kenya Breweries’ first beer was brewed here in 1922 and served at the Stanley Hotel.
• Nyeri – In the central highlands around Nyeri, Kikuyu families still brew muratina for celebrations.

Namibia

• Windhoek – Namibia Breweries brews Windhoek Lager in the capital.
• Swakopmund – This coastal town with many buildings from the German era was home to the Hansa brewery, which now belongs to Namibia Breweries.
• Omaruru – This small inland town also had a brewery at the beginning of the 20th century.

South Africa

• Johannesburg – The Castle Brewery was founded in 1895 for the gold diggers.
• Cape Town – Jan van Riebeeck had a brewery set up at the fort in 1658.
• Knysna – In 1983 Lex Mitchell founded Mitchell’s here, one of South Africa’s first small breweries.
• Soweto – People still meet in the shebeens, the bars of the townships, where umqombothi is often drunk too.

See the map and time-lapse in Brauwerkstatt