Svijany

Svijany

Pivovar Svijany is one of the oldest and most significant breweries in the Czech Republic – founded in 1564 in the small village of Svijany on the edge of the Bohemian Paradise near Turnov in the Liberec region, where the brewery was from the very beginning part of the economic fabric of the local manor estate and contributed to the development and financing of the lordship. The eventful history of the brewery mirrors the entire Czech history of the last 460 years: it survived the changing rulerships of the Vartenberks, the Wallensteins and the Rohans, nationalisation after 1945 under the Beneš Decrees and the difficult years following the Velvet Revolution, when the brewery narrowly escaped closure under the umbrella of Pivovary Vratislavice nad Nisou and later the Staropramen group. In 1998, the brewery was finally privatised as the independent Czech company Pivovar Svijany s.r.o. – with an annual output of just 30,000 hectolitres.

What followed is one of the most impressive growth stories in Czech brewing: under Czech private ownership – today the brewery belongs to the Liberec Investment Fund, behind which stands the Kučera family – annual output grew to over 727,000 hectolitres in 2024, making Svijany one of the largest purely Czech breweries outside international groups. The secret of this success lies in an uncompromising commitment to traditional brewing methods: open fermentation, long cold conditioning, no pasteurisation – combined with high-quality regional raw materials, namely water from the brewery's own wells, malt from small independent Bohemian and Moravian malthouses and the finest Saaz hops from the brewery's own hop gardens in the renowned Polepské Bláto growing areas.

The range of Pivovar Svijany encompasses a broad portfolio of classic Czech lagers from 10° to 15° original gravity in pale and dark variants, with the best-known products marketed under the brand names Máz, Rytíř and Kníže – meaning «Measure», «Knight» and «Prince» – which reflect the aristocratic history of the brewery in a charming way. As one of the most popular Czech beer brands and an undisputed symbol of genuine, unadulterated and artisanally brewed beer, Svijany stands today as proof that a heritage of over 460 years and modern growth need not be a contradiction – as long as one never forgets why one started brewing in the first place.