Theodor König

Theodor König

Theodor Henricus König was born on 21 November 1825 as the son of a prosperous farming family in the Westphalian village of Cappenberg near Lünen and initially followed his father into agriculture, before a passion for the brewing trade took hold of him during his apprenticeship and journeyman years from 1850 onwards. His extensive travels took him through Bavaria and Austria, where he gained experience in the most significant breweries of his time and became acquainted with the bottom-fermented Pilsener brewing method that was widespread in southern Germany – a technique virtually unknown on the Lower Rhine at the time. In September 1858 he received his licence from the Prussian district government in Düsseldorf and registered his brewery under the name «Bairische Bierbrauerei Theodor König, Beeck bei Ruhrort».

With the guiding principle «Quality is paramount», Theodor König began by selling his beer in the immediate vicinity and in the tavern attached to his brewery, supplying the thirsty workers of the surrounding collieries and industrial plants who were streaming into the region as the Ruhr area's industrial boom took hold. Within just a few years he was supplying the rapidly growing neighbouring communities of Meiderich, Ruhrort and Hamborn, and in 1911 the brewery took the landmark decision to focus exclusively on the Pilsener brewing method, laying the foundation for the later fame of König Pilsener as «Das König der Biere» and its market leadership in the German Pilsener segment.

As a living tribute to founder and visionary Theodor König, the Th. König Zwickl was introduced in 2016 as an independent brand – a naturally cloudy, unfiltered Kellerbier in the spirit of the original brewing craft, which makes the grounded, artisanal character of the founder tangible in every sip. Today the König Brewery in Duisburg-Beeck belongs to the Bitburger Braugruppe and produces around 1.1 million hectolitres of beer annually, with the Reinheitsgebot, carefully selected Herkules hops, the proprietary König yeast, finest malted barley and purest spring water from a nature reserve remaining unchanged to this day as the foundation of every brew.