Poland: Brewery near Kraków to open after over 70 years

Browar Tenczynek, near the southern city of Kraków in Poland, is to start brewing beer after over 70 years, Radio Poland reported on May 25.

The move comes after the brewery’s listed buildings were purchased and renovated by Browary Regionalne Jakubiak, which owns brewing facilities in Ciechanów, Lwówek Śląski and Bojanów.

Marek Jakubiak, CEO of Browary Regionalne, said the company bought the complex from bankruptcy trustees in May 2014 for over PLN 3 million. The brewery site was formerly used as a juice factory.

The estimated cost of renovations stand at PLN 12 million, with Jakubiak saying that “the brewery has already started production”.

Jakubiak said that a number of new brewing facilities had been installed, adding that during renovation works, a number of original architectural features which had been installed by Count Adam Potocki when he expanded the brewery in the 19th century had been restored.

“Traditional brewing methods still hold their ground today,” Jakubiak said, adding that the brewery is initially set to produce some 55-60 thousand hectolitres of beer annually, with production set to double in the future. Tenczynek is set to produce local beers, along with a line of lager.

The brewery currently employs 20 people, although that number may rise if the beer gains in popularity, Jakubiak said.

Tenczynek is also set to house a museum of the history of local brewing. The first mention of brewing at the site date from 1553. The current brewery was rebuilt from scratch by Count Adam Potocki in 1848-54, with its beer winning a gold medal in Plzeň in 1904.

The brewery was destroyed by the Nazis during World War II, with production facilities nationalised and turning to juices and fruit products after the war.

27 May, 2015