Archive record · Brewery
Brauerei Schwechat
Schwechat, Lower Austria, Austria
- Founded
- 1632
- Archive ID
- TB-GS62WJT4
- Last checked
- 2026-08-20
Who owns this brewery?
The direct owner is recorded. No company is held above it.
- Brauerei SchwechatThis brewery
- Heineken N.V.Conglomerate
From the record
Summary
Austria Dreher pass, 2026-08-20. Created to place Vienna Lager's origin correctly: the style was created at Klein-Schwechat in 1841, not at St. Marx, which merged into Schwechat in 1913.
A summary written during research. The sourced facts are in the sections below.
Tally’s Take
Where Vienna Lager was invented, and it is still brewing. Franz Anton Dreher bought the brewery and farmstead at Klein-Schwechat in 1796 — the site had been making beer since 1632 — and when he died in 1820 the business passed to his son. Anton Dreher took control in 1836, and in 1841 introduced Schwechater Lagerbier: the first pale bottom-fermented lager on the European continent, cold-lagered in ice-filled cellars, first tapped at the Kohlkreunze tavern in Fünfhaus. It became one of the three great nineteenth-century lager styles. In 1913 Schwechat absorbed the St. Marx and Simmering breweries to form United Breweries Schwechat, St. Marx, Simmering — which is where a common confusion starts, because St. Marx is often given credit for a beer created seventy-two years before it joined. The brewery is now part of Brau Union Österreich, Heineken-owned since 2003, and makes around 1.2 million hectolitres a year. It lost its independence. It did not close.
Ownership & corporate history
- Merged into Österreichische Brau AG1978
What the sources say
Researched 2026-09-13 (Wikidata P576 lead rejected as closure; recorded as succession); no held claim preceded it. Corporate succession, not closure: the Schwechat brewery brews about 800,000 hl a year today. Brau AG merged with Steirerbrau into Brau Union Österreich AG in 1998, Heineken since 2003.
Ownership history is kept as dated events, so a change of owner never overwrites the one before it.
Where it is
48.14219, 16.46581
Supplied by the research pass; method not recorded
Open on a mapThe Museum
Timeline
- 1632Brewing on the site
The Klein-Schwechat brewery is in operation.
- 1796Franz Anton Dreher buys it
Brewery and farmstead.
- 1836Anton Dreher takes control
Sixteen years after his father's death.
- 1841Vienna Lager
Schwechater Lagerbier — the first pale bottom-fermented lager on the European continent, first tapped at the Kohlkreunze tavern in Fünfhaus.
- 1913Absorbs St. Marx and Simmering
Forms United Breweries Schwechat, St. Marx, Simmering.
- 2003Heineken
Brau Union Österreich passes to Heineken; the site continues to brew.
The People
Behind the beer
Bought the Klein-Schwechat brewery and farmstead in 1796. Died 1820.
Took control in 1836 and introduced Schwechater Lagerbier in 1841 — the beer the world came to call Vienna Lager.
The Beer Library
Beers
Schwechater Lagerbier
Year-RoundVienna Lager
The 1841 original — the beer that named a style.
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Follow the money
How it changed hands
2 recorded moves- 1632Founded
- 1796Franz Anton Dreher buys it
Brewery and farmstead.
- 1913Absorbs St. Marx and Simmering
Forms United Breweries Schwechat, St. Marx, Simmering.
Today the chain tops out at Heineken N.V..
Show your working
Sources
- historyConfirmed
Vienna Lager was created at Klein-Schwechat by Anton Dreher in 1841, not at the St. Marx brewery. St. Marx merged into Schwechat in 1913, seventy-two years later; the two are frequently conflated because they eventually became one company.
Anton Dreher and the origin of Vienna Lager · Wikipedia and brewing-history sources, cross-checked · 2026
ReferenceMedium reliabilitySource accessed 2026-08-20Claim last checked 2026-08-20 - statusConfirmed
Actively brewing, around 1.2 million hectolitres a year, as part of Brau Union Österreich under Heineken ownership since 2003. Recorded explicitly because AI-generated research described the brewery as closed — it lost independence, which is a different thing.
Brauerei Schwechat, Brau Union Österreich — current operations · Brau Union Österreich and Austrian trade press · 2025
BreweryHigh reliabilitySource accessed 2026-08-20Brewery-statedClaim last checked 2026-08-20
Only the claims above are sourced. Everything else on this page is the archive's own research and has not yet been tied to a document — which is worth knowing rather than hiding.
Straight answers
Common questions about Brauerei Schwechat
- Who owns Brauerei Schwechat?
- Brauerei Schwechat is owned by Heineken N.V.. Brauerei Schwechat is based in Schwechat, Lower Austria, Austria.
- Is Brauerei Schwechat still independent?
- No. Brauerei Schwechat is owned by Heineken N.V. and is no longer independent.
- When was Brauerei Schwechat acquired?
- 1796. Brewery and farmstead.
- When was Brauerei Schwechat founded?
- Brauerei Schwechat was founded in 1632 in Schwechat, Lower Austria, Austria.
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