Augustiner-Bräu is a brewery in Munich, Germany, established in 1328. It is Munich's oldest independent brewery.
History
The Augustinian Hermits arrived in Munich in 1294, called there by Bishop Emicho of Freising and Wittelsbach Duke Rudolf I. They came from Regensburg and settled on an open meadow land just outside the western city gate, on an area called the Haberfeld (or Haferfeld – "oat field"), on what would become Neuhausergasse. The monastery complex, completed around 1315, became the largest sacred building in Munich — a position it held for two centuries until the completion of the Frauenkirche cathedral in 1494.
The Augustiner Brewery was first mentioned by name in 1328, when the bakers' guild relocated their meeting place to the monastery's brew parlour following the destruction of the Heiliggeistspital in a city fire the previous year. Brewing had almost certainly been underway since shortly after the monastery's founding in 1294. The original brewing licence granted the monks the right to produce beer for their own consumption and to sell it tax-exempt — a significant commercial privilege that brought them into repeated conflict with Munich's civic brewers.
The Augustinian monks supplied beer to the Bavarian Royal Wittelsbach family for 261 years, until 1589, when Duke Wilhelm V founded his own court brewery, the Hofbräuhaus.
Distribution and marketing
Augustiner beer is normally found within the Greater Munich area, but in the last few years it has become popular outside Munich, for example in Berlin, where it is one of the most successful beers in Mitte, even though the company does not advertise. When most German breweries updated their bottles to a slim and more modern design to give their beer a more classy and less old fashioned appearance, Augustiner stuck with its original "classic" form, often nicknamed the "Bauarbeiterhalbe" (construction worker's half litre). The labels have also not changed in over 20 years. The success of the brand has been attributed to the traditional "retro" image it enjoys as one of the last major breweries in Munich that is not owned by an international beer conglomerate; Augustiner-Bräu is 51%-owned by a charitable foundation.