In 1999, they started to merge with Pivovar Radegast a.s. In 1946, the brewery was nationalized under the name Plzeňské pivovary (Pilsen breweries).Īfter the fall of communism in late 1989, the brewery was turned into a public share company, then renamed in 1994 after the Czech name of their famous beer, Plzeňský Prazdroj. In 1932 Měšťanský pivovar merged with Plzeňské akciové pivovary. In 1898 the German trademark Urquell and Czech trademark Prazdroj were created, to underline the claim of being the older, original source of Pilsner beer. In 1869, a competitor was founded as a joint stock company, later known as Gambrinus. In 1859, “Pilsner Bier” was registered as a brand name at the local Chamber of Commerce and Trade. The first beer was brewed here in 1842 by Bavarian brewer Josef Groll. The brewery was founded in 1839 by both local Czech-speaking and German-speaking citizens in Bohemian city of Plzeň as Bürgerbrauerei (citizens' brewery, later translated to Měšťanský pivovar in Czech). As part of the agreements made with regulators before Anheuser-Busch InBev was allowed to acquire SABMiller in October 2016, Pilsner Urquell (excluding certain geographical areas) was sold to Japan-based Asahi Breweries in March 2017. The brewery was part of the SABMiller group of companies (at first South African Breweries) from 1999 to 2017. Pilsner Urquell is the largest producer and exporter of beer in the Czech Republic.
The brewery name, Pilsner Urquell, which can be roughly translated into English as "the original source at Pilsen", was adopted as a trademark in 1898. It was the first brewery to produce pale lager, branded as Pilsner Urquell, which became so popular and was so much copied that more than two-thirds of the beer produced in the world today is pale lager, sometimes named pils, pilsner and pilsener after Pilsner Urquell. ( pronounced, known in English as the Pilsner Urquell Brewery, is a Czech brewery opened in 1842 and headquartered in Plzeň, Czech Republic. For the beer it produces, see Pilsner Urquell.