About the brewery

There has been an old tradition in Lithuania to bring home brewed beer to relatives and nearest neighbours on every season. That is why beer in Lithuania has always been a symbol of close relationship and friendship.

The first brewery was established by Merchant J.W.Reincke in Klaipeda in 1784. Certainly, the enormous commercial success has followed and remained with SVYTURYS brewery ever since - for 220 years now.

The first medal – an award for beer quality and taste - was awarded to SVYTURYS brewers even in 1883. Since then the brewery received lots of various prizes. The most honours ones are: Gold Medal awarded to SVYTURIO EKSTRA at the World Beer Championship (USA, “Dortmunder” category) in 2001, Silver Award granted to the same beer at the World Beer Cup (USA, “Dortmunder/European Export” category) in 2000 and the winning of Bronze Award for  SVYTURIO BALTIJOS beer in the World Beer Cup (USA, Aspen, „Marzen/Octoberfest“ category) in 2002.

According to the research carried out by AC NIELSEN, today SVYTURYS beer is not only considered as the best beer produced in Lithuania, but also as a Lithuanian product that is worth our national pride (96% and 83% of respondents accordingly).

The history of SVYTURYS

The oldest functioning brewery in Lithuania

1748 was a remarkable year in Klaipeda. That winter storms were severe as never and the summer was so hot as nobody could remember. And the most important thing – the citizens of Klaipëda got tired of bringing German beer from Tilze and decided to make their own. The kind of beer that the whole seacoast could be proud of. The beer that could be used to treat overseas merchants and get a better deal.

The business was started by the real seacoast region patriot and merchant of Klaipeda J.W.Reincke. This heavy-set man was not an ordinary trader. His family has been shipping all over the Baltic sea for a hundred years. The family blazon was decorated with sea eagle – the symbol of brave seamanship. This symbol was included in the new brewery’s emblem and remained in SVYTURYS logo until now.

Reincke’s beer from Klaipeda became so popular that breweries started to appear one after the other across the whole seacoast. However, they were not able to offer a beer that was as good as Reincke’s. Maybe only one noble seacoast brewer Theodor Preuss could compete with Klaipëda beer’s perfect taste and quality. Once the two men sat down with the pint of beer and decided that there is no need to compete and it is possible to work together. The two companies merged and the new brewery became the leader without a rival in the whole region.

The beginning of SVYTURYS era

After the war SVYTURYS brewery was rebuild and the beer was brewed again in 1946. At the beginning it was distributed to Klaipeda pubs only in barrels. In 1950 the company was equipped with a bottling line. As the demand of Klaipeda beer grew, the line was constantly replaced with new, more powerful equipment.

The recipe of BALTIJOS beer was developed by SVYTURYS specialists in 1960. It became the flagship beer of the whole group of SVYTURYS beers. SVYTURYS was one of the first in Lithuania to produce scalded beer. It started this activity in 1973 and brewed even 2.76 million dekalitres in 1975.