The genius of Josef Groll, our first Brewmaster, was to combine the finest Czech ingredients with state-of-the-art brewing techniques at our brewery in Plzeň. Most notedly, he used an indirect-heated kiln from the UK that was invented in the early 19th century.

Groll was the first to really control the colour and flavour of the finished malt. He did this by malting Czech barley using this new kilning method that didn’t expose the grains to scorching over open flames, but rather dried them using hot air.

This did more than just create the world’s first golden lager – it also created our own proprietary malt called Pilsner malt, with its exact kilning specification, now famous around the world for making pilsner-style lagers.

We have insisted on continuing this Pilsner malt tradition for the last 177 years – thus keeping Groll’s innovative legacy alive! You can taste that heritage in every sip.