You can almost hear the early sounds of industry as they install their brand-new steam brewing system from Prague for the first time. Imagine the excitement as the very first batch is brewed in February 1881, its aroma wafting out onto the cold Bludenz air. By the end of that year, Fohrenburg beer was being served for the very first time, and locals raised their glasses to celebrate a new era. This was just the beginning - that initial brewing system was almost too small from the start! Just one year later, a new system from Stuttgart had to be brought in, and fermentation cellars were expanded to quadruple production. Talk about growing pains!
But Fohrenburg wasn’t about to let anything slow it down. Here’s a fun fact: in those early years, the brewery actually kept about sixty cattle and oxen on site, mainly to use up the leftover grain from brewing. They even used the oxen to transport beer around town! If anyone asks you why the cows in Bludenz always look so happy, now you know.
Jump forward a few years: 1884 sees the very first bottles of Fohrenburg beer rolling off the line, and by 1895, production has soared to nearly 39,000 hectoliters a year. The appetite for beer keeps growing - by 1904 they’re already at over 41,000 hectoliters. The brewery keeps expanding, vaults get bigger, and two types of beer are brewed: a dark, Bavarian-style, and a pale, pilsner-style. When people say ‘something for everyone,’ they mean it.
The founder, Ferdinand Gasser, remained the driving force until his passing in 1926. His lead brewmaster, Josef Buß, dedicated his career to perfecting the taste and eventually retired in 1907. That’s devotion - or perhaps he just liked the free samples. In 1912, Fohrenburg entered the age of refrigeration, installing a modern cooling plant using artificial ice. Imagine the relief on a hot day, if your beer was *actually* cold and not just wishfully lukewarm.
By 1913, the brewery acquired its first delivery truck, a true innovation. No more slow beer deliveries by ox! Of course, history wasn’t always smooth - during the 1920s, the Austrian beer cartel put pressure on brewers, cutting production, but Fohrenburg survived, outlasting many rivals.
As decades passed, Fohrenburg didn’t just rest on its laurels, or its hops. By the late 20th century, production rocketed past 150,000 hectoliters and, eventually, a massive 270,000 hectoliters a year. The product lineup grew: in the 1930s, they acquired Diezano, a lemonade brand - because sometimes you need a break from beer too. Fast-forward again: in 2019, they teamed up with Bio Vorarlberg to launch a local organic beer, using barley grown right here in Vorarlberg.
Ownership changed hands too: originally local, then part of Rauch juice, and from 2019, joining the Heineken family through Brau Union Österreich. By 2025, Brau Union AG owned almost every drop of Fohrenburg - 99 percent! You might say the unicorn on their logo (designed in 1929 by artist Konrad Honold) really brought them good luck. The unicorn has become a symbol of Bludenz itself, standing for wild power, resilience, and - believe it or not - pure-hearted innocence. Not every beer can claim a magical creature as its mascot!
So next time you raise a Fohrenburg, remember the generations who’ve brewed here, the steam and the cattle, the trucks and the unicorns, and join a tradition that’s been going strong for nearly a century and a half. Cheers to history, and cheers to you for being curious enough to stop by!
