Braucommune Freistadt

Braucommune Freistadt is an Austrian private brewery based in Freistadt. It describes itself as 100% independent, free of corporate groups, and connected to genuine Austrian beer culture. Its beers are brewed with Mühlviertel primary rock water, 100% Mühlviertel hops, and brewing barley from the Weinviertel and Upper Austria. The brewery traces its origins to the 1363 brewing privilege granted to the citizens of Freistadt and to the founding of the Braucommune in 1770; the current brewhouse was built between 1770 and 1780. Ownership remains with the owners of the 149 inner-city houses, whose shares are tied to their properties and cannot be sold.

In 1363 Duke Rudolf IV granted the citizens of Freistadt the privilege to brew beer in their own houses and to serve it; only those who owned a house within the city walls counted as citizens. In 1770 the residents of the 149 inner-city houses joined together as the 'Braucommune in Freistadt' to protect their interests, and in that year a purchase contract for the 'Stadtschreibergärten' outside the city walls was signed between the municipality and the citizenry, laying the foundation for a new brewhouse built between 1770 and 1780. After ten years of construction, the first brew was made in the newly built brewhouse in March 1780, and Freistädter Bier has been brewed there without interruption since; the rights and duties of the 'Freistädter Braucommunisten' have remained untouched to this day. In 2020 the brewery marked 250 years of the Braucommune, with the 149 inner-city house owners still the owners of the Braucommune in Freistadt, their ownership share tied to their houses in the land register and therefore unsellable. In 2022, 250 years after the brewhouse outside the city walls was built, a new logistics center went into operation in the Inkoba area of Freistadt South, while the beer continues to be brewed in the old brewhouse.

100% independent, corporate-group-free Austrian private brewery connected to genuine Austrian beer culture; ingredients sourced 100% from Austria.

• Freistädter Bier

1. 1Freistädter Bier - Freistädter Bierfreistaedter-bier.at
2. 2Über uns - Freistädter Bierfreistaedter-bier.at
3. 3Braucommune Freistadtwikidata.org