As early as the last months of 1870, the brewery began to bring in ice, and the malting process commenced on 17 February 1871. On May 1st, the completion of the first brew was celebrated and sales of beer commenced on 15 July 1871. Smíchovský Staropramen had all of what it takes to become what it is today: a big, successful and famous brewery. It was established in Prague's future industrial quarter, where demand for beer was assured. It had a modern business plan and strong capital backing. Last but not least, Staropramen was perceived as a Czech brewery producing Czech beer. That gave it an advantage in pubs where various nationalist clubs met and similar gatherings took place. Especially significant in terms of promoting the new enterprise was the year 1880, when the brewery was visited by the Emperor Franz Joseph I. He praised the local beer and signed the brewery's chronicle book – unexpectedly, he chose to write his message in Czech, rather than in German. At that time, the entire Smíchov suburban area was growing at a rapid pace and consumption of beer was on the rise. The brewery, which started off with a planned annual production volume of 22,500 hecto-litres, was producing over 100,000 hecto-litres a year by 1889. In 1891, the year of the Jubilee Exposition, the brewery in Smíchov produced a record 140,200 hecto-litres of beer. |
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The first beer produced by this brewery left the gates on 4 September 1898 and by the end of that same year 20,257 hecto-litres of beer had been brewed. Beer was distributed throughout Ostrava as well as to pubs in the areas surrounding the city. In the following year, the new brewery's annual production more than doubled, to 46,980 hecto-litres of beer. |
