Warsteiner: Crafting Excellence for Over 260 Years

Gold standard

Embodying more than 260 years of history, Warsteiner has established itself as a highly respected and successful beer brand with products reaching grateful drinkers in over 60 countries worldwide

Representing a leading German brewery with a strong family heritage, the story of Warsteiner began in 1753 when Antonius Cramer was asked to pay beer tax for the first time as his home brewing volumes surpassed by some way the volume allowed for personal consumption. This marked the beginning of a long and successful brewing tradition and as the fledgling business continued to grow, Caspar Cramer was emboldened to finally establish what would become the original home of the small brewery by building the Warsteiner Domschänke, a brew pub in the centre of Warstein. Thanks to the efforts of Warsteiner, the small village, situated in the Sauerland, in the southeastern region of Westphalia, has since become famous around the world for its excellent beer production. As for Warsteiner itself, the company is presently in its ninth generation of family ownership under Catharina Cramer, and its brewery group continues to put its mark decisively on the history, the present and the future of the German beer industry.

Warsteiner is today a globally recognised brand, with its unique selection of beers sold in more than 60 countries throughout the world. Part of what makes the company’s beers so instantly distinctive was the discovery of the Kaiserquelle (‘Kaiser’s Spring’) at the edge of the Arnsberg Forest in 1928. With only one to two degrees of water hardness, the water from this spring is particularly applicable for beer brewing and contributes to the salubriousness of the beer. The soft water of the Kaiserquelle, which continues to feed the water tanks of the Warsteiner Brewery today, is a pivotal component for the specialisation of beer in the pilsner brewing tradition. This in turn led to the development of the highly acclaimed Warsteiner Pilsner. As the company continued to grow, its brew volume achieved the 100,000-hectolitre threshold for the first time in 1960 and Warsteiner has since continued to hold its place as one Germany’s largest breweries.

Over the years Warsteiner has perfected a comprehensive range of beers that provides the ideal beverage to suit every taste. While the original Warsteiner Pilsner continues to take pride of place in the company’s range, it is no longer considered to be the only Warsteiner flagship product, with wheat, dark and non-alcoholic beers all joining Warsteiner Pilsner as part of a widely appreciated, high quality line up of beers.

Warsteiner’s steadfast commitment to quality and taste starts with the selection of particularly soft brew water, hops from the Hallertau region and the finest summer barley malt.

Fans of wheat, dark and ale beer can also find their favourite beverage in the Warsteiner Group’s assortment of products, with the company assuming a holding interest in the König Ludwig Schloßbrauerei Kaltenberg in Fürstenfeldbruck as of 2001. Today customers can enjoy the König Ludwig Weissbier, König Ludwig Hell and König Ludwig Dunkel brands as part of an expansive Warsteiner portfolio.

Throughout its history Warsteiner has enjoyed great success in markets around the world, with Asia providing fantastic brand development and sustainable commercial development for the business. The company’s beers also remain as firm favourites in its native Germany, while the brand has seen sustained expansion in France and Spain as well as a 15 per cent growth within the UK in 2016. The success of Warsteiner in UK was achieved in co-operation with Marston’s Brewing Company who signed a multiyear exclusive distribution contract in December 2015 in order to enrich their portfolio of well-known and widely appreciated Ale brands with the top world beer brand, Warsteiner. The latest success in the UK is the national launch of the IBC (International Beer Challenge 2016) silver awarded Warsteiner Premium Fresh 0.0% multipack which will be available in more than 700 Tesco stores as of March 2017.

Warsteiner is the leading International Premium Pilsener from Germany in the UK market. It is brewed according to the German Purity Law from 1516 with the finest ingredients and no artificial flavours or additives.

Non-alcoholic variety

Warsteiner offers a perfectly balanced taste due to the best ingredients:

1. It’s soft brewing water from natural springs in the Arnsberger forest located very close to the brewery with beautiful names like ‘Glory’ and ‘Paradise’ beside of the already mentioned ‘Kaiserquelle’.
2. Selected brewing spring barley cultivated in celebrated regions of Germany and Champagne in France.
3. Hand-selected top quality hops from Hallertau region and;
4. The unique Warsteiner yeast. Just those four ingredients are allowed to be used due to the German Purity law. Nothing more.

Warsteiner Premium Pilsener is distributed all over the UK with focus in urban areas as London, Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool. With Warsteiner Fresh 0.0% Warsteiner just celebrated a great performance during the typical British dry January. Warsteiner Fresh with 0.0% alcohol is the perfect thirst quencher for any occasion such as sports, business meetings, lunch or just between mealtimes. In research from 2016 Warsteiner Fresh is significantly preferred over Becks Blue and others for appearance, taste and overall liking. And there is a special reason for that. It is gently dealcoholised by a vacuum distillation at low temperatures to keep a crisp and full bodied Warsteiner Pilsener taste. The dealcoholisation takes place only after the brewing process is completed. The result is an award winning Premium NA Pilsener.

Respected brewer

During February 2016 the global appreciation of Warsteiner beers was highlighted when the company was awarded six gold medals by the prestigious German Agricultural Society or ‘Deutsche Landwirtschaftsgesellschaft’ (DLG). The DLG annually tests beer and beer mix beverages according to a five point scheme that focuses on the important qualities of purity, authentic taste, quality of bitterness, body, freshness and flavour stability. Tests are carried out on two different samples collected on different dates to ensure that the results provide information regarding the consistency of beer production quality. Of the six beers that were awarded the gold standard, three beers comprised of the company’s Warsteiner Premium Pilsener, Warsteiner Double Hopped and Warsteiner Radler are available to clients internationally, meaning that enthusiasts are able to get a taste of what makes the Warsteiner so special.

Having enjoyed a long history of tradition, innovation and recognised quality, Warsteiner is a highly respected German brewing company with a global footprint. As it looks to the remainder of 2017 and beyond it will seek to capitalise on the successful launch of its non-alcoholic beers as well as the continued popularity of its established range to increase its market share well into the future.