Kronenbourg are
French brewers recently acquired by the huge
Danone food group. It is situated in the Alsace region in north-western
France, within a few
kilometres of the
German border.
The original brewery was situated on the river banks in the centre of
Strasbourg which provided the
plentiful supply of
water(
*) required for the
brewing process but suffered tremendous damage when the river flooded in the winter, so was moved to higher ground. The town they moved to is called
Cronenbourg, and changed name to Kronenburg every time
Alsace was
conquered by
Germany. The brewery interestingly retained both flavours, keeping the initial
German 'K' and the
French '-bourg' ending.
The products they offer are divided into two main categories. They
brew beer in three major breweries in France, and also import and distribute beer from other countries. Amongst the beer they brew locally are
Kronenbourg, a commercial lager,
1664, their Premium Lager offering and
Kanterbrau after having acquired the rights to the originally German beer. They import and distribute
Beamish,
Bud and
Carlsberg amongst others.
* : The current process uses 8 litres of water for every litre of beer produced.