Budweiser Bier Bürgerbräu
Pivovar Samson a.s., formerly known as is a brewery founded by mostly German-speaking burghers of the city of České Budějovice (in German "Budweis") in the Kingdom of Bohemia, Holy Roman Empire in 1795. Its beer was known as or since 1802 and as trademark officially since 1899. In 1894, the official company name was "". History. As early as 1875, beer was being exported to the United States. In 1876 Anheuser-Busch started selling beer named "Budweiser" inspired by the original Budweiser beer from Budějovice. In 1895, when Budweiser Bürgerbräu became official court supplier to the King  of Württemberg, the growing Czech population founded local competition as a joint stock company, today called Budějovický Budvar. In the Budweiser trademark dispute, the three companies divided the rights to use the name, with the Europe-based companies giving up the Northern American rights to "Budweiser". Shortly before World War I Budějovický Budvar exceeded production of Bürgerliches Brauhaus. During the World War II 237 out of 387 owners were Germans, 150 were Czechs. After the German occupation of Bohemia and Moravia only 7° plato (since 1943 only 4° plato) beer was allowed. In January 1945 Bürgerliches Brauhaus stopped  brewing and in March 1945 the brewery was damaged during US bombing of Budějovice. After the WWII most Germans were expelled and both Budějovice breweries were nationalized in 1948 by the communist government. The German-sounding names of the company and its products were renamed "Crystal" or "Samson". Accordingly in 1960 and 1989 the company was renamed "První budějovický pivovar Samson" (First Budweiser brewery Samson). After the fall of communism, the company owned rights to "Crystal", "Czech Beer Crystal", "Biere Tcheque Crystal" and "Samson", but soon reacquired national naming rights and international Protected Geographical Indication, in 1991 to "" and "", and  in 1993 to "", "", "Biere de Budweis" and "Budweis Beer". Since July 2001, the company was called " (Budweiser Burghers' brewery)", which corresponded with the original German name. The company used German naming like "" also in Czech and English context, also stating that the hops comes from the "Czech city of Saaz (Žatec)" despite this city also has an old Czech name (Žatec). Since 2005, due to the legal situation, the brewery offered its beer in the USA as "B.B. Bürgerbräu", described as "Budweis City Bier" rather than "Budweiser beer". In 2014 Anheuser-Busch InBev bought the brewery and renamed it to  Samson.