Family Brewery Bernard (officially in Czech Rodinný pivovar Bernard) is a brewery in Humpolec, Czech Republic, founded in 1597. It is owned by Rodinný pivovar Bernard, a. s. (shareholders: Duvel Moortgat NV, Breendonk, Belgium 50%, Stanislav Bernard 25%, Josef Vávra 25%).
History
The era of beer brewing started in Humpolec in 1597, when the brewery belonged to the owner of the Herálec estate. In the 1930s, it employed 40 people and produced 20,000 hectolitres a year. The beer was sold in the Humpolec, Německý Brod (now Havlíčkův Brod), Ledečko and Pelhřimov regions.
After World War II, the brewery was integrated into that state enterprise Horácké pivovary Jihlava, and in 1960 into Jihočeské pivovary České Budějovice. In 1989, the conglomerate Jihočeské pivovary was renamed to Pivovary České Budějovice, a state enterprise. This company's leadership didn't plan on developing the brewery further, and pressure grew to liquidate it. Up until the time of privatization, the brewery made a 10° pale beer, 11° pale Orlík beer, and briefly before 1991, a pale 12° called Zálesák (Woodsman).
A new era
On 26 October 1991, Stanislav Bernard, Josef Vávra and Rudolf Šmejkal bought the bankrupt brewery at auction for five times the initial asking price. This started a completely new era for the brewery.
In the initial years, burdened with large debt, the brewery battled for existence. The new owners not only succeeded in brewing good beer that started winning awards all over the world, but also in building a brand whose renown reached beyond the industry and the borders of the Czech Republic. Today, Bernard beer is exported to more than 20 countries; about 20% of production is destined for export. In 2000, the Bernard family brewery became a joint stock company that attracted investment by Belgian brewery Duvel Moortgat.
Medium-sized Bernard is nonetheless a star of the Czech beer market, of which its production makes up about 2%. Most of the beer (63%) is sold in barrels, and a smaller amount in bottles. This ratio is the reverse of the Czech market overall, where most beer is sold in glass bottles, cans and plastic bottles. Cautious of the environment, the brewery has never shipped beer in plastic bottles and not even in cans. The brewery is a member of Zálohujme.cz, an organization advocating use of deposit bottles.
So far, the brewery's highest output was in 2019 — 400,000 hectolitres. However, maximum production is not the goal. Since the brewery's founding, the owners have been on a constant quest to brew the very best beer. For this purpose, in 2000, the brewery bought a humno malt house in Rajhrad u Brna. Production of humno malt is labour- and cost-intensive, but malt produced in this way is the most suitable for traditional Czech beer. The brewery propagates its own brewer's yeast, draws high-quality brewing water from its own deep wells and uses the highest quality hops. But Bernard beer's most indispensable ingredient is love.
Innovation
The Bernard family brewery came to the Czech market with many innovations that brought attention and distinction to the brand. For example, starting in 2002, the brewery has used patented retro bottles that drew great interest from customers and are now characteristic of the brewery. In 2007, the brewery was the first to come out with non-alcoholic semi-dark beer. In 2009, the non-alcoholic beverage Švestka was released. In addition to the brewery helping bridge the crisis years, it opened a completely new segment on the Czech market, in which many manufacturers operate today. In 2014, the brewery started brewing top-fermented Bernard Bohemian Ale, which won first place in its category at the prestigious World Beer Awards a year later.
Company values
At the initiative of the management, the brewery employees themselves proposed a corporate mission statement, reading: Our own path to honest Czech beer. The company's values are openness, confidence, cooperation, responsibility and positivity. Focus on the customer, the employees and on growth in the company's value. Later, humility and courage were added. Co-owner Stanislav Bernard called selection of these values the brewery's most important "investment".