As of 2024, what is the oldest brewery in the world still in operation?

The Bavarian State Brewery Weihenstephan is currently the oldest brewery in the world. In 725, Saint Corbinian and twelve other monks founded a Benedictine monastery called Weihenstephan on Nährberg Hill in Freising, Germany. Within four decades, the monastery was already making the most of its hop garden, and by 1040 it was officially brewing and selling beer. Over the next four centuries, the monastery was destroyed many times due to fires, plagues, famines, and even an earthquake. In 1803, the brewery passed from the monks to the Bavarian state. Five decades later, an agricultural school moved to Weihenstephan, and today, known as the Brewing and Beverage Technology program of the TUM School of Life Sciences, it remains a renowned place of study for aspiring brew engineers.

Bolten Brewery is the oldest altbrier brewery in the world. Altbrier is an old style German beer that is top-fermented instead of bottom fermented like modern lagered beers. The brewery was founded in 1266 by Heinrich der Brauer from the Lordship of Myllendonk.

Stella Artois’ origins date back to 1366 when the Den Hoorn brewery was founded in Leuven, Belgium. Den Hoorn established the brand’s quality which is still present in Stella Artois’ products.

The brewery Augustiner-Bräu was first mentioned in 1328 For the next few centuries the monastery supplied the Bavarian Royal Wittelsbach family with beer until 1589, when they founded their own brewery called Hofbräuhaus.