Carlsberg A/S is a Danish multinational brewer. Founded in 1847 by J. C. Jacobsen, the company’s headquarters is in Copenhagen, Denmark. Since Jacobsen’s death in 1887, the majority owner of the company has been the Carlsberg Foundation. The company’s flagship brand is Carlsberg (named after Jacobsen’s son Carl). Other brands include Tuborg, Kronenbourg, Somersby cider, Holsten, Neptun, Russia’s best-selling beer Baltika, Belgian Grimbergen, Fix, one of Greece‘s oldest brands and more than 500 local beers. The company employs around 41,000 people, primarily in Western Europe, Russia and Asia.
| Website | www.carlsberggroup.com |
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“Carlsberg History
The company was founded by J. C. Jacobsen; the first brew was finished on 10 November 1847. Export of Carlsberg beer began in 1868; foreign brewing began in 1968 with the opening of a brewery in Blantyre, Malawi. Some of the company’s original logos include an elephant (after which some of its lagers are named) and the swastika. Use of the latter was discontinued in the 1930s because of its association with political parties in neighboring Germany. Carlsberg founder J. C. Jacobsen was a philanthropist and avid art collector. With his fortune, he amassed an impressive art collection which is now housed in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in central Copenhagen.
Jacobsen set up the Carlsberg Laboratory in 1875 which worked on scientific problems related to brewing. It featured a Department of Chemistry and a Department of Physiology. The species of yeast used to make pale lager, Saccharomyces carlsbergensis, was isolated at the Laboratory and was named after it. The concept of pH was developed there as well as advances in protein chemistry. The laboratory was part of the Carlsberg Foundation until 1972 when it was renamed the Carlsberg Research Center and transferred to the brewery.
The old brewery in Copenhagen is open for tours, and famous visitors have included Winston Churchill, Yuri Gagarin, and Queen Elizabeth II.
The first overseas license for brewing was given to the Photos Photiades Breweries, and in 1966 Carlsberg beer was brewed for the first time outside Denmark at the Photiades breweries in Cyprus.
Carlsberg acquired Tuborg breweries in 1970 and merged with Tetley in 1992.
In 2008, Carlsberg Group, together with Heineken, bought Scottish & Newcastle, the largest brewer in the UK, for GBP7.8bn (US$15.3bn).”
*Information from Forbes.com, Wikipedia.org and www.carlsberggroup.com
**Video published on YouTube by “CarlsbergGroup“
