Decades of excellent partnership
Samson Brewery again invests – in the Innofill DPG-ZMS filling system
A lot has changed for what's now Samson Brewery since the beginning of 2012. The reason? It was in this year that American brewery giant Anheuser Busch bought into the company and procured the rights to the name "Budweiser Bier". Since then, what used to be Budweiser Bürgerbräu (the Budweis civic brewhouse) has acted under the name of Samson Brewery, selling beer brands Samson, 1795, Pito, and Dianello in place of Budweiser Bier.
Lubos Martis, master brewer at Samson, says, "Consumers first have to familiarize themselves with these brands. We thus had a drop in sales in 2012 which we aim to recover by 2014." It's easier for the over 50s to get used to the brand beers than the younger generation, as from 1960 to 1991 the brewery already operated under the designation of Samson Brewery as part of the South Bohemian Brewery Group, producing the aforementioned beer brands. Says Martis, "Thanks to this our allegedly 'new' brands create a sense of retro for this target group." In order to encourage consumption among young adults, shortly after the merge the company launched a shandy under the Samson logo to market. This proved to be a successful move, with Samson, now in four types of shandy, selling 9,000 hectoliters within a year and winning the prize for the best shandy in the Czech Republic from the Czech Brewers' Association.
Even if the brewery's recent history may have been somewhat turbulent, as far as investments go the brewery has been consistent in the last couple of decades. In 1994 it invested in KHS kegging technology with an output of 110 kegs per hour. In 1996 this keg line was expanded to work at twice the capacity and in 1999 the brewery's existing filter system was replaced by the Innopro Getra Eco. In 2012 the filling system was up for renewal, with the company clearly opting for the Innofill DPG-ZMS. Martis elaborates. "The main reason for again investing in KHS equipment was that we are extremely satisfied with the technology and after-sales service. The outstanding results the Innofill DPG-ZMS achieves regarding oxygen values and CO2 consumption are another. Many breweries already using this setup confirmed this on asking before we invested. Incidentally, in practical operation the quality of the filling is exactly as predicted prior to utilization."
At present Samson Brewery produces 150,000 hectoliters per year and is one of the 20 largest breweries in the Czech Republic. In the export business it's number 10 among Czech breweries. By presenting itself as a traditional brewery with a high potential for innovation and an advertising strategy to match, in the future the brewery hopes to be able to persuade young adults in particular to increasingly enjoy their quality beer brands.
Lubos Martis, master brewer at Samson, says, "Consumers first have to familiarize themselves with these brands. We thus had a drop in sales in 2012 which we aim to recover by 2014." It's easier for the over 50s to get used to the brand beers than the younger generation, as from 1960 to 1991 the brewery already operated under the designation of Samson Brewery as part of the South Bohemian Brewery Group, producing the aforementioned beer brands. Says Martis, "Thanks to this our allegedly 'new' brands create a sense of retro for this target group." In order to encourage consumption among young adults, shortly after the merge the company launched a shandy under the Samson logo to market. This proved to be a successful move, with Samson, now in four types of shandy, selling 9,000 hectoliters within a year and winning the prize for the best shandy in the Czech Republic from the Czech Brewers' Association.
Even if the brewery's recent history may have been somewhat turbulent, as far as investments go the brewery has been consistent in the last couple of decades. In 1994 it invested in KHS kegging technology with an output of 110 kegs per hour. In 1996 this keg line was expanded to work at twice the capacity and in 1999 the brewery's existing filter system was replaced by the Innopro Getra Eco. In 2012 the filling system was up for renewal, with the company clearly opting for the Innofill DPG-ZMS. Martis elaborates. "The main reason for again investing in KHS equipment was that we are extremely satisfied with the technology and after-sales service. The outstanding results the Innofill DPG-ZMS achieves regarding oxygen values and CO2 consumption are another. Many breweries already using this setup confirmed this on asking before we invested. Incidentally, in practical operation the quality of the filling is exactly as predicted prior to utilization."
At present Samson Brewery produces 150,000 hectoliters per year and is one of the 20 largest breweries in the Czech Republic. In the export business it's number 10 among Czech breweries. By presenting itself as a traditional brewery with a high potential for innovation and an advertising strategy to match, in the future the brewery hopes to be able to persuade young adults in particular to increasingly enjoy their quality beer brands.
