Poland
Poland’s big lagers belong to global groups: Tyskie and Lech to Asahi, Żywiec to Heineken, Okocim to Carlsberg. Żywiec and Okocim also brew the Baltic porters the BJCP takes as classic examples. Grodzisk Wielkopolski gave its name to an oak-smoked wheat beer, revived after it died out in 1993, and Pinta’s Atak Chmielu of 2011, an American IPA, is often taken as the start of Poland’s craft beer revival.
Beer styles from Poland
Baltic Porter
LagerBaltic porter: a strong, smooth, dark porter of the Baltic Sea countries, often lagered, with dried fruit and roast but no burn. Strength, bitterness, glass and classic examples.
Piwo Grodziskie
AlePiwo Grodziskie: Poland's light, bitter, oak-smoked wheat beer from Grodzisk, the Grätzer, revived after it died out in the 1990s. Strength, taste and history.
Breweries in Poland
Browar Ciechan
1 styleBrowar Ciechan, Ciechanów: a brewery of 1864, closed in 2001 and restarted by Marek Jakubiak, known for its honey beer.
Browar Fortuna
1 styleBrowar Fortuna, Miłosław: a Polish brewery of 1889 that still ferments in open vessels, owner of the Grodzisk brewery.
Browar Pinta
2 stylesBrowar Pinta: the brewery whose Atak Chmielu of 2011, an American IPA, began Poland's craft beer revival.
Lech
Lech, Poznań: the industrial brewery completed in 1980, merged with Tyskie into Kompania Piwowarska, owned by Asahi.
Okocim
1 styleOkocim, Brzesko: the Goetz family's brewery of 1845, once the largest on Polish soil, now Carlsberg's; maker of a classic Baltic porter.
Tyskie
Tyskie, Tychy: the princely brewery dating from 1629, part of Kompania Piwowarska, Poland's largest brewer, owned by Asahi.
Żywiec
1 styleŻywiec: the Habsburg brewery of 1856 whose porter, first brewed in 1881, is a classic Baltic porter; owned by Heineken.
Browar Amber
1 styleBrowar Amber, near Gdańsk: a family brewery founded by the farmer Andrzej Przybyło in 1994, maker of Grand Baltic Porter.
Browar Grodzisk
1 styleBrowar Grodzisk: the brewery that brought Grodziskie, the oak-smoked wheat beer of Grodzisk Wielkopolski, back in 2015.