Monastery brewery
PORTA COELI
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Vorkloster
Monastery Brewery Porta Coeli is currently the only monastery brewery in Moravia. The brewery is operated by the joint-stock company Klášterní pivovar Porta Coeli a.s., where the Cistercian convent founded by the wife of the Czech King Přemysl Otakar I, Constance in 1230, also has an ownership share. The new brewery was established in the building of the former stables right next to the historic monastery brewery, where beer was last brewed in 1942. The monastery beer is sold under the brand name Vorkloster (the German name of the village Předklášteří, where the monastery is located).
History of the Monastery
The Cistercian monastery Porta Coeli was founded in 1234 by the second wife of the Czech King Přemysl Otakar I and the mother of the Czech King Wenceslas I, Queen Constance of Hungary, as the second female Cistercian monastery in our lands. The monastery was subordinated to the Velehrad monastery for more than 400 years, then it fell under the Sedlec monastery in Bohemia. During its existence, the monastery was abolished and restored several times, but in the end, it withstood all the difficulties, and it is the only female Cistercian monastery in the Czech Republic that still operates today. The area with the Romanesque-Gothic Church of the Ascension of the Virgin Mary is protected and in 2010 it was declared a National Heritage Site of the Czech Republic.
The renewal of the brewery
and the present
In 1942, the original brewery was closed. Beer production returned to the Cistercian monastery in Předklášteří u Tišnova after 77 years in July 2019. The idea to revive the brewing tradition in the Cistercian monastery in Předklášteří came in the summer of 2016. The group consists of 16 shareholders who have three main motivations: "Some are beer lovers and beer brewing enthusiasts, some are attracted by history and the possibility of a rebirth of an extinct craft, and others have a significant relationship with the church and its buildings."
The new brewery, operating since July 2019, focuses on the production of bottom-fermented unfiltered and unpasteurized beers, especially lagers. The brewery also brews specials such as the forgotten Zwickl or the so-called winter lager, i.e. the Bock style. Beer under the VORKLOSTER brand is sold in Brno and Prague in tasting beerhouses. It is an interesting fact that the Rajhrad Benedictines, in whose area there once also was a brewery, are among the regular customers of the monastery brewery.
TV REPORT FROM THE OPENING OF THE BREWERY
Visiting Monastery Brewery Porta Coeli
Vorkloster Team
Ing. Radek Holešinský
director, general sponsor for Porta Coeli Monastery Brewery
Radek Holešinský is the former director of the Research Institute of Building Materials (VÚSH) in Brno. He currently works as the director of the Porta Coeli Monastery Brewery in Předklášteří. In addition to being the brewery's director, he is also one of the 16 shareholders and first vice-chairman of the board.
Radek Holešinský is a key figure in the cooperation between Porta Coeli Monastery Brewery and the LASAR project .His role is irreplaceable, because he not only coordinates the whole cooperation, but also actively participates in the popularization of the Monastery Brewery. Thanks to his long experience and expertise, he is able to provide valuable advice and support to the young scientists involved in the project.
At the same time, he is a big fan of new technologies that he tries to integrate into traditional brewing practices. With his enthusiasm and innovative approach, he tries to support the young generation of scientists as much as possible.
doc. MUDr. Jan Maláska,
Ph.D., EDIC
head brewer and chairman of the board
Jan Maláska is an associate professor in the Department of Paediatric Anaesthesiology and Resuscitation at the Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University in Brno. In addition to his teaching and research at the university, he is also involved in several projects aimed at improving the teaching and implementation of palliative care in undergraduate teaching at medical faculties in the Czech Republic. Jan Maláska is also a member of the Board of Anaesthesiology, Intensive Care Medicine and Algesiology, and actively contributes to the development of simulations in medicine. At the Porta Coeli Monastery Brewery, he holds the position of Chairman of the Board of Directors and Head Brewer. At the same time, he is also one of the 16 shareholders.
Zdeněk Kluska
brewer
Zdeněk Kluska is a brewer and one of the co-owners of the Porta Coeli Monastery Brewery in Předklášteří. What he likes most about the brewery is the uniqueness of the environment where the brewery is located, including the opportunity to sit in the garden under hundred-year-old linden trees.
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After 77 years, the first official batch of beer was brewed today in the Porta Coeli Monastery Brewery in Předklášteří. The Cistercian convent has become the only monastery brewery in Moravia. The brewery, branded as Vorkloster, will specialize mainly in lagers. The joint-stock company that operates the brewery aims to revitalize the neglected economic part of the complex. The reconstruction of the premises and investments in technology cost approximately 17 million crowns.
The monastery attracts with live beer. People will taste ten- and twelve-degree beers
After seventy-seven years, beer production has returned to the premises of the Cistercian Monastery in Předklášteří in the Brno region. The new brewery is located in the building of the former stables, adjacent to the extensive area of the former brewery. It is the first monastery to produce the golden drink in Moravia.
Beer brewing returns to the Porta Coeli monastery
Brewing activities are being resumed after seventy-seven years at the Porta Coeli Monastery in Předklášteří near Tišnov. A group of religious enthusiasts decided to rebuild the brewery within the Cistercian monastery.