Löwenbräu, Munich's lion brewery

Löwenbräu, also written Lowenbrau or Loewenbraeu when the umlauts are dropped, supplies Oktoberfest as one of six Munich breweries. Löwe is German for lion, and the lion is everywhere: on the label, on the tower of the brewery's festival tent and above its entrance, where a mechanical lion roars the brewery's name across the grounds. This guide covers the Löwenbräu brewery's history from its first recorded brewer in 1524, its owners, its beers including the Oktoberfest beer, the Löwenbräu tent and what to know about Löwenbräu beer steins.

Löwenbräu brewery history: from the Löwengrube to Nymphenburger Strasse

The brewery's own chronicle begins in 1524, when a brewer named Jörg Schnaitter, recorded with the old spelling pierprew, is first mentioned in the house at Löwengrube 17 in Munich's old town. The name Löwenbräu appears for the first time in 1746/47, in the city's register of brewers. The city's Oktoberfest portal goes further back and suggests the beginnings of brewing there probably lie in the late fourteenth century; the brewery's chronicle does not document that.

The rise came with the Brey family. In 1818 the brewer Georg Brey bought the business. Demand grew, and in 1827 Löwenbräu extended its brewing to a site on Nymphenburger Strasse. In 1848, after long negotiations, Brey was allowed to brew a bock beer, and the brewery sees itself as a pioneer of strong beer that many others followed. Under his son Ludwig the whole operation had moved to Nymphenburger Strasse by 1851, and in 1863/64 Löwenbräu produced a quarter of all the beer brewed in Munich, which made it the city's largest brewery for the first time. In 1872 the Brey family sold it, and it became a stock corporation.

The Löwenbräukeller

In 1883 the Löwenbräukeller opened at Stiglmaierplatz, right next to the brewery. The brewery still calls it its flagship and credits it with helping Löwenbräu become Munich's largest brewery again around 1900. The city's Oktoberfest portal mentions it for events such as strong beer festivals and the Night of Traditional Costume. Around the same period, which the chronicle groups under 1886, 1900 and 1912, Löwenbräu registered the lion as its trademark, won the Grand Prix at the Paris World Exhibition and brewed close to a million hectoliters a year.

The First World War brought rationing of raw materials and thin wartime beer, and output fell to almost half of the prewar level. In the early 1920s the Unionsbrauerei Schülein & Cie merged with Löwenbräu, and the strong beer Triumphator returned after the war. Between 1927 and 1937 Löwenbräu brewed wheat beer for the first time, became the first Munich brewery to exceed one million hectoliters a year and even supplied beer to the Zeppelin airships.

Who owns Löwenbräu?

In 1997 Löwenbräu and Spaten joined forces, according to the brewery to hold their own in a globalized market. According to Spaten's chronicle, the joint Spaten-Löwenbräu group became part of the Belgian brewing company Interbrew in 2003; Löwenbräu itself dates its membership of InBev to October 1, 2004. In 2015 the Abendzeitung noted that Interbrew, after several changes of name, had become today's AB InBev, and Löwenbräu's own website currently lists the brand among those of Anheuser-Busch InBev in Germany. The brand still appears as Löwenbräu AG, and according to oktoberfest.de the brewery is still located on Nymphenburger Strasse.

Lowenbrau beer in the US and worldwide

After the Second World War, Löwenbräu resumed exports, starting with Switzerland. In 1974 it signed its first license agreements with partners in the US and England. Today, the brewery says, the brand is present in more than 50 countries, either exported from Munich or brewed locally by licensees following the German purity law. Two other Munich breweries are portrayed in Paulaner and The Hofbräuhaus.

Löwenbräu beers and the Oktoberfest beer

The Munich brewery currently lists four beers on its website: Original, Dunkel, Oktoberfestbier and an alcohol-free Schankbier. According to the brewery, its water comes from its own deep wells at a depth of 220 meters (about 720 feet), the hops mostly from the Hallertau region in Bavaria, and the yeast from its own cultures. For the difference between these styles see German beer types and Dunkel beer.

The Löwenbräu Oktoberfestbier is a pale, bottom-fermented lager brewed to 13.7 percent original gravity, with 6.1 percent alcohol; the figures the city published for the 2026 festival beers match. The brewery describes the timeline: the first brews are mashed in calendar week 18 and are initially meant for export, and after about eight weeks of lagering at temperatures around freezing the beer is filtered and bottled. It also explains the extra strength: in earlier times brewing was only possible until March, so the beer was brewed stronger to keep until fall, the origin of the Märzen tradition. More on Märzen and Festbier is in Oktoberfest beer.

The Löwenbräu tent at Oktoberfest

The Löwenbräu-Festzelt has been part of Oktoberfest since 1910. Above its entrance sits a lion 4.5 meters (about 15 feet) tall, which according to oktoberfest.de has guarded the tent since 1949 and roars Löwenbräu every minute. The brewery's chronicle dates the first roar to the years 1948 to 1950 and records that the lion had to stay silent from September 1952 until 1954. The tent also has a lion tower 37 meters (about 121 feet) high that can be seen from far away. Around 8,500 guests fit into the tent and its beer garden.

The Hagn and Spendler family has run the tent since 1979; since 2023 Stephanie Spendler has hosted it together with her son Lukas. The city's portal describes a crowd that mixes fans of the soccer club TSV 1860 München, for whom the lion has always been a draw, with many international visitors, and the band Die Heldensteiner under Günter Pilzweger. In 2026 a Maß cost €15.90 here. Löwenbräu's festival beer is also served in the Schützen-Festzelt, where a Maß cost €15.80 in 2026, and in the small Haxnbraterei. For every tent and its 2026 price, see Oktoberfest tents and Oktoberfest beer prices. When the next festival takes place is shown in Oktoberfest 2027.

Lowenbrau beer steins

In the Löwenbräu tent, as in the other large tents, beer comes in the Maß, a one-liter mug that holds about 34 US fluid ounces. Those mugs belong to the tents: under the heading mug theft, the city's 2026 festival report lists roughly 105,000 Maß mugs that stewards collected. Anyone who wants a stein to take home should buy one. What a Maß is, glass or stoneware, and where collector steins are sold is explained in The Maß: Oktoberfest beer stein.