Today is the birthday of Rafał Kowalczyk, who founded the JaBEERwocky Brower in Warsaw, Poland. They also operate two pubs, one in Warsaw and the other in Poznan. I’ve judged several times and in several places with Rafał, but have only gotten to know him more recently, and he’s a terrific person. Join me in wishing Rafał a very happy birthday.
Historic Beer Birthday: Paul Kalmanovitz
Today is the birthday of Paul Kalmanovitz (December 27, 1905-January 17, 1987). Kalmanovitz was born in Łódź, Poland, but came to America with his family before World War I. He “was a millionaire brewing and real estate magnate best known for owning all or part of several national breweries and their products, including Falstaff Brewing Company and Pabst Brewing Company.”
Here’s a short biography from Find-a-Grave:
Businessman. He founded the S&P Corporation of California and was the man who built the General Brewing Company of San Francisco. He owned all or part of several national breweries and their products, including Falstaff and Pabst Blue Ribbon. At his death the $1.2 billion fortune of beer and real estate went to form a charitable foundation to fund universities and hospitals with the S&P Corporation being the holding company. The S&P Corporation is still in operational control of many breweries across the nation to this day.
Here’s a fuller biography, from Wikipedia:
Kalmanovitz was born in Łódź, Poland. His family emigrated to Egypt at the end of the World War I and he later worked for Sir Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby. Kalmanowitz arrived in the United States in the 1926 by jumping a merchant marine ship and jumped from job to job, working for several notable people such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, William Randolph Hearst, and Louis B. Mayer (MGM).
In 1950 Kalmanovitz acquired the Maier Brewing Company in Los Angeles, California and officially entered the brewing industry. Maier Brewing, makers of Brew 102, struggled for a number of years, and in 1958 faced a strong push to be bought out by the Falstaff Brewing Company. Kalmanovitz refused to be bought out, even after being threatened by Falstaff to either sell or Falstaff would bury the Maier Brewery. Within a few years Kalmanovitz turned the Maier Brewery around and began making a profit. Along with the brewery and numerous other investments, Kalmanovitz’s net worth began to swell. In 1970 Kalmanovitz purchased Lucky Lager and merged it with his Maier Brewing Company to form the General Brewing Company with S&P Corporation as its parent.
By 1974 Falstaff had fallen on hard times and was in need of cash. Falstaff’s purchase of the Ballantine brands in 1972 had proven to be a major mistake and stretched the company a little too thin. Falstaff sold Kalmanovitz its San Francisco brewery. The cash couldn’t save Falstaff, and in 1975 the company was once again in trouble. Kalmanovitz offered to inject $20 million into Falstaff for 100,000 shares of preferred stock. On 28 April 1975, Paul Kalmanovitz gained the controlling interest in the Falstaff Brewing Company. Kalmanovitz more than quadrupled his brewery interests and became a major force on the American beer market.
With the purchase of Falstaff, Kalmanovitz moved the Falstaff headquarters from St Louis, Missouri to San Francisco to combine it with General Brewing Company’s headquarters. By June, more than 175 of Falstaff’s corporate employees were laid off. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) opened an investigation of the Falstaff purchase, and found it provided shareholders with false and misleading information. Kalmanovitz was prohibited from committing further securities laws violations and Falstaff stock was barred from trading and removed from the New York Stock Exchange. Falstaff appealed all the way to the US Supreme Court and lost. Falstaff workers unhappy with the new direction of the company staged a company lockout, which Kalmanovitz and General Brewing called a strike.
Eventually things settled down with Falstaff and production resumed. Kalmanovitz’s plans to make a profit off Falstaff were not to turn the company around and reestablish its brand strength in the market, but rather to cut costs drastically throughout. The biggest change was the advertising budget where Kalmanovitz eliminated all types of marketing. Falstaff’s market share continued to slide, resulting in plants closing and employees out of work. Falstaff was profitable for the S&P Corporation, but at a cost to works and the communities around the breweries. Kalmanovitz acquired an ailing brewery, fired the corporate personnel, reduced budgets, sold off equipment, stopped plant maintenance, and eliminated product quality control. Kalmanovitz established a standard with Falstaff that was repeated as he purchased Stroh’s, National Bohemian, Olympia, Pearl, and Pabst.
Breweries were not Kalmanovitz’s only interests, he was also involved in helping Guide Dogs for the Blind and several other charitable organizations. Upon his death, Kalmanovitz’s net worth was said to be in excess of $250 million. A sizable portion of his wealth was donated to numerous California hospitals. In addition, his estate also donated the money for the Paul and Lydia Kalmanovitz Library at the University of California, San Francisco, Kalmanovitz Hall at the University of San Francisco, and the Paul and Lydia Kalmanovitz Appellate Courtroom at the University of California, Davis School of Law (King Hall).
Historic Beer Birthday: Johann Evangelist Götz
Today is the birthday of Johann Evangelist Götz (November 16, 1815-March 14, 1893). In Polish, his name is usually written as Jan Ewangelista Goetz. He founded the Okocim Brewery in 1845. Located in Brzesko in southeastern Poland, “his son Jan Albin expanded the family business, married a Polish aristocrat, and changed his name to Goetz-Okocimski. In 1945 the brewery was nationalized, then reprivatized in the 1990s. Carlsberg first acquired an interest in 1996, eventually acquiring full control in 2004.”
This short biography is from his Wikipedia page:
Johann Evangelist Götz was born to Anton and Josephine Götz. He attended the village school in his native Langenenslingen and middle school in Wilfigen, which he completed in 1830. He then worked in his father’s brewery and on the family’s farm. At the age of 18, as a journeyman brewer, he was employed in his cousin’s brewery in Hitzhofen. Subsequently, as a member of the brewer’s guild, he was obliged to travel away from his home region and establish himself as a brewer elsewhere.
He left Bavaria in 1834 and traveled around Germany and Austria, working in various breweries. He finally settled in Klein-Schwechat, near Vienna, where he obtained a position of “Cellarer” in a brewery of another cousin, Anton. After a year and a half, he was promoted. As an assistant to his cousin over the course of six years, he improved and modernized the brewery so that eventually it became one of the best-run brewing enterprises in Austria-Hungary. It was during that time that Götz introduced the then-new technique of bottom fermentation, which he would later utilize in his Okocim Brewery in Poland.
This is the entry from the Wikipedia page for the Okocim Brewery:
[Götz was] a German beer maker born in Wirtemberg together with Joseph Neumann, from Austria-Hungary, and local Polish noble, Julian Kodrębski. The first batch of beer was brewed on February 23, 1846. During the “Rabacja“, an Austrian-inspired peasant uprising in Galicia in 1846, directed at Polish nobility as well as affluent merchants, Götz barely escaped with his life. He survived thanks to help from local friends and the fact that the workers of his brewery stood up in his defense, certifying that his business provided good pay and decent working conditions. In turn, Götz helped to save the life of Julian Kodrębski, who had partly funded his brewery, by hiding him in woods on the banks of the Uszwica river in Brzesko, and providing him with food which was delivered over the course of ten days by workers from the brewery.
After the death of Neumann, Götz became the sole owner of the brewery. He modernized the enterprise and expanded it, adding a malthouse in 1875. In 1884 the brewery was visited by J. C. Jacobsen, the founder of Carlsberg brewery in Denmark.
After the death of Johann Evangelist Götz in 1893, the brewery was taken over by his son, Jan Albin Goetz. Jan Albin further expanded the family business, married a Polish aristocrat, and changed his name to Goetz-Okocimski. The Götz family quickly assimilated into Polish culture, became Polish patriots and engaged itself in Polish politics. Among other endeavors they funded a statue of Adam Mickiewicz, a gallery and the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre in Kraków, contributed money to buy out the Wawel castle from Austrian authorities. Jan Albin was also the president of the Koło Polskie (“Polish Circle”) in the Austrian parliament, and after Poland regained its independence a senator to the Polish sejm He built a private rail link between the brewery and the Brzesko rail station. As the richest person in Lesser Poland at the time he was also a philanthropist and a patron of the arts.
This account of the history of the Okocim Brewery is translated from Polish website:
John the Evangelist Goetz – the man from whom it all began.
At that time, Jan Goetz was a true visionary. Considered the father of modern brewing in Poland, he was one of the pioneers in the production of so-called Bavarian beer, bottom fermentation. The revolutionary nature of this method consisted in breaking with traditional forms of brewing beer, unchanged since the early Middle Ages. The new method consisted of aging at low temperatures of 7-12 º (in ice-cooled cellars) as well as bottom-up and back fermentation. This new species, called the lager, with a characteristic golden color and dense foam, beat the traditional types of beer on the head in terms of taste and allowed to store longer.
Although the founder of Okocim Brewery Jan Götz came from German Langenenslingen, he emphasized his belonging to Poland from the beginning. Soon for his involvement in the life of the local community, he received the nickname noble – Okocimski – and adopted the Polish name Goetz.
One of Jan Goetz’s principles was: best of the best. That’s how the best ingredients made beer, which brought Goetz fame and fortune. Goetz also kept in touch with other brewers, exchanging experiences and training in the art of brewing beer. At the end of the 19th century, Goetz met Jacob Christian Jacobsen, the creator of Carlsberg Brewery, who is only two years younger brother of Okocim.
The beginnings of Okocim Brewery
The history of the plant begins in 1845. It was then that Okocim with a small amount of money, sufficient only to build a small brewery, came then thirty-year-old Jan Goetz. Together with a partner, he began building a state-of-the-art brewery in Poland at that time. It was the quality of the beer brewed in it that made Goetz brewery very quickly become one of the largest in Poland. In 1846, the first bright full in Poland was brewed in Okocim. The first beer was only 7,500 buckets (1 bucket – approx. 60 l).
In the years 1846 – 1879, the volume of production in Okocim reached 24,000. hl. In the 1980s, three types of beer were introduced: Marcowe, Lager and Bock. The brewery, in particular, became famous for the latter, commonly known as bock. The brewery’s success gradually increased.
At the end of the nineteenth century, the brewery achieved an increase in production to 120 thousand hl. The beginning of the 20th century is already production at the level of 385,000 hl. In addition, the Okocim brewery from the beginning of its existence specialized in the production of oak barrels, not only for its own needs, but also for other breweries.
Okocim Brewery – beer for generations
In 1893, after the death of John the Evangelist, Okocim Brewery passed into the hands of his son, Jan Albin Goetz. In recent years before World War I, the brewery was at the forefront of the best of 1,200 breweries throughout the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. During the war, the Russian army forced the brewery to stop brewing for several months. After opening in 1915, the quality of beer dropped significantly. However, already in free Poland Jan Albin managed to restore Browar Okocim to the highest brand. During this period Okocimskie and Slodowe beers with the addition of sugar were brewed, as well as seasonal St. John’s beer.
After the death of his father, Antoni Jan Goetz became the owner of the brewery. Soon he launched a porter, which was sold in elegant, engraved bottles. The brewery’s prosperity was interrupted by the outbreak of World War II. Antoni Jan Goetz and his family fled to France from the approaching German army, and the brewery passed into the hands of the occupier and began producing beer for the army.When the Red Army approached Okocim, the German administrator, Karl Schroeder, ordered the dismantling of the basic machinery and equipment of the plant and taking them to Magdeburg. However, the train did not leave Silesia. The equipment was found and checked back by the brewery employees. The machines were quickly mounted to their former places, thanks to which the brewery began production in the same year.
After World War II, the brewery was expropriated and functioned as the State Brewing Company in Okocim, later renamed Okocimskie Brewing and Sweet Factory. Despite the lack of major modernizations, it was one of the most prosperous breweries in the country. It mainly brewed OK Pils beer, but also Caramel beer (formerly Słodowe).
The Goetz family – responsible employers, patrons of culture and art
The Goetz family was not only interested in beer – they supported culture, art and engaged in local life. Along with the brewery, the city also developed. New jobs were created. Thanks to the philanthropy of John the Evangelist, the first folk primary school, a neo-Gothic church, presbytery and library were opened in the vicinity of the brewery. In 1898, the Goetz took part in the buyout of Wawel from the Austrians, financially supported the construction of the Adam Mickiewicz monument on the Krakow Market Square, the construction of the theater Słowackiego and the opening of the gallery in the Sukiennice.
The Goetz family took special care of the brewery’s employees. In 1878, Okocim was one of the few workplaces to have its own credit and loan fund. Then a theater room was built, and a brass band was created.
Jan Goetz, as an avid social activist, founded a volunteer fire department, often leading the way in danger. He was awarded the Papal Order of St. New Year’s Eve and the Gold Cross of Merit with the Crown awarded by the emperor for participating in fire fighting around Okocim.
Jan II Albin Goetz Okocimski was an avid patron of the arts. In his collection he had canvases of artists such as Chełmoński and Malczewski. Family members were painted by, among others, Stanisław Wyspiański and Olga Boznańska.
Okocim Brewery today
Today, the Okocim brewery is undoubtedly a contemporary brewery, but drawing on its unique history. Not only when it comes to buildings, many of which remember the Goetz family, but above all in the approach to brewing beer and the principles that are passed down from generation to generation among Okocim brewers.
Historic Beer Birthday: Jan Albin Goetz-Okocimski
Today is the birthday of Jan Albin Goetz-Okocimski (July 18, 1864-April 24, 1931). He was the son of Johann Evangelist Götz, who founded the Okocim Brewery in 1845. Located in Brzesko in southeastern Poland, Jan Albin “expanded the family business, married a Polish aristocrat, and changed his name to Goetz-Okocimski. In 1945 the brewery was nationalized, then reprivatized in the 1990s. Carlsberg first acquired an interest in 1996, eventually acquiring full control in 2004.”
This biography of Goetz-Okocimski is from his Wikipedia page:
Baron, Jan Albin Goetz-Okocimski was a Polish brewer of German ancestry, head of Okocim Brewery, a philanthropist and patron of the arts, a “Freiherr” (baron) of the Habsburg Empire, a conservative politician, activist and a member of the Austrian parliament and Polish sejm.
Born to Johann Evangelist Götz and Albina Götz in 1864, in 1911 he polonized his name to “Goetz-Okocimski”. At the end of the 19th century, together with his wife, baroness Zofia née Sumińska, he built a palace in Brzesko, in Austrian architectural style, surrounded by an English garden. From 1904 until his death he was the sole owner of Okocim brewery. In 1925 for his social activism, as well as business and agricultural contributions to the industry of newly independent Poland he was awarded the Commander’s Cross of Order of Polonia Restituta.
This is the entry from the Wikipedia page for the Okocim Brewery:
[Götz was] a German beer maker born in Wirtemberg together with Joseph Neumann, from Austria-Hungary, and local Polish noble, Julian Kodrębski. The first batch of beer was brewed on February 23, 1846. During the “Rabacja“, an Austrian-inspired peasant uprising in Galicia in 1846, directed at Polish nobility as well as affluent merchants, Götz barely escaped with his life. He survived thanks to help from local friends and the fact that the workers of his brewery stood up in his defense, certifying that his business provided good pay and decent working conditions. In turn, Götz helped to save the life of Julian Kodrębski, who had partly funded his brewery, by hiding him in woods on the banks of the Uszwica river in Brzesko, and providing him with food which was delivered over the course of ten days by workers from the brewery.
After the death of Neumann, Götz became the sole owner of the brewery. He modernized the enterprise and expanded it, adding a malthouse in 1875. In 1884 the brewery was visited by J. C. Jacobsen, the founder of Carlsberg brewery in Denmark.
After the death of Johann Evangelist Götz in 1893, the brewery was taken over by his son, Jan Albin Goetz. Jan Albin further expanded the family business, married a Polish aristocrat, and changed his name to Goetz-Okocimski. The Götz family quickly assimilated into Polish culture, became Polish patriots and engaged itself in Polish politics. Among other endeavors they funded a statue of Adam Mickiewicz, a gallery and the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre in Kraków, contributed money to buy out the Wawel castle from Austrian authorities. Jan Albin was also the president of the Koło Polskie (“Polish Circle”) in the Austrian parliament, and after Poland regained its independence a senator to the Polish sejm He built a private rail link between the brewery and the Brzesko rail station. As the richest person in Lesser Poland at the time he was also a philanthropist and a patron of the arts.
This account of the history of the Okocim Brewery is translated from Polish website:
John the Evangelist Goetz – the man from whom it all began.
At that time, Jan Goetz was a true visionary. Considered the father of modern brewing in Poland, he was one of the pioneers in the production of so-called Bavarian beer, bottom fermentation. The revolutionary nature of this method consisted in breaking with traditional forms of brewing beer, unchanged since the early Middle Ages. The new method consisted of aging at low temperatures of 7-12 º (in ice-cooled cellars) as well as bottom-up and back fermentation. This new species, called the lager, with a characteristic golden color and dense foam, beat the traditional types of beer on the head in terms of taste and allowed to store longer.
Although the founder of Okocim Brewery Jan Götz came from German Langenenslingen, he emphasized his belonging to Poland from the beginning. Soon for his involvement in the life of the local community, he received the nickname noble – Okocimski – and adopted the Polish name Goetz.
One of Jan Goetz’s principles was: best of the best. That’s how the best ingredients made beer, which brought Goetz fame and fortune. Goetz also kept in touch with other brewers, exchanging experiences and training in the art of brewing beer. At the end of the 19th century, Goetz met Jacob Christian Jacobsen, the creator of Carlsberg Brewery, who is only two years younger brother of Okocim.
The beginnings of Okocim Brewery
The history of the plant begins in 1845. It was then that Okocim with a small amount of money, sufficient only to build a small brewery, came then thirty-year-old Jan Goetz. Together with a partner, he began building a state-of-the-art brewery in Poland at that time. It was the quality of the beer brewed in it that made Goetz brewery very quickly become one of the largest in Poland. In 1846, the first bright full in Poland was brewed in Okocim. The first beer was only 7,500 buckets (1 bucket – approx. 60 l).
In the years 1846 – 1879, the volume of production in Okocim reached 24,000. hl. In the 1980s, three types of beer were introduced: Marcowe, Lager and Bock. The brewery, in particular, became famous for the latter, commonly known as bock. The brewery’s success gradually increased.
At the end of the nineteenth century, the brewery achieved an increase in production to 120 thousand hl. The beginning of the 20th century is already production at the level of 385,000 hl. In addition, the Okocim brewery from the beginning of its existence specialized in the production of oak barrels, not only for its own needs, but also for other breweries.
Okocim Brewery – beer for generations
In 1893, after the death of John the Evangelist, Okocim Brewery passed into the hands of his son, Jan Albin Goetz. In recent years before World War I, the brewery was at the forefront of the best of 1,200 breweries throughout the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. During the war, the Russian army forced the brewery to stop brewing for several months. After opening in 1915, the quality of beer dropped significantly. However, already in free Poland Jan Albin managed to restore Browar Okocim to the highest brand. During this period Okocimskie and Slodowe beers with the addition of sugar were brewed, as well as seasonal St. John’s beer.
After the death of his father, Antoni Jan Goetz became the owner of the brewery. Soon he launched a porter, which was sold in elegant, engraved bottles. The brewery’s prosperity was interrupted by the outbreak of World War II. Antoni Jan Goetz and his family fled to France from the approaching German army, and the brewery passed into the hands of the occupier and began producing beer for the army.When the Red Army approached Okocim, the German administrator, Karl Schroeder, ordered the dismantling of the basic machinery and equipment of the plant and taking them to Magdeburg. However, the train did not leave Silesia. The equipment was found and checked back by the brewery employees. The machines were quickly mounted to their former places, thanks to which the brewery began production in the same year.
After World War II, the brewery was expropriated and functioned as the State Brewing Company in Okocim, later renamed Okocimskie Brewing and Sweet Factory. Despite the lack of major modernizations, it was one of the most prosperous breweries in the country. It mainly brewed OK Pils beer, but also Caramel beer (formerly Słodowe).
The Goetz family – responsible employers, patrons of culture and art
The Goetz family was not only interested in beer – they supported culture, art and engaged in local life. Along with the brewery, the city also developed. New jobs were created. Thanks to the philanthropy of John the Evangelist, the first folk primary school, a neo-Gothic church, presbytery and library were opened in the vicinity of the brewery. In 1898, the Goetz took part in the buyout of Wawel from the Austrians, financially supported the construction of the Adam Mickiewicz monument on the Krakow Market Square, the construction of the theater Słowackiego and the opening of the gallery in the Sukiennice.
The Goetz family took special care of the brewery’s employees. In 1878, Okocim was one of the few workplaces to have its own credit and loan fund. Then a theater room was built, and a brass band was created.
Jan Goetz, as an avid social activist, founded a volunteer fire department, often leading the way in danger. He was awarded the Papal Order of St. New Year’s Eve and the Gold Cross of Merit with the Crown awarded by the emperor for participating in fire fighting around Okocim.
Jan II Albin Goetz Okocimski was an avid patron of the arts. In his collection he had canvases of artists such as Chełmoński and Malczewski. Family members were painted by, among others, Stanisław Wyspiański and Olga Boznańska.
Okocim Brewery today
Today, the Okocim brewery is undoubtedly a contemporary brewery, but drawing on its unique history. Not only when it comes to buildings, many of which remember the Goetz family, but above all in the approach to brewing beer and the principles that are passed down from generation to generation among Okocim brewers.
Beer In Ads #1820: Kosciusko — “The Greatest Of The Poles”
Saturday’s ad is for Budweiser, from 1914, No. 3 in another series they did in 1914-15 called the “National Heroes Series.” The third one features Tadeusz Kościuszko, who “was a Polish-Lithuanian military engineer and a military leader who became a national hero in Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, and the United States. He fought in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth’s struggles against Russia and Prussia, and on the American side in the American Revolutionary War. As Supreme Commander of the Polish National Armed Forces, he led the 1794 Kościuszko Uprising.”
Poland Beer
Today in 1918, Poland proclaimed themselves a Republic.
Poland
Poland Breweries
- Artezan
- Bierhalle
- Bierhalle Łódź
- Brovaria Browar Hotel Restauracja
- Brovarnia Gdańsk
- Browar Amber
- Browar Bosman
- Browar Ciechanów
- Browar Cornelius
- Browar Czarnków
- Browar Częstochowa Czenstochovia Oslo Pub Restauracja
- Browar Dojlidy
- Browar EDI
- Browar Fortuna
- Browar Gab
- Browar Grybów Dystrybucja
- Browar Imielin
- Browar Jabłonowo
- Browar Jagiełło
- Browar Kaliski Złoty Róg
- Browar Kasztelan
- Browar Konstancin
- Browar Kormoran
- Browar Łomża
- Browar Lwówek 1209
- BrowArmia
- Browar Miejski
- Browar Namysłów
- Browar Okocim
- Browar Południe
- Browar przy Hotelu Płock
- Browar-Restauracja Grodzka 15
- Browar Staropolski
- Browar Szymbark: Kaszëbskô Kóruna
- Browar Tumski
- Browar Van Pur
- Browar Witnica
- Browar Zamkowy
- Browar Żywiec
- Browary Górnośląskie
- Browary Lubelskie nr. 1
- Browary Warka
- Browary Warka: Krolewskie
- Browary Warka: Strong
- Cieszyński Browar Mieszczański
- C.K. Browar Pub
- Elbrewery
- Kompania Piwowarska: Gingers Beer
- Kompania Piwowarska: Lech
- Kompania Piwowarska S.A.
- Mini Browar i Restauracja Spiż
- Minibrowar Kowal
- Mini Browar MajEr
- Minibrowar Pivovaria
- Minibrowar Restauracja Pub Haust
- Minibrowar Spiż
- Tyskie Browary Książęce
- Warka
- Warzelnia Piwa
- Zakłady Piwowarskie “Głubczyce”
- Zakłady Piwowarskie w Leżajsku
Poland Brewery Guides
Other Guides
- CIA World Factbook
- Official Website
- U.S. Embassy
- Wikipedia
Guild: The Union of Brewing Industry Employers in Poland / Polish Brewers
National Regulatory Agency: Agricultural Market Agency (Agencja Rynku Rolnego)
Beverage Alcohol Labeling Requirements: Poland follows EU Regulations
Drunk Driving Laws: BAC % Varies Note: 0.02% (driving license banned from six months up to three years, prison up to one month), 0.05% (driving license banned from 1 year to 10 years, prison up to two years). Limits and penalties for riding the bicycles are same as for motorized vehicles. Almost half of people imprisoned for drunk driving were riding bicycles.
- Full Name: Republic of Poland
- Location: Central Europe, east of Germany
- Government Type: Republic
- Language: Polish (official) 97.8%, other and unspecified 2.2%
- Religion(s): Roman Catholic 89.8% [about 75% practicing], Eastern Orthodox 1.3%, Protestant 0.3%, other 0.3%, unspecified 8.3%
- Capital: Warsaw (Warszawa)
- Population: 38,415,284; 33rd
- Area: 312,685 sq km, 70th
- Comparative Area: Slightly smaller than New Mexico
- National Food: Bigos; Pierogi; Kotlet schabowy; Żurek
- National Symbols: White Eagle; corn poppy; Alder; the old Castle; Vistula River
- Affiliations: UN, EU, NATO
- Independence: Republic proclaimed, November 11, 1918 / Notable earlier dates: The adoption of Christianity, traditional founding date, A.D. 966 / Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth created, July 1, 1569
- Alcohol Legal: Yes
- Minimum Drinking Age: None (to drink); 18 (to buy) [Note: Section 15.1 Clearly states that buyers must be at least 18 and prove it with ID if they look like they may not be at least that age. According to the International Center for Alcohol Policies, as of February 2007, the minimum age for alcohol consumption is 18 years of age.]
- BAC: 0.02%
- Number of Breweries: 68
- How to Say “Beer”: piwo
- How to Order a Beer: Yed-no peev, proshe
- How to Say “Cheers”: Na zdrowie / Vivat
- Toasting Etiquette: Expect frequent toasting throughout the meal. The host offers the first toast. Do not begin drinking until your host has proposed a toast to everyone at the table. If your host stands when proposing a toast, so should you. Toasts are only made with hard liquor (generally vodka). You should reciprocate with your own toast later in the meal. If you propose a toast it is important to maintain eye contact. You may also toast your hosts or the success of the business venture. The most common toast being “Na zdrowia!” (pronounced nah ZDRO-vee-ah, meaning “To your health!”). Alcohol is served in small glasses so you can swallow in one gulp.
Alcohol Consumption By Type:
- Beer: 56%
- Wine: 13%
- Spirits: 31%
Alcohol Consumption Per Capita (in litres):
- Recorded: 9.55
- Unrecorded: 3.70
- Total: 13.25
- Beer: 4.72
WHO Alcohol Data:
- Per Capita Consumption: 9.6 litres
- Alcohol Consumption Trend: Increase
- Excise Taxes: Yes
- Minimum Age: 18
- Sales Restrictions: Places, intoxicated persons
- Advertising Restrictions: Yes
- Sponsorship/Promotional Restrictions: Yes
Patterns of Drinking Score: 3
Prohibition: None