Royal Swinkels

Royal Swinkels, the brewer behind Bavaria, traces its origins to Lieshout in the southern Netherlands. Brewing at the site appears in local records from 1680, while the company traditionally uses 1719—the date of its oldest surviving excise papers—as its founding year. The Swinkels family became involved with the brewery in 1773.

A new brewery opened in 1924, followed by the formation of Gebroeders Swinkels and a shift to bottom-fermented pilsner brewing. The family added its own malt house in 1940. The Lieshout brewery draws mineral water from its own source.