Royal Swinkels

Local brewery

The history of Swinkels Family Brewers can be traced back to 1680. In that year Dirk Vereijken owned a brewery at the Kerkdijk (Church Dike Road) in Lieshout, proof of which can be found in an account of the municipal tax records of that year. This brewery was transferred from father to daughter for three consecutive generations. The names of the new brewing families were Van Moorsel and Moorrees. In 1764 Brigitta Moorrees married Ambrosius Swinkels. After her mother's death in 1773, Brigitta and her husband became the full owners of the brewery. Since then, the brewery has been owned by the Swinkels family.

Regional brewery

For centuries the brewery only produced beer for the local market. It was not until the fourth generation of Swinkels took charge of the brewery that production was expanded. Jan Swinkels, born in 1851, started distribution to the city of Helmond at 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from Lieshout in 1890. Sales rose from 988 hectolitres of beer in 1890 to 1,900 hectolitres in 1900. After the First World War distribution was expanded to other towns and villages in North Brabant. By 1923 output had increased to 3,325 hectolitres of beer. By that time the original brewery buildings had become too small so a larger brewery was built in Lieshout. On that occasion three brothers of the fifth generation of Swinkels took over leadership, and adopted the brand name Bavaria. This name indicated that the new plant was a bottom fermentation brewery, producing pale lager (Bavarian) beer.

Nationwide distribution

Distribution was broadened to include Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht, the four largest cities of the Netherlands. In 1933 the brewery added its own bottling plant, which produced 2,000 bottles an hour. By 1940 a malt house was built. The output of the brewery at the beginning of the Second World War was approximately 40,000 hectoliters per annum, with an almost nationwide coverage in distribution.

In 1955 the company started manufacturing soft drinks under the brand name 3-ES. This name refers to the three Swinkels brothers of the fifth generation. In the postwar years beer consumption in the Netherlands had decreased to a very low level. It took the firm until 1959 to recover in terms of sales volume. In the sixties the company doubled its production capacity.

World player

From 1973 onwards the company took an interest in the exporting business, first of all in Southern Europe. In the late seventies the firm introduced alcohol-free beer, that was exported to Islamic countries. By 1981 the total volume reached 1,000,000 hectolitres of beer. From the nineties onwards the business expanded into exclusive and seasonal beers. Moreover, the company started to adapt its drinks to individual markets. Consequently, export grew to cover 130 countries.

In 1999, the Trappist Koningshoeven Abbey, located in Berkel-Enschot, entered into an agreement with the Swinkels family to take over the daily operations of the monks' brewery within the abbey. The brewery, which operates as "De Koningshoeven NV", is a subsidiary of Swinkels Family Brewers, whilst the buildings and equipment remain in the ownership of the abbey. The monks remain the ultimate authority on the brewing process while Swinkels Family Brewers manages the commercial business. The beer is sold under the brandname La Trappe.

On 10 May 2016 it was announced that the company has taken a majority stake in the Belgian brewery Palm. Initially the firm acquired 60% of the shares and this was expanded to 100% in 2021.

In November 2016 the company acquired Latis Imports, establishing a dedicated US presence in one of its "five key regions".

Products

Royal Swinkels produces and markets beer, malt and soft drinks.

Beer

The business operates nine brewery locations: three in the Netherlands, three in Belgium, one in Ethiopia, one in Cuba and one in Georgia. These breweries produced nearly 7 million hectolitres of beer in 2024. The group sells beer under several brand names, including Bavaria, Swinckels', La Trappe and Rodenbach.

Almost 11 percent of the total beer production consists of alcohol-free and low-alcoholic beer (less than 3.5% ABV).

Malt

Swinkels Family Brewers owns two malt houses, one in Lieshout and one in Eemshaven. The annual capacity totals 400,000 tons of malt, a third of which is used by Swinkels Family Brewers itself. One third of the production is sold to third parties in Europe and one third goes to countries outside Europe, mainly to Latin America, South America and Japan. Sales of malt contribute to around fifteen percent of Swinkels Family Brewers sales.