Rugenbräu Interlaken

The company's origins go back to a brewery with a distillery, which Grand Councilor Christian Indermühle from Kiesen built in 1866 on the Gasthausmatte of the Hotel Interlaken. After his death, his sons Carl and Albert took over the brewery and in 1875 they built Felsenkeller in Rugen, a mountain near Interlaken, to store the beer. In 1880 they had to sell the brewery and with the help of the Bern Cantonal Bank it was converted into a stock corporation. Their properties were acquired in 1892 by the Bavarian master brewer Joseph Hofweber (Kochbräu and Hofwebersche Brewery in Freising), who had already bought the brewery in Reichenbach Castle near Zollikofen two years earlier. In 1895 a brewery was built above the vaulted cellar in Grosser Rugen and production was completely relocated to it. The Bavarian brewery in Interlaken was shut down. The company was now called J. Hofweber & Cie. AG and had its headquarters in Interlaken and a branch in Reichenbach. In 1920 it was merged with a second brewery on the Bödeli to form the brewery operating company Hofweber & Horn, which became the collective company J. Hofweber & Cie. AG and Gebr. Horn and in 1968 became the Aktiengesellschaft Rugenbräu AG. In 1971 the brewery in Reichenbach Castle was closed. Since 1988, however, their premises have been used again as a depot for the greater Bern area. Rugenbräu AG is still family-owned today.