The brewery was founded in 1839 by Johann Schifferdecker in Löbenicht near Königsberg; from 1869 it worked in the village of Ponarth, whose name it carries. Today it brews in Kaliningrad on the same site.
Updated: 2026-10-21
| 1839—1871 | Prussia — Bavarian beer in Königsberg |
| 1871—1918 | Empire — The golden age |
| 1918—1933 | Weimar — Bottling begins |
| 1933—1945 | War — A century in war’s shadow |
| 1946—2010 | USSR — Ruin and return |
| 2020—∞ | Now — Reconstruction & a new chapter |
| 1839 | Founded in Löbenicht Johann Schifferdecker brings the Bavarian bottom-fermentation recipe to Löbenicht. So begins the brewery later called Ponarth: cold water, slow brewing, no rush.Source: Löbenicht, Königsberg · 1839 |
| 1869 | Move to Ponarth village Demand outgrew the old walls. The brewery becomes a joint-stock company and moves to the quiet village of Ponarth — whose name becomes the beer’s.Source: Ponarth village · 1869 |
| 1887 | Königsberg gold medal The Königsberg trade-fair gold medal seals the reputation. Ponarth is brewed the Bavarian way but drunk as a Prussian benchmark — from harbour taverns to officers’ messes.Source: Königsberg trade fair · 1887 |
| 1905 | Ponarth joins Königsberg The grown Ponarth is absorbed into Königsberg. A village brewery turns urban — a tram at the gates, its own rail spur and exports across East Prussia.Source: Königsberg · 1905 |
| 1939 | Centenary: 33M bottles By its centenary the brewery has 500 workers and 33 million bottles a year — one of the city’s largest works, at its peak. Yet behind the toast, the coming war already rumbles.Source: Ponarth, Königsberg · 1939 |
| 1945 | Ruins after the siege April 1945: the storming of Königsberg leaves the brewery in ruins. Brewing stops; the city changes its name and country. A century seems to end — but the red-brick walls hold.Source: Königsberg · April 1945 |
| 2007 | Heritage-listed building Ponarth’s surviving red-brick building is listed as cultural heritage. Walls that outlived the war and half a century of neglect are protected at last — as a monument, not a warehouse.Source: Kaliningrad · 2007 |
| 2010 | Brewing revived Brewing is revived under the historic brand. After 65 years of silence the copper kettles run again — to a recipe unchanged since 1839. Ponarth returns to where it all began.Source: Kaliningrad · 2010 |
| 2020 | Reconstruction & Tap Room A major reconstruction opens a new chapter: a Tap Room, tours, a living chronicle. Ponarth is poured again where it started — in Königsberg, now Kaliningrad.Source: Kaliningrad · 2020 |
The eras and the dated milestones above are the frame of the brewery story told on the site — each with the place and period it comes from.