A. Le Coq - Short Overview of A. Le Coq History

Short Overview of A. Le Coq History

Direct predecessors of the oldest Estonian brewery that has been continuously operating – A. Le Coq – in Tartu are the breweries of B. J. Hesse (1800) and J. R. Schramm (1826). In course of time, a large enterprise Tivoli Ltd. formed from these companies, the owner of which called it in 1913 A. Le Coq Ltd.

Company A. Le Coq & Co. dealing with beverage trade was established in Prussia in 1807 by a family bearing the same name. In 1820s, Albert L. J. Le Coq settled in London in order to trade with the products of family’s wine manor. He soon started to bottle and export under his name Russian Imperial Stout. He ordered that special dark and strong top-fermented beer from the big breweries in London where the drink was bottled especially taking into consideration the taste preferences of Russian market.

High customs duties levied in Russia and increasingly more frequent forging of the reputable trademark forced A. Le Coq & Co. (Russia) Ltd. that had been transformed into a private limited group in 1904 to move its headquarters and bottling plant from London to St. Petersburg. The owners of A. Le Coq were looking for many years for a suitable brewery to manufacture Imperial stout in Russia, in the end Tivoli Ltd. in Tartu proved to be chosen, where the company is operating today.

Over the last 200 years A. Le Coq has passed through the hands of many owners and many managers, but the trademark itself endures. During the Soviet era the company’s name was changed to Tartu Õlletehas (Tartu Brewery), but it became A. Le Coq once again in 1997, when it was privatised by Olvi. Since then the A. Le Coq brand has been reintroduced and significant investments have made the company (and its trademark) one of the leading and most recognised brands in Estonia.