The story
In 1902, Holsten Brauerei bought the Union Brewery, Point Pleasant, Wandsworth on the south bank of the River Thames in London. Trade suffered from anti-German sentiment during the First World War and it closed in 1920. Holsten Pils was first imported into the UK in 1952, creating the premium packaged lager market. In 1979 the first of many award-winning TV ad campaigns was launched featuring actor Donald Pleasence and in the mid-1980s Holsten became the UK's number one selling premium packaged lager. In 1991, Holsten acquired the Mecklenburgische Brauerei Lübz. Until 1999, Holsten UK operated as a joint venture between Holsten Brauerei and Scottish & Newcastle, but in that year the joint venture was dissolved and Holsten UK took over responsibility for the on-trade, followed in 2000 by the off-trade.
In 2003, Holsten Brewery absorbed the Bavaria – St. Pauli Brewery with their main brand Astra. The Holsten group subsidiary Hansa-Brunnen AG has two plants producing mineral water and carbonated soft drinks, mainly for distribution in northern Germany.
The present-day Holsten brewery in Altona has a production capacity of 3.2 million hectolitres (2,700,000 US bbl). Its biggest-selling product is the premium brand Holsten Pilsener sold on the German market. The beers exported by the Holsten group are also brewed in Altona.
In 2004, Holsten-Brauerei was acquired by Carlsberg for £735 million. Holsten produces both Tuborg and Carlsberg for the German market.
Holsten is specially produced in Germany (since 1879), but it may be produced by other Carlsberg companies around the world.
On 6 November 2014, there was a strike at the brewery with 200 employees involved.
From Wikipedia’s article on Holsten Brewery, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4