Żywiec Brewery and Brewery Museum

Poland's best-known beer label — a couple dancing the Krakowiak folk dance — was created in 1956 with Americans in mind. A Polish emigrant who wanted to sell Żywiec beer in the USA insisted on the traditional Kraków costumes, because they would remind Polish Americans of home. The brewery itself is a century older: it was founded by Archduke Albrecht Friedrich of Habsburg, and its official founding year is 1856. The old lagering cellars now house the Żywiec Brewery Museum.

The Habsburg brewery

The foundation stone was laid on 16 June 1852 on the land of the village of Pawlusie, on the site of a former distillery. All the buildings — brewhouse, malthouse, granaries, a boiler house with its distinctive chimney and a lagering cellar with an ice house — were designed by Karl Pietschka. Between 1852 and 1857 the archduke spent 194,902 guilders on the project. Water came from the springs of the Leśnianka stream flowing down from Skrzyczne mountain. By 1857 the brewery produced 17,856 hl of beer, and twelve years later it was the largest of the 260 breweries in Galicia, the Austrian-ruled part of Poland.

Porter, war and folk dancers

Until 1881 only bottom-fermented beers were brewed here. Then head brewer Julius Wagner developed the recipe for Żywiec Porter — a strong beer in the English double-stout style that became the brewery's most decorated beer. When World War II broke out, the Germans seized the plant as the Beskidenbrauerei Saybusch and imprisoned Archduke Karl Albrecht. As they retreated in 1945 they planted explosives under the buildings, but the workers prevented them from being detonated. After the war the brewery was nationalised; in 1975 the export brand Krakus was launched, with three spruce trees symbolising the forests of the Beskid mountains. Since 1994 Heineken has been the main shareholder.

What you'll see in the museum

The exhibition covers more than 1,650 m² of former lagering cellars and holds around 1,200 exhibits. The route includes the Nature Room on brewing ingredients, a room on the brewery during the war, a flat from the communist era, a room devoted to the Żywiec brand and a room on Żywiec Męskie Granie, a well-known Polish concert tour. Along the way you will see a model of the brewery from the early 20th century, collections of bottles, glasses and tankards, and multimedia installations. The visit ends with a tasting.

Tickets and rules

According to the museum's price list, a guided ticket costs PLN 55 (reduced PLN 30) and an audio-guide ticket PLN 50 (reduced PLN 25) — as of October 2026. Adult tickets include a beer (alcohol-free also available) or a juice, minors get a juice, and children under 4 enter free. A tour of the working brewery is a separate route for PLN 35, without a tasting, open only to adults and secondary-school students; the brewery is not accessible for visitors with disabilities.

Tripto tip

The museum is at ul. Browarna 88. Allow 1–2 hours including the tasting, and book a time slot in advance, especially at weekends. If you are interested in technology, add the brewery tour separately — the museum tells the history, while the plant shows modern production. If you plan to drink, leave the car behind and travel to Żywiec by train or bus.