The Švyturys Brewery (English: Lighthouse) is Lithuania's second oldest brewery located in Klaipėda, Lithuania. It was founded in 1784 by the Reincke family of merchant seamen. The brewery is a part of Švyturys-Utenos alus and currently is owned by the Carlsberg Group, which controls Švyturys-Utenos alus through Baltic Beverages Holding. History The brewery in Klaipėda (former German name: Memel) was founded by merchant J. W. Reincke in 1784. Since then, the brewery's emblem has been adorned with the sea eagle that is also found on the Reincke family's coat of arms. In the 19th century, this brewery in the suburb of Friedrich merged with the brewery of landowner Theodor Preuss and became the town's main beer producer. It brewed traditional Bock beer, as well as Bavarian and Porter beers. The latter received an award in the Klaipėda International Business Fair back in 1883. The shareholder-owned Klaipėda brewery was one of the most highly regarded breweries in Interwar Lithuania. The company had its own yeast factory and a warehouse of wine and liqueurs. It was also renowned for its famous Audit and Caramel beers: the latter were awarded a medal in the 1927 Agricultural Exhibition in Klaipėda. The brewery was named Švyturys when it was rebuilt after the war and it started brewing beer in 1946. The recipe for traditional Baltijos beer that is still used to this day was developed in the 1960s. The brewery continuously expanded and had become one of the country's most modern beer-making facilities by the time Lithuania's independence was restored. After the restoration of Lithuania's independence, Švyturys was restructured into a company with share capital. In 1999, most of the company's shares were bought by Denmark-based Carlsberg A/S, which made substantial investments in renewing its production facilities. In 2001, the breweries of Švyturys and Utenos Alus were merged into Švyturys-Utenos Alus AB (a company with share capital). In February 2003, Švyturys-Utenos Alus AB was restructured to become Švyturys-Utenos Alus UAB (private limited company). The Švyturys Brewery still uses old German brewing technology: beer is brewed in vertical and horizontal containers that facilitate the formation of unique characteristics of the beer's taste and aroma. Among all the largest Lithuanian breweries, Švyturys is the only one to use such containers. Statistics The Švyturys Brewery plans to brew 34 million litres of beer in 2012, most of which will be Extra lager. This is the most decorated Lithuanian