Gambrinus

{{Short description|Culture hero of European legend, celebrated as an icon of beer}} {{other uses}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2014}} {{Use British English|date=January 2014}}

thumb|upright|Gambrinus in kingly garb sits casually on a beer cask as he regards a foaming chalice and balances a large pitcher on his thigh. An illustration from the catalogue of ''Ernst Holzweißig Nachf.'' (1898)

'''Gambrinus''' ({{IPAc-en|ɡ|æ|m|ˈ|b|r|aɪ|n|ə|s}} {{respell|gam|BRY|nəs}};<ref>{{cite Collins Dictionary|Gambrinus|access-date=2026-02-03}}</ref> {{IPA|de|ɡamˈbʁiːnʊs|lang}}<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kleiner|first1=Stefan|last2=Knöbl|first2=Ralf|last3=Mangold|first3=Max|year=2015|title=Duden Das Aussprachewörterbuch|edition=7th|location=Berlin|publisher=Duden|page=388|isbn=978-3-411-04067-4}}</ref>) is a legendary European culture hero celebrated as an icon of beer, brewing, joviality, and ''joie de vivre''. Typical representations in the visual arts depict him as a rotund, bearded duke or king, holding a tankard or mug, and sometimes with a keg nearby.

Though sometimes erroneously called a patron saint,<ref name="Rabin">{{Cite book |editor-last=Rabin |editor-first=Dan |editor2-last=Forget |editor2-first=Carl |year=1998 |title=The Dictionary of Beer and Brewing |edition=2nd |location=Chicago |publisher=Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers |page=123 |isbn=978-1-57958-078-0 |oclc= 40454877 |chapter=Gambrinus |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XRyxWu8rRnQC&pg=PA123 }}</ref> Gambrinus is neither a saint nor a tutelary deity. It is possible his persona was conflated with traditional medieval saints associated with beermaking, like Saint Arnold of Soissons. In one legendary tradition, he is beer's inventor or envoy. Although legend attributes to him no special powers to bless brews or to make crops grow, tellers of old tall tales are happy to adapt them to fit Gambrinus. Gambrinus stories use folklore motifs common to European folktales, such as the trial by ordeal. Some imagine Gambrinus as a man who has an enormous capacity for drinking beer.<ref name="Rabin"/>

== Origin of Gambrinus == === Gambrivius === In his magnum opus ''Annals of Bavaria'', German historian Johannes Aventinus wrote that Gambrinus is based on a mythical Germanic king called Gambrivius, or Gampar, who, Aventinus says, learned brewing from Osiris and Isis. In 1517, William IV, Duke of Bavaria had made Aventinus the official historiographer of his dukedom. Aventinus finished composing the history in 1523; the work that he compiled, ''Annals of Bavaria'', extends beyond Bavaria, drawing on numerous ancient and medieval sources. However, it is also a work that blends history with myth and legend.

Aventinus had derived this king Gambrinus from the writings of Annius of Viterbo, who had invented the character based on a legendary ancient German tribe, the ''Gambrivii'', mentioned by Roman historian Tacitus.<ref>Wolfgang Stammler, ''Kleine schriften zur Literaturgeschichte des Mittelalters'', p. 120-124.</ref>

{{multiple image | total_width = 220 | image1 = Standing Osiris.svg | width1 = 220 | height1 = 450 | alt1 = Osiris stands in a composite pose, arrayed in burial dress. | image2 = Isis.svg | width2 = 220 | height2 = 450 | alt2 = Isis stands in a composite pose, wearing the throne hieroglyph on her head, and holding an ankh and staff. | footer = Legends tell that Gambrivius learned the art of brewing from Osiris (left) and Isis (right). }} European anecdote credits Gambrinus with the invention of beer. Aventinus attempted to reconcile this account with much older stories attributing its origin to Osiris' agricultural teachings.<ref>{{cite book |last=Birmingham |first=Frederic Alexander |year=1970 |title=Falstaff's Complete Beer Book |location=New York |publisher=Award Books |page=36 |oclc=121991}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1007/978-3-662-34091-2 |title=Die Chemie des täglichen Lebens |year=1878 |last1=v. Hamm |first1=W. |last2=Schwartze |first2=Th. |last3=Wagner |first3=H. |last4=Zöllner |first4=J. |isbn=978-3-662-33693-9|url=http://digital.slub-dresden.de/id346126711 }}</ref> In Aventinus' chronicle, Gambrivius was the paramour of Osiris' wife and sister, Isis. It was by this association, he says, that Gambrivius learned the science of brewing (cf. myths of the theft of fire).<ref>{{cite book |last=Aventinus |first=Johannes |author-link=Johannes Aventinus |title=Annales Boiorum |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CyxDAAAAcAAJ |access-date=15 January 2014|year=1615 }}</ref>

Aventinus' account of Gambrivius contributed to the reverence for Osiris and Isis held by 17th-century European scholars.<ref name="Hornung">{{Cite book |last=Hornung |first=Erik |author-link=Erik Hornung |year=2001 |title=The Secret Lore of Egypt: Its Impact on the West |location=Ithaca |publisher=Cornell University Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/secretloreofegyp00horn/page/104 104] |chapter=Triumphs of Erudition |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SB_y56Vlz5kC&pg=PA104 |isbn=978-0-8014-3847-9 |oclc=851341608 |url=https://archive.org/details/secretloreofegyp00horn/page/104 }}</ref> Perceiving Osiris and Isis as "culture bearers" enabled a willingness to see historical connections where there were none.<ref name="Hornung"/>

The 59th stanza of the English drinking ode "The Ex-ale-tation of Ale", written by Peter Mews, evidences a British appropriation of the myth: {{Quote|To the praise of Gambrivius, that good British king<br />That devis'd for the nation by the Welshmen's tale<br />Seventeen hundred years before Christ did spring<br />The happy invention of a pot of good ale.|Previously erroneously attributed to Francis Beaumont|''A Select Collection of English Songs with Their Original Airs, Volume II''<ref>{{Cite book |editor-last=Park |editor-first=Thomas |year=1813 |title=A Select Collection of English Songs with Their Original Airs, Vol. II |edition=2nd |location=London |publisher=Printed for F.C. and J. Rivington, etc. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C9IxAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA73 |oclc=2093558 |access-date=8 January 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Johnson |first=Samuel |year=1810 |title=The Works of the English Poets, from Chaucer to Cowper |url=https://archive.org/details/worksenglishpoe84unkngoog |location=London |publisher=Printed for J. Johnson etc. |pages=[https://archive.org/details/worksenglishpoe84unkngoog/page/n222 204]–6 |oclc=14021579 |access-date=8 January 2014}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hazlitt |first=William Carew |author-link=William Carew Hazlitt |year=1876 |title=Collections and notes, 1867–1876 |location=London |publisher=Reeves and Turner |page=[https://archive.org/details/collectionsnotes00hazluoft/page/6 6] |url=https://archive.org/details/collectionsnotes00hazluoft |oclc=3637760 |access-date=8 January 2014}}</ref>}}

According to Aventinus, Gambrivius is a seventh-generation descendant of the Biblical patriarch Noah. By incorporating earlier myths recorded by Tacitus, Aventinus reckoned that Gambrivius was the fifth son of Marso (Latin: Marsus),<ref name="Waldenfels">{{cite book |last=Waldenfels |first=Christoph Philipp |year=1677 |title=Selectæ Antiquitatis, Libri XII: De Gestis primævis, item de Origine Gentium Nationumque migrationibus, atque præcipuis Nostratium dilocationibus |location=Nuremberg |publisher=Sumptibus Wolfgangi Mauritii Endteri and Johannis Andreæ Endteri Hæredum |oclc=804372376 |chapter=De Marſo Aſcenæ quinto filio |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZRs_AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA303 |pages=303–304 |language=la }}</ref> who was the great-grandson of Tuisto, the giant or godly ancestor of the Germanic peoples whom Tacitus mentions in ''Germania''. Tacitus alludes to an earlier source (Strabo) who lists tribes called the ''Gambrivii'' and the ''Marsi'' among the peoples descended from Tuisto:<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://elfinspell.com/TacitusGermany1.html#refch2 |last=Tacitus |first=Cornelius |title=''The Germany and the Agricola of Tacitus: The Oxford Translation Revised, with Notes'' |website=Elfinspell |access-date=12 January 2014}}</ref> the offspring or subjects of Gambrivius and Marsus, respectively.

[[File:Gampar.jpg|thumb|upright=1|Gampar (Gambrivius), depicted as the king of Flanders and Brabant. A sheaf of wheat is to his right. (From a series of broadsides produced c. 1543.)<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?assetId=82964&objectId=1440803&partId=1 |title=Ancestors and early kings of the Germans / Gambrivius Künig in Brabant/Flandern (Gampar, king of Brabant and Flanders) |website=British Museum}}</ref>]]

Gampar claims new lands east of the Rhine, including Flanders and Brabant, and founds the towns of Cambrai and Hamburg.<ref>{{cite book |last=Braungart |first=Richard |year=1911 |title=Der Hopfen aller hopfenbauenden Länder der Erde als Braumaterial nach seinen geschichtlichen, botanischen, chemischen, brautechnischen, physiologisch-medizinischen und landwirthschaftlich-technischen Beziehungen wie nach seiner Konservierung und Packung |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nvI7AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA131 |location=München |publisher=R. Oldenburg |page=131 |oclc=494652466 |language=de |access-date=13 January 2014}}</ref> The names of both these towns were theorized to be cognates of ''Gambrivius'', as one of Hamburg's ancient Latin names was alleged to be ''Gambrivium''.<ref name="Walsh">{{cite book |last=Walsh |first=William S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M1u6tKZsBtIC&pg=PA117 |title=Heroes and Heroines of Fiction: Classical, Mediæval, Legendary |publisher=J. B. Lippincott Co. |year=1915 |location=London |page=117 |oclc=652491 |access-date=8 January 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Lediard |editor-first=Thomas |editor-link=Thomas Lediard |year=1740 |title=The German Spy, or, Familiar letters from a gentleman on his travels thro' Germany, to his friend in England |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_xE4HAAAAQAAJ |location=London |publisher=Printed for T. Cooper |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_xE4HAAAAQAAJ/page/n197 164] |access-date=9 January 2014}}</ref><ref name="Compte-rendu">{{Cite book |year=1844 |title=Compte-rendu des séances de la Commission royale d'histoire, ou, Recueil de ses bulletins. Tome VII (5 septembre - 2 décembre 1843.) |location=Bruxelles |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nLNJAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA154 |access-date=11 January 2014|last1=Académie Royale Des Sciences |first1=des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique (Bruxelles) Commission Royale d'Histoire }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Schütze |first=Gottfried |year=1775 |title=Die Geschichte von Hamburg für den Liebhaber der vaterländischen Geschichte, Theil 1 |chapter=Gründung und Benennung von Hamburg |trans-chapter=Establishment and Appointment of Hamburg |location=Hamburg |publisher=Johann George Fritsch und Compagnie |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eOM-AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA38 |pages=38–9 |language=de }}</ref>

One of Aventinus' sources was ''Officina'' (1503), an encyclopedia compiled by French scholar Jean Tixier de Ravisi. This work purported that Tuisto and Gambrivius were giants descended from Noah. But Jean Tixier had only catalogued and reported a conjecture made in the name of the Hellenistic-era historian Berossus,<ref>{{cite book |last=Gotthelf |first=Friedrich |year=1900 |title=Das deutsche Altertum in den Anschauungen des sechzehnten und siebzehnten Jahrunderts |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OoNBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA20 |trans-title=German Antiquity from Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Perspectives |series=Forschungen zur neueren Litteraturgeschichte |location=Berlin |publisher=Alexander Duncker |page=20 |oclc=12373106 |language=de |access-date=15 January 2014}}</ref> by the fraudster Annio da Viterbo (1498), who had previously used the same hypothesis to postulate an ancestry for the Gauls.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rose |first=Carol |year=2001 |title=Giants, Monsters, and Dragons: An Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend, and Myth |location=New York |publisher=Norton |pages=131, 369 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GKrACS_n86wC&pg=PA369 |isbn=9780393322118 |oclc=48798119 |access-date=12 January 2014}}</ref>

Some Francophone and Germanophone scholars reject the others' claim to Gambrinus as an appropriation of one of their own cultural heroes.<ref name="Compte-rendu"/><ref name="Gambrinal">{{cite journal |date=25 June 1882 |title=Gambrinal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=skUbAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA367 |journal=L'intermédiaire des chercheurs et curieux |pages=366–7 |issn=0996-2808 |language=fr |quote=Nos voisins d'Outre-Rhin qui tiennent fort à ce que la bière soit née chez eux, ne peuvent se résigner à boire un produit ayant un protecteur français! |access-date=10 January 2014}}</ref> Aventinus' account did not just establish a claim to Gambrivius, but to a glorious ancestry and heritage.<ref name="Gambrinal"/> The myths also reimagined Gambrivius as a catalyst for the enlargement of the territory of a Germanic people (the Gambrivii), and made him a divine conduit into Germania for the Egyptians' ancient beer lore.

In 1543, Hans Guldenmundt published a series of 12 broadside prints of "ancestors and early kings of the Germans". The series includes Tuiscon (Tuisto) and Gambrivius, Charlemagne, and other kings historical and mythological. The heading for Gambrivius translates as "Gampar, King of Brabant and Flanders". Aventinus' contemporary Burkard Waldis (c. 1490–1556) wrote a descriptive verse for each of the 12 kings in the series. The verses for Gampar and Tuiscon recapitulate what Aventinus recorded in ''Annals of Bavaria''.

During the 16th century, the name 'Gambrivius' was corrupted into the form 'Gambrinus', as the legendary beer king would be known from thereon.

=== John I, Duke of Brabant === {{Further|John I, Duke of Brabant}}

One of the persons erroneously theorised to be the basis for the Gambrinus character is John I (c. 1252–1294)<ref name="Reiber">{{Cite book |last=Reiber |first=Ferdinand |year=1882 |title=Etudes gambrinales: histoire et archéologie de la bière et principalement de la bière de Strasbourg |location=Paris |publisher=Berger-Levrault |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SOl9rlgtIVoC&pg=PA1 |oclc=29620014 |access-date=8 January 2014}}</ref>{{rp|3}} of the Duchy of Brabant, which was a wealthy, beer-producing jurisdiction that encompassed Brussels among other cities.<ref name="Coremans">{{Cite journal |last=Coremans |first=Victor Amédée Jacques Marie |author-link=Victor Amédée Jacques Marie Coremans |year=1842 |title=Note sur la tradition de Gambrivius roi mythique de Flandre par le docteur Coremans |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yhw0AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA379 |journal=Bulletin de la Commission Royale d'Histoire |language=fr |volume=5 |issue=5 |pages=378–388 |doi=10.3406/bcrh.1842.4171 |access-date=8 January 2014|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="Rabin"/><ref name="Jackson">{{Cite book |last=Jackson |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Jackson (writer) |year=1997 |title=The Simon & Schuster Pocket Guide to Beer |edition=6th |location=New York |publisher=Simon & Schuster |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p24Ktw6BDVoC&pg=PA81 |isbn=978-0684843810 |oclc=37929564 |access-date=8 January 2014}}</ref>{{rp|81}} In his 1842 article on Gambrinus, the Belgian political activist and historian Victor Coremans reported that references to Brabant and Flanders in Gambrinus legends seemed to be relatively recent. However, he also reports a similarity between the likeness of John I on his tomb and the faces in some illustrations of Gambrinus.<ref name="Coremans"/><ref>{{Cite book |last=Vogel |first=Max |year=1874 |title=On Beer: A Statistical Sketch |location=London |publisher=Trübner & Co. |page=4 |chapter=Introduction |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vJMBAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA4 |oclc=20877079 }}</ref> Erroneously, German 19th century amateur historians misinterpreted the name Gambrinus as a corruption of ''Jan Primus'' ('John the first' in a combination of Dutch and Latin). In reality such a phrase has never been attested in any historical document.<ref>Jan Grauls, ‘De legende van koning Gambrinus’, in: ''Terug naar de oorsprong'', Hasselt 1966, p. 129-138</ref>

== 19th-century stories about Gambrinus ==

=== Short stories by Charles Deulin === thumb|upright|King Cambrinus on the cover of Aubéron's 2011 edition of ''Contes de Cambrinus, roi de la bière''

For his 1868 anthology ''Contes d'un buveur de bière'' (English: ''Tales of a Beer Drinker''), French author Charles Deulin wrote a playful short story called "Cambrinus, Roi de la Bière" ("Cambrinus, King of Beer"), in which "Cambrinus" makes a deal with the Devil.<ref>A brief, and not quite accurate, synopsis of this story appears in Walsh, p. 117. It is a modification of a synopsis he wrote for an 1888 issue of ''Lippincott's Monthly Magazine''.</ref> Deulin was also a journalist, and drama critic who adapted elements of European folklore into his work.<ref name="Malarte–Feldman">{{cite book |last=Malarte–Feldman |first=Claire L. |editor-last=Haase |editor-first=Donald |date=2008 |title=The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Folktales and Fairy Tales |chapter=Deulin, Charles (1827–1877) |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w9KEk9wQPjkC&pg=PA263 |location=Westport |publisher=Greenwood Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/unset0000unse_w7y9/page/263 263] |isbn=9780313049477 |oclc=192044183 |url=https://archive.org/details/unset0000unse_w7y9/page/263 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Staff writer |author-link=Staff writer |year=1871 |title=The Atlantic Monthly, Volume XXVIII |chapter=Light and Darkness (December 1871, № 170) |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XWoAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA652 |location=Boston |publisher=James R. Osgood and Company |page=652 }}</ref> The success of "Cambrinus, Roi de la Bière" led to the 1874 publication of ''Contes du roi Cambrinus'' ("Tales of King Cambrinus"), a collection of short stories devoted to the character.<ref name="Malarte–Feldman"/><ref>{{cite book |last=Deulin |first=Charles |date=1874 |title=Contes du roi Cambrinus |url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k57257110 |location=Paris |publisher=E. Dentu |language=fr |oclc=9045829 |access-date=9 June 2014}}</ref>

==== "Cambrinus, Roi de la Bière" ==== In this, the seminal Cambrinus short story, Cambrinus is an apprentice glassblower in the Flemish village of Fresnes-sur-Escaut, but he believes that he lacks the skill and upward mobility to succeed in glassblowing. He becomes smitten with the master glassblower's daughter, Flandrine. After she rebuffs him, he apprentices himself instead to a viol master, and learns the instrument. His first public performance goes excellently until he catches sight of Flandrine, and flubs his performance. The crowd turns on him violently, but when the case goes to trial the judge, Jocko, is against Cambrinus. When Cambrinus is released he considers suicide, but Beelzebub intervenes in exchange for the promise of his soul. Beelzebub announces, too, that he has killed the judge.

With diabolical help, Cambrinus wins a fortune in games of skill and chance, becomes an irresistible player of the carillon, and becomes the first mortal to brew beer. Cambrinus' music and beer make him very famous, and eventually the king of the Netherlands heaps titles of nobility on him: Duke of Brabant, Count of Flanders, Lord of Fresnes. But even after founding the town of Cambrai, Cambrinus prefers the villagers' honorary title for him: King of Beer. When Flandrine finally approaches him, he rejects her.

After 30 years, Beelzebub sends Jocko the judge for Cambrinus' soul, but Cambrinus thwarts Jocko by getting him drunk on beer, and thrives for nearly a hundred years more. When Cambrinus finally dies, Beelzebub himself comes for his soul, only to find that Cambrinus' body has become a beer barrel.<ref>{{cite book |last=Deulin |first=Charles |year=1868 |title=Contes d'un buveur de bière |url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5471441h/f13.image |location=Paris |publisher=A. Lacroix, Verboeckhoven & cie |language=fr |oclc=15145437 |access-date=8 January 2014}}</ref>

=== Gambrinus, King of Lager Beer === Some years after Deulin published ''Contes d’un buveur de bière'', American playwright and blackface minstrel Frank Dumont wrote a loose variation on the story "Cambrinus, Roi de la Bière". In this musical burlesque, titled ''Gambrinus, King of Lager Beer'', Gambrinus is a poor woodcutter to whom {{sic|Belzebub|expected=Beelzebub}} gives a recipe for an excellent lager beer. In Dumont's version, Gambrinus is joyfully reunited with his love, only to be taken from her by Belzebub.

The play was first produced in the US town of Jackson, Michigan on 21 July 1875, by a blackface troupe called Duprez and Benedict's Minstrels.<ref>{{cite book |last=Dumont |first=Frank |author-link=Frank Dumont |year=1876 |title=Gambrinus, King of Lager Beer: A diabolical, musical, comical and nonsensical Ethiopian burlesque |location=New York |publisher=Robert M. De Witt |oclc=30553238 |url=https://archive.org/details/gambrinus00dumo |access-date=17 January 2014}}</ref>

=== May Day legend === In a very brief magazine piece, Deulin told a legend (possibly his own invention) in which Gambrinus and a host of ancient French (or, alternately, Franconian) kings gather each May Day for a midnight feast at a "Devil's table" ({{langx|de|Teufelstisch}}) near Grafenberg, Germany.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Deulin |first=Charles |editor-last=Ainsworth |editor-first=William Francis |editor-link=William Francis Ainsworth |year=1875 |chapter=Gambrinus: A May-Day Legend |title=The New Monthly Magazine, Vol. VII |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nkIFAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA568 |location=London |publisher=E. W. Allen |language=fr |access-date=12 January 2014}}</ref>

== Brands == [[File:FalstaffBreweryNOLAStatueHowieluvzus new.jpg|thumb|upright|A statue depicting Gambrinus holding a chalice aloft, with his right foot atop a beer keg, and a goat to his left. Falstaff brewery in New Orleans.]]

Because of Gambrinus' significance, breweries, pubs, restaurants, shops, and malt houses have appropriated the character or his name for their brands.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cantwell |first=Dick |editor-last=Oliver |editor-first=Garrett |editor-link=Garrett Oliver |title=The Oxford Companion to Beer |location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=383 |chapter=Jan Gambrinus |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oWQdjnVo2B0C&pg=PA383 |isbn=978-0-19-536713-3 |oclc=706025045 |date=2011-09-09 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://gambrinus.jp/whosgambrinus.html |title=Who's Gambrinus? |author= |website=gambrinus.jp |publisher=Beer Cafe Gambrinus |language=ja |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130929004056/http://gambrinus.jp/whosgambrinus.html |archive-date=29 September 2013 |df=dmy |access-date=15 January 2014}}</ref>

První akciový pivovar in Plzeň, Czech Republic, has been brewing a pale lager with the name Gambrinus since 1918. In 1932 the brewery merged with Pilsner Urquell Brewery.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.prazdrojvisit.cz/en/gambrinus-brewery-tour/ |author= |title=Tour of the Gambrinus Brewery for the public |location=Plzeň |publisher=Plzeňský Prazdroj |access-date=15 January 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116133026/http://www.prazdrojvisit.cz/en/gambrinus-brewery-tour/ |archive-date=16 January 2014 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

In Spain, the brewery Cruzcampo, now a subsidiary of Heineken International, premiered a Gambrinus-derived advertising mascot in 1902, and has kept it since. The character was designed by Leonetto Cappiello.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.foromarketingsevilla.es/blog/la-ley-de-propiedad-intelectual-y-la-reproduccion-de-las-obras-en-internet/ |title=La Ley de propiedad intelectual y la reproducción de las obras en internet |trans-title=Intellectual Property Law and the Reproduction of Works on the Internet |author= |date=27 June 2013 |publisher=Foro Marketing Sevilla |location=Seville |language=es |access-date=14 January 2014}}</ref> Between 1997 and 2009, Cruzcampo opened more than 250 Gambrinus pubs throughout Spain—starting with one in the Basque Country.<ref name="Schiefenhövel">{{Cite book |editor-last=Schiefenhövel |editor-first=Wulf |editor2-last=Macbeth |editor2-first=Helen M. |title=Liquid Bread: Beer and Brewing in Cross-Cultural Perspective |chapter=Beer Acceptance in Andalusia |publisher=Berghahn Books |location=New York |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TXNFAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA85 |isbn=978-0-85745-215-3 |oclc=701026674 |page=85 |access-date=3 January 2014|year=2011 }}</ref>

Cerveza Victoria was the first beer commercially brewed in Mexico. Its brewer, Santiago Graf, started his brewery in Toluca during the 1880s. He eventually attracted some German investors, and incorporated the Brewery Company of Toluca and Mexico (''Compañía Cervecera de Toluca y México'') in 1890.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.mumci.org/historia_toluca_mexico.jsp |title=Compañía Cervecera Toluca y México |website=Modelo Museum of Science and Industry |location=Toluca |publisher=Grupo Modelo |language=es |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116122204/http://www.mumci.org/historia_toluca_mexico.jsp |archive-date=16 January 2014 |df=dmy |access-date=15 January 2014}}</ref> In 1907, the company changed the Victoria logo to an illustration of King Gambrinus.<ref>{{cite book |title=Diario Oficial: Organo del gobierno constitucional de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos, Vol. 93 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fdIzAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA735 |chapter=Secretaria del despacho de instruccion publica y bellas artes (25 diciembre 1907) |pages=735 |language=es |access-date=15 January 2014|author1 = Mexico|year = 1907}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author= |date=5 January 1908 |title=El Mundo ilustrado, vol. 15, tomo 1 |chapter=Progresos de una gran empresa cervecera Toluca y México S.A. en el año de 1907 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5-ExAQAAMAAJ&pg=PT245 |language=es |access-date=15 January 2014}}</ref> Grupo Modelo bought the company in 1935, and has branded Victoria beer with at least two different Gambrinus logos. Today, Cerveza Victoria is marketed as a "Vienna-style" dark lager, and is distributed multinationally.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://vamonosalbable.blogspot.com/2011/12/gambrinus-el-no-santo-patrono-de-la.html |title= Gambrinus el (no santo) patrono de la cerveza |trans-title=Gambrinus, the patron (not saint) of beer |last=Arredondo |first=Benjamin |date=4 December 2011 |website=El Bable |location=Salamanca |language=es |access-date=14 January 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gmodelo.com.mx/victoria_en.jsp |title=Cerveza Victoria |author= |website=gmodelo.com.mx |publisher=Grupo Modelo |language=es |access-date=15 January 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116103632/http://www.gmodelo.com.mx/victoria_en.jsp |archive-date=16 January 2014 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

In Brazil, in the city of Porto Alegre, the oldest bar in the city, founded in 1889, is named in honor of the legendary king and patron of beer<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gambrinus.com.br/ambiente.html |title=Restaurante Gambrinus |trans-title=Gambrinus Restaurant |website=Restaurante Gambrinus |location=Porto Alegre |language=pt |access-date=8 October 2021 |archive-date=23 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210723150302/http://gambrinus.com.br/ambiente.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

''King Gambrinus, Legendary Patron of Brewing'' (1967), a statue commissioned by the Pabst Brewing Company in the United States,<ref name="SIRIS">{{cite web |url=http://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?&profile=ariall&source=~!siartinventories&uri=full=3100001~!27342~!0#focus |title=''King Gambrinus, Legendary Patron of Brewing'' (sculpture) |author= |website=Art Inventories Catalog |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |access-date=2017-03-04}}</ref> has been a point of interest in the city of Milwaukee for many years.<ref name="Jacobson">{{cite web |url=http://urbanmilwaukee.com/2011/05/23/tcd-exclusive-the-return-of-the-king/ |title= The Return of the King |last=Jacobson |first=Brian |date=23 May 2011 |website=Urban Milwaukee |access-date=2017-03-04}}</ref> The statue now on display is the third version created since 1857.<ref name="SIRIS"/> It was taken down in the late 1990s when Pabst moved to another city, but was repatriated to Milwaukee in 2011, on loan.<ref name="Jacobson"/>

About a dozen large zinc statues of ''King Gambrinus'' were sculpted in the 19th century by J. W. Fiske & Company for use as architectural statues on brewery buildings in the United States. Five are known to still exist, four of those are in museums.<ref>{{cite web |title=History |work=Restore the King |date=May 17, 2016 |access-date=2025-08-01 |url=https://restoretheking.com/history/ }}</ref>

Cantillon of Brussels brews a highly rated framboise lambic called ''Rosé de Gambrinus''.<ref name="Jackson"/>{{rp|93}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cantillon.be/br/3_103 |title=Rosé de Gambrinus |author= |website=Cantillon.be |publisher=Brasserie Cantillon Brouwerij |location=Brussels |access-date=14 January 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116072435/http://www.cantillon.be/br/3_103 |archive-date=16 January 2014 |df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=McFarland |first=Ben |year=2009 |title=World's Best Beers: One Thousand Craft Brews from Cask to Glass |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SHh-4M_QxEsC&pg=PA101 |location=New York |publisher=Sterling Innovation |page=101 |isbn=978-1-4027-6694-7 |oclc=311759800 |access-date=15 January 2014}}</ref>

Battin of Luxembourg uses the character of Gambrinus as its logo and gives his name to its main brew.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://lequotidien.lu/luxembourg/coup-de-fraicheur-sur-la-battin/ |title=Coup de fraîcheur sur la Battin| publisher= Le Quotidien| access-date=27 January 2016}}</ref>

== See also == {{Portal|Beer|Mythology}} * Mythological king * Origin myth

;Franco–Belgian patron saints of beer: * Amandus (c. 584–675), patron saint of brewers, wine makers, merchants, and landlords (i.e., innkeepers/bartenders) * Arnold of Soissons (c. 1040–1087), patron saint of hop pickers and Belgian brewers * Arnulf of Metz (c. 582–640), Frankish patron saint of brewers * Veronus of Lembeek

;Tutelary deities: * Ceres (mythology), Roman goddess of agriculture, grain crops, fertility, and motherly relationships * Demeter, Greek goddess of the harvest, especially grains and the fertility of the earth * Dionysus, Greek god of the grape harvest, winemaking, wine, ritual madness, and ecstasy * Ninkasi, ancient Sumerian goddess of beer

== Notes == {{Reflist}}

== Further reading == * {{Cite book |last=Reiber |first=Ferdinand |year=1882 |title=Etudes gambrinales: histoire et archéologie de la bière et principalement de la bière de Strasbourg |location=Paris |publisher=Berger-Levrault |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I0A9AQAAMAAJ |trans-title=Gambrinal Studies: History and Archaeology of Beer, and Principally the Beer of Strasbourg |language=fr |oclc=29620014 |access-date=8 January 2014}} * {{cite book |last=Grand–Carteret |first=John |year=1886 |title=Raphaël et Gambrinus; ou, L'art dans la brasserie |url=https://archive.org/details/raphaletgambri00granuoft |trans-title=Raphael and Gambrinus, or, Art in the Brewery |language=fr |location=Paris |publisher=Louis Westhausser |oclc=9498286 |access-date=9 January 2014}} * {{cite book |last=van Vaernewyck |first=Marcus |year=1784 |title=De Historie van Belgis, of Kronyke der Nederlandsche oudheyd, Deel 1 |chapter=Van Gambrinus, den ſevenſten Koning der Duytſche; van de ſtigting der Stad Memphis, en andere dingen |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rb5TAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA99 |oclc=64358462 |language=nl }} * {{cite book |last=van der Noot |first=Jan |editor-last=Waterschoot |editor-first=Werner |year=1975 |title=De "Poeticsche werken" van Jonker Jan van der Noot: analytische bibliografie en tekstuitgave met inleiding en verklarende aantekeningen |url=http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/noot001wwat01_01/noot001wwat01_01_0021.php |location=Gent |language=nl |access-date=17 January 2014}}

== External links == {{Commons category|Gambrinus (person)|Gambrinus}}

* [https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/search.aspx?searchText=Ancestors+and+early+kings+of+the+Germans&images=true&people=22039&from=ad&fromDate=1543&to=ad&toDate=1543&object=23798&technique=1516 Ancestors and early kings of the Germans], a series of 12 German broadside prints at the British Museum * {{Cite web |url=http://www.steincollectors.org/library/articles/Gambrinu/Gambrinu.htm |last=Vogdes |first=Walt |title=Gambrinus, King of Beer |website=SteinCollectors.org |publisher=Stein Collectors International |access-date=17 January 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130331161630/http://steincollectors.org/library/articles/Gambrinu/Gambrinu.htm |archive-date=31 March 2013 |df=dmy-all }} * {{Cite web |url=http://beeradvocate.com/articles/604/ |last=Dornbusch |first=Horst |date=21 September 2004 |title=Born to Be (Beer) King |website=BeerAdvocate |access-date=17 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130722122533/http://beeradvocate.com/articles/604 |archive-date=22 July 2013 |url-status=dead }}

Category:Beer culture Category:Legendary monarchs Category:Mythological kings Category:Medieval legends