The Czech Republic’s oldest company still in operation is (of course) a brewery

Naturally, it’s a brewery.

Pivovar Broumov was founded in 1348, and has been brewing in the Czech town of Olivětín, near the Polish border, for nearly 700 years.

Originally, the brewery was located inside a Benedictine Monastery that burned down multiple times over the course of its history. In 1712, the church moved the brewery to a separate site where it still stands to this day, after many renovations and modifications.

The brewery is best known for their Olivětínský Opat beer; it might be an unfamiliar view for Praguers do to the competitive Czech beer market, but it’s a hit in nearby towns in Poland.

If you can’t make it out to Olivětín, you can also sample Broumov’s Olivětínský Opat on tap at Restaurant u Opata in Pardubice, which is a bit closer to Prague.

The Czech Republic isn’t the only European country on the map to feature a brewery as its oldest company.

Luxembourg, Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Romania, Lithuania, Belarus Latvia, and Serbia all claim a brewery as their oldest company still in operation, though you won’t see many countries outside of Europe that list a brewery as their longest-surviving business.

In the UK and Scotland, banking institutions The Royal Mint and The Bank of Scotland are the country’s oldest companies; the same is true of Czech neighbor Slovakia, where the Kremnica Mint is the longest-surviving company.

The oldest business in the world still in operation is Japan’s Kongō Gumi, a construction company that dates back all the way to the year 578.

Oldest company in the US? Virginia’s Shirley Plantation, which was founded in 1614 – and used slave labor for much of its history.