Born from a single brewery on the hill in Valby in the mid-nineteenth century, Carlsberg has grown into one of the largest beer companies in the world, and the old brewery site at the western edge of central Copenhagen has been reinvented as the Home of Carlsberg, a visitor experience that tells the story of the brand and its founders. The complex centres on the original brewery buildings, with their elaborate ornamentation, the famous Elephant Gate, where four life-size granite elephants carry an archway over the entrance, and the gardens and old industrial structures of the surrounding district. The brewery itself has long ceased production on the site, but the buildings remain. Inside, exhibitions trace the rise of Carlsberg from the experimental laboratory of its founder J.C. Jacobsen, who pioneered pure-yeast brewing in the 1880s, through the development of the company famous lager and into the marketing campaigns and global expansion of the modern era. The collection of historic delivery trucks, posters and packaging is extensive. A working stable, until recently home to the Carlsberg horses that once pulled beer wagons through the city, offers a glimpse of an older world of brewing, and the on-site tasting bar gives visitors the chance to sample the brewery flagship lagers and some of its newer craft varieties. The surrounding Carlsberg City district has been transformed from industrial site into a new urban quarter, with offices, homes, shops and cultural spaces grown up among the old brewery buildings, so a visit naturally extends into a walk through one of the more interesting redevelopments in Copenhagen. For beer enthusiasts and casual visitors alike, the Home of Carlsberg combines history, design and a tasting in a single, polished experience, and its location a short ride from the city centre makes it an easy outing for those curious about one of the Danish brands best known beyond the country borders. The Jacobsen family was a major patron of the arts in their day, and the Carlsberg Foundation, which still owns a controlling stake in the company, funds research and the upkeep of several Danish museums, an unusual structure that ties beer money directly to scientific and cultural philanthropy. Visitors can spot reminders of this throughout the site, from the founder original villa, preserved as a small museum, to commissioned sculptures dotted through the gardens. Periodic special events, beer festivals and brewery dinners draw enthusiasts back through the gates, and a brewery tap pours fresh seasonal releases not always available elsewhere.

Type: Activity

Address: Gamle Carlsberg Vej 11, Copenhagen, Denmark

Website: https://www.homeofcarlsberg.com

Opening Date: 01/01/1847