How Tyzenhauz Developed Brewing

Count Antoni Tyzenhauz was a prominent statesman of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and an economic reformer during the reign of Stanisław August Poniatowski, the last king of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1765, the king appointed him Lithuanian Court Treasurer and administrator of the royal estates, after which Tyzenhauz launched an extensive programme of economic reforms.

This raises a question: did his reforms also affect brewing in our region?

To find an answer, on the advice of Doctor of Historical Sciences Yuri Gordeev, I turned to the monumental work of Stanisław Kościałkowski, a historian born in Grodno who devoted decades to studying the era of Stanisław August. Kościałkowski spent more than thirty years gathering materials from archives both at home and abroad.

His principal work eventually grew to more than a thousand pages. The manuscript was prepared for publication in Vilnius in 1939, survived the war, and was finally published in London in 1970–1971 as a two-volume study entitled Antoni Tyzenhauz: podskarbi nadworny litewski (Antoni Tyzenhauz, Lithuanian Court Treasurer). It was this work, together with several sources cited by its author, that I used in my search for an answer.

What I Discovered

First of all, Tyzenhauz invited experienced brewers and maltsters, particularly from Bohemia. Their responsibilities extended beyond providing advice on the construction and organization of breweries and malthouses. They were also expected to train local specialists in producing excellent malt and brewing high-quality beer.

This was described by Józef Jaroszewicz, a professor at Vilnius University who also worked with Tyzenhauz's archival records:

…In order to introduce a better method of brewing beer in Lithuania, he (Tyzenhauz) invited brewers from Prague in Bohemia, built breweries according to their wishes, supplied them with the necessary equipment, and at the same time required them to train selected peasants in the same craft — not only from the royal estates but even from private estates…

As a separate example of how brewing specialists were employed in the eighteenth century, we can examine a contract concluded with the master maltster and brewer Jan Weygner on 21 August 1760. He was hired to put the brewery in the town of Wieliszew (in present-day Poland, Masovian Voivodeship) in order.

Under the agreement, the master was required to brew ordinary beer and, when necessary, stronger double beer (dubeltowe). He had to use malt of his own production and ensure that the beer was of good quality and clear, suitable for all the taverns belonging to the Wieliszew estate district.

At the same time, he was entrusted with technical supervision of the new brewery: identifying the masonry, cooperage and carpentry work required, explaining how it should be carried out, and overseeing its completion.

In return for these services, the estate treasury provided regular remuneration consisting of a monetary salary as well as payments in kind, including grain, groats, butter and cheese.

Incidentally, a brewery building dating back to Tyzenhauz's era has survived in Grodno, where the invited Czech brewers may have worked. As Grodno historian Andrei Vashkevich notes, the building stands at 37 Podolnaya Street and today houses the Sherwood restaurant. It was originally constructed specifically as a brewery.

Construction and Scale

Kościałkowski's research shows that Tyzenhauz's activities also extended to his private estates. The historian mentions the recruitment of craftsmen, extensive construction projects, and the establishment of masonry breweries and malthouses within these properties.

However, Kościałkowski specifically cautions that many of these enterprises may have existed before Tyzenhauz's time, while the available sources do not provide precise figures concerning their number or financial performance.

Speaking of masonry breweries, Tyzenhauz's documents also give us an idea of the estimated cost of constructing a large brick-built brewery together with its infrastructure.

When the Mogilev royal estate passed under the control of the Russian Empire at the end of 1772, the vice-administrator Klimanski, who remained in his position on the king's instructions until his forcible removal, mentioned the following in his reports:

…the large Mogilev brewery, whose construction in masonry was only being completed at the time the territory was occupied…

In listing the properties for which the new authorities were expected to pay compensation, he specifically emphasized this brewery.

The documents indicated that its value, at least in terms of the investment made in its construction, was estimated at no less than 200,000 Polish zlotys.

Note

In terms of its silver content, 200,000 Polish zlotys from the 1770s would represent approximately 584.5 kg of pure silver, equivalent to around US$1.55 million at silver prices recorded on 9 February 2026.

Raw Materials: Malt and Hops

Importantly, Tyzenhauz's involvement in brewing went far beyond inviting foreign craftsmen and constructing substantial masonry breweries and malthouses.

Stanisław Kościałkowski's research indicates that Tyzenhauz was simultaneously working to strengthen the local supply of raw materials.

This was not simply a matter of requiring beer and malt to be produced from locally grown grain. Through a programme of agricultural improvements, Tyzenhauz sought to expand the very capacity of his estates to produce the necessary ingredients.

In a document entitled Punkta do juramentu od JW Tyzenhauza podskarbego nadwornego litewskiego do istoty sprawy…, he emphasized that annual land reclamation projects brought new areas into agricultural use. The resulting increase in land value exceeded the costs incurred, even when the work required advances or borrowing.

Kościałkowski explains that newly reclaimed fertile land was frequently used for establishing inns known as austerias, planting orchards, cultivating grain for malt production and, most importantly, establishing hop gardens.

This demonstrates the comprehensive nature of Tyzenhauz's approach: he sought not only to organize beer and malt production but also to supply his estates with their own locally grown hops.

It was an attempt to create an integrated economic cycle in which the principal brewing ingredients were produced within his own estates.

Moreover, descriptions of the economic administration of the royal estates suggest that hop cultivation gradually became more than a desirable activity: in certain circumstances, it was treated as an obligation.

Kościałkowski notes that peasants in several royal estates, including those of Grodno and Brest-Kobrin, were subject to a form of additional unpaid labour known as daremszczyzna, imposed on top of their ordinary corvée obligations.

Among the tasks explicitly mentioned was the harvesting of hops.

In other words, hop gardens were not merely an experiment or a secondary activity undertaken by estate administrators. Their maintenance became part of the regular labour obligations within the estate system.

Thus, the policy of developing brewing was based not only on brewery construction and the recruitment of skilled craftsmen, but also on the organized and institutionally established production of raw materials.

Conclusion

Taken together, the evidence suggests that Tyzenhauz approached brewing as an interconnected economic system.

He invited Czech specialists, built substantial breweries and malthouses, oversaw the training of local craftsmen, and simultaneously established conditions for producing his own raw materials — malt and hops. This included the creation of hop gardens and the incorporation of their maintenance into the labour obligations of the estates.

It is therefore possible to argue that Tyzenhauz's policies contributed to the emergence of a Czech-influenced school of brewing in our region during the second half of the eighteenth century, but one increasingly based on local resources — malt, hops and water.