Taipei Brewery Introduction
The Taipei Brewery was originally established as the "Nippon Takasago Brewery Co., Ltd." in 1919, making it the only brewery in Taiwan during the Japanese colonial era. After being taken over by the government in 1945, it became part of the Taiwan Provincial Tobacco and Alcohol Monopoly Bureau's "Second Brewery." In 1975, it was renamed "JianGuo Brewery." During this time, improvements in brewing technology and manufacturing equipment led to the expansion of new factory buildings, increasing production annually, with a peak output of 12 million pints of beer in a year. On July 1, 1997, JianGuo Brewery merged with Fuxing Brewery, with JianGuo becoming the JianGuo area of Fuxing Brewery, managed by Fuxing. In June 2000, the Taipei City Government designated the "JianGuo Brewery" as Municipal Heritage Site No. 95, preserving one of the most important cultural assets of the beer industry in the country and moving towards the goal of "Beer Cultural Park and Industrial Revitalization Preservation." In April 2001, the management of the "JianGuo area" was handed over to the "Bottle Cap Factory." In 2002, the Taiwan Provincial Tobacco and Alcohol Monopoly Bureau was restructured into Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corporation, and the "JianGuo area" was renamed "Taipei Brewery." In November 2003, the "Taipei Brewery" was placed under the jurisdiction of "Zhunan Brewery." On April 30, 2007, Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corporation, to fulfill cultural preservation and social responsibility, established the "Taipei Brewery Cultural Park Management Office" as an independent unit to better handle the preservation of Taiwan's beer culture. It was officially established as Taipei Brewery on July 1, 2008. The old address of the Taipei Brewery was 1407 Zhongzheng Road, Taipei City, which changed to the current address of 85, Section 2, Bade Road, Taipei City after the city government's restructuring. The land area is 52,630 square meters, designated as a type three industrial zone. The Taipei Brewery complex includes the saccharification building, fermentation building, storage building, packaging factory, finished goods warehouse, administrative building, repair workshop, and welfare building. The building area is 25,627.71 square meters, and the total floor area is 34,638.91 square meters. Culturally, the Taipei Brewery is the only historically valuable brewery in Taiwan. Beer, as an imported item, has only been in Taiwan for a little over a century. During the imperialist era, foreign beer was imported for the consumption of expatriates in the colonies and sold in the market. Taiwan first produced beer before establishing breweries. Foreign capitalists used the country’s inexpensive raw materials and labor to start building breweries in Taiwan. Looking to the future, the preservation of the industry and the reuse of old buildings have seen positive examples in advanced countries worldwide. For instance, the "Sapporo Beer Museum" in Hokkaido, Japan, was originally a national brewery built in brick in 1890, and underwent renovations in 1966 to become the Sapporo Beer Garden, now a prominent site in Sapporo city. The Taipei Brewery occupies a vast area and aims to preserve the significant cultural industry - the birthplace of Taiwanese beer - while maintaining existing production lines. Other areas will be systematically planned to integrate production, tourism, commerce, culture, and leisure, aligning with modern urban development trends and making Taipei City a distinctive city. (Text reference: Taipei Brewery official website)
