Dreher, Anton (1810–1863) was an Austrian brewer referred to in some quarters as “The Beer King,” thanks to his development of pale lager in the mid-19th century. While not as pale as pilsner, Dreher’s creation predated that beer style and can therefore claim to be the world’s first commercial pale lager, depending on one’s definition of “pale.”
Dreher was born to a father who 14 years earlier had taken over the Klein-Schwechat brewery near Vienna, founded in 1632. As a young man he embarked on a brewing study tour, spending time in Munich, London, and Scotland. He also visited Burton-on-Trent, England, where he later admitted to stealing samples of yeast and wort.
Dreher took over the family brewery in Austria in 1836. Impressed by English pale ale malting techniques, he married English malting with central European bottom fermentation to create a red-hued lager, paler than any commercial beer seen in Europe. It caught on in Vienna and spread rapidly through the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The beer became known as Vienna-style lager, or more commonly as Märzen, as it was brewed in March and stored through the summer until September.
Dreher’s brewery became one of the world’s biggest, and he became a wealthy and influential man, gaining a parliamentary seat in 1861. His untimely death in 1863, the break-up of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and, later, the withdrawal of the Dreher family from business, mean that he is less famous today than the mighty English brewing houses he almost eclipsed. A company called Dreher Breweries still brews in Hungary under the wing of parent company SAB-Miller. The Schwechat Brewery also still exists, and is now a Heineken brewing plant that creates standard, unremarkable pale lagers.
Dreher’s name and influence are not yet exhausted, and his original beer style is still admired and recreated by craft brewers around the world.