based in the Franconian town of Bamberg in northern Bavaria, is the world’s oldest brewing equipment manufacturer. Founded in 1677 in Bamberg by Christian Schulz, a coppersmith who had just married the widow of his deceased master, Schulz has been specializing in the fabrication of brewhouses and fermenters ever since. The company is still owned and operated by a 10th-generation descendant of Christian Schulz and is known in Germany as Kaspar Schulz Brauereimaschinenfabrik & Apparatebauanstalt KG. Schulz has the distinction of being the oldest continuously operating industrial enterprise in Bamberg, the city otherwise also known as the home of the Rauchbier style and the Weyermann Malting Company. See rauchbier, weyermann® malting.

During the 18th century, aside from brewing equipment, the company also made ornamental copper artifacts for churches and official buildings as well as copper household utensils at a time when copper pots and pans were the standard cooking gear in upscale kitchens. In 1887, then under a 7th- generation Schulz, Kaspar, the company’s legal name was changed to what it is today. Kaspar added distillation equipment for schnapps makers, malting equipment, and sterilization equipment to the company’s portfolio. Of these, Schulz micromalteries are still available today. Whereas many brewing equipment manufacturers started to make ever larger brew equipment after World War II, when consolidation in the brewing industry created a demand for breweries of giant dimensions, Schulz began to focus on smaller, well-crafted systems that fit the more segmented German market. Since 1947 the company has shifted from strict traditionalist to innovator, leading revolutions in automation, brewpub systems, modular brewhouses, and cutting-edge energy saving technologies. Nearly 3 and a half centuries after its founding, Schulz retains about 100 employees and the firm’s work can be seen in more than 400 brewhouses and 50 countries around the world.