19th century marks the beginning of industrial breweries being established in Kaunas. One of these was a brewery of Swiss citizens Max and Henrietta Blumental, built by back then St. Petersburg road (now Svanoriu street). The capacity of the brewery, which belonged to the Blumental family, was remarkable and the original plot of land owned by the company was constantly expanded, new facilities were built and factory equipment was renewed.
After the First World War in 1922 the company was sold. In the same year the new owners set up a joint-stock beer and soft drink company Ragutis, owned by Wolf Frenkel, Martynas Ycas, Adomas Prusas and Jokubas Sernas. The company mainly sold its products in the temporary capital, but beer brewed in Ragutis was not only valued in the country but also in Europe.
In 1940 the company was nationalized. Still operating as an independent company after the war, in 1959 the brewery Ragutis was merged with another Kaunas brewery Raudonoji Pasvaiste into one Kaunas Beer and Non-Alcoholic Beverage enterprise Ragutis. Not only did Ragutis give the name to Kaunas beer enterprise, turned to simply a Factory No.2, but also the brand.
At the beginning of the 1990s, the former brewery Ragutis split up from the merger and was called Zalsvytis, which comes from the name of “zalsviai” sort of peas, back then used in the beer production.
The revival of the brewery began in 2000, when the company still called Zalsvytis was acquired by the new owners. It was them who set out to preserve and modernize the oldest brewery in the country and thus to open a new page in the history of Lithuanian beer.
In 2001 the name of the brewery was changed to AB Kauno alus. Throughout the renovation procedure modern beer filtration facilities and new technological pipelines were installed, a wet grinding mill was built, the production premises were renovated, the latest glass container washing and labeling lines were installed. Kaunas brewery inherited beer maturation cellars excavated on the slope of Žaliakalnis Hill, which were adapted for the maturation of all beers produced in a modernized brewery.
The company is constantly expanding its product range, soft drinks production facility has been set up, production of beer cocktails was begun, beer in barrel section has been modernised.
