Wikipedia
Gambrinus , is a legendary European culture hero celebrated as an icon of beer, brewing, joviality, and joie de vivre. Traditional songs, poems, and stories describe him as a king, duke, or count of Flanders and Brabant. Typical representations in the visual arts depict him as a rotund, bearded duke or king, holding a tankard or mug, and sometimes with a keg nearby.
Gambrinus is sometimes erroneously called a patron saint, but he is neither a saint nor a tutelary deity. In one legendary tradition, he is beer's inventor or envoy. Although legend attributes to him no special powers to bless brews or to make crops grow, tellers of old tall tales are happy to adapt them to fit Gambrinus. Gambrinus stories use folklore motifs common to European folktales, such as the trial by ordeal. Some, of course, imagine Gambrinus as a man who has an enormous capacity for drinking beer.
The prevailing theory for the origin of Gambrinus is that he is patterned after John the Fearless (1371–1419) and/or John I, Duke of Brabant (c. 1252–1294). By this reckoning, the name Gambrinus is a corruption of Jan Primus ("John the First").
Gambrinus is a beer brewed in the Czech Republic at the Plzeňský Prazdroj brewery. It is one of the most popular beers in the Czech Republic. The beer is named after Gambrinus, a legendary king of Flanders known for his mythical brewing abilities. Gambrinus sponsors Gambrinus liga, the premier Czech football league. The company was founded in 1869.
The Gambrinus was an express train in Germany, initially linking Munich and Kiel. The train was named after the God of Beer Gambrinus.
Gambrinus is a legendary European culture hero associated with beer.
Gambrinus may also refer to:
- Gambrinus (beer), a Czech beer
- Gambrinus (train), a former German train
- Gambrinus Brewing Co., an American brewery
- Gambrinus liga, now the Czech First League, a Czech association football competition
- Caffè Gambrinus, a cafè in Naples
- King Gambrinus (sculpture), a 1967 sculpture of the folk hero