Josef Groll

Josef Groll (21 August 1813, Vilshofen an der Donau – 22 November 1887, Vilshofen) was a Bavarian brewer, best known for his invention of Pilsener beer, is known by some as "the Father of the Pils". The world's first-ever pale lager, his Pilsner Urquell was highly successful, and served as the inspiration for more than two-thirds of the beer produced in the world today.

Invention

The citizens of Pilsen, Bohemia (today in the Czech Republic) were no longer satisfied with their top-fermented Oberhefenbier. They publicly emptied several casks of beer in order to draw attention to its low quality and short storage life. It was decided to build a new brewery capable of producing a bottom-fermented beer with a longer storage life. At the time, this was termed a Bavarian beer, since bottom-fermentation first became popular in Bavaria and spread from there. The climate in Bohemia is similar to that in Bavaria and made it possible to store ice in winter and cool the fermentation tanks down to 4 to 9 degrees Celsius year-round, which is necessary for bottom-fermentation.