The ILGEZEEM brewery became the first production facility in the vicinity of Riga, suburb Hilgezeem, which was founded in the far 1863.

In 1870 just across the ILGEZEEM brewery was established another brewery – TANHEISER. The brewery was named TANHEISER in honour of Richard Wagner, the great German composer, who was the composer of the “Tannhäuser” opera (1845), and was on holiday in Riga at that time. The people of Riga took advantage of this coincidence to name the brewery, thus also honoring the legendary composer.

In the 19th century, brewing became very popular in Europe and the Russian Empire, breweries grew like mushrooms and this activity became an economic growth engine, contributed to the development of culture and education. While traditional beer, with an alcohol tolerance of 1%-2%, was served in almost every roadside pub, parks began to form around breweries as gathering and meeting places for beer lovers and their fraternities. In the buildings and manors that were built at that time, spacious rooms were intended for storing beer and, often alongside, books. As beer consumption and the behavior of beer drinkers began to cause bewilderment, the ideas of big beer farmsteads faded away and amateurs turned to organizing concerts and other also serious events, which directly turned into concrete business plans.

ILGEZEEM became the main producer of Pilsner malt, providing other breweries with the basic raw material.

At the beginning of the 20th century, most breweries were vandalized and forced to close down.

This fate also befell our factory ILGEZEEM: the cellars were partially destroyed and the equipment was dismantled. In the 1915, both breweries were closed and the production equipment was transported to Russia. In the 1930s, the breweries ILGEZEEM and Tanhaizers were nationalized and, between 1938 and 1939, the breweries were reconstructed.

The revitalized ILGEZEEM factory boomed after the World War II or the Second World War: production volumes of beer and soft or alcohol-free drinks increased, recognizable beer brands such as Ilģuciema dark beer and Dižalus were developed and put into production, non-alcoholic beverages made from home-grown malt – the malt drink Health and the Malt drink – also gained enormous popularity and recognition among the population. Production of malt extract also began at this time.

Much attention was devoted to the development of various scientific and technical works. The plant’s employees, in cooperation with specialists from the Latvian Academy of Agriculture, several times, with their inventions, took part in the Exhibition of National Economic Achievements (ВДНХ) in Moscow, where they received recognition and awards.

In the 1960s, ILGEZEEM became very popular on the Russian, Moldovan, Ukrainian and Kazakh consumer markets. The production capacity was amazing: during the year manufacturing provided 1,3 million liters of beer, 400 thousand liters of soft or non-alcoholic drinks and 750 tons of malt extract. The brewery resumed production of its well-known beer’s kind Dižalus tumšais and Martas, which, deservedly, were considered the best types of beer not only in Riga, but also outside it. Right then the Latvian populations favorite Iļguciema kvass returned to the non-alcoholic beverage consumption market.

ILGEZEEM celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2023.