The origin of brewing in Benešov, especially its oldest roots, will probably remain unknown. This originally feudal right was gradually transferred to the hands of burgesses, and from the end of the 14th century this right became a burgess right. The following era brought a close specialisation in brewing, connected with the transfer of the brewing process from individual households, where the beer generally used to be brewed, to the premises prepared and dedicated for this process, for which the general term "brewery" is used. At that time the brewing activities were reflected in local names, names of streets, houses or in surnames of individual families. Thus it is now still possible to see the town suburb called "Na Sladovce" ("At the malt plant"), street name "Na Chmelnici" ("At the hop garden") and others.

The first written right to brew was granted to Benešov burgesses in 1595 by Archleb of Kunovice. This right guaranteed the privilege to brew "......... now as well as in the future and forever, freely and without any obstacles ......... to the holders of the Konopiště estates and manors, as well as the right to have black and wheat malts made and to use those malts in order to produce and tap dark, old pale as well as bitter beers .........". At the time of establishing private breweries, also hops used to be grown in the Benešov region, as recorded in the year 1569. The development of the brewing industry in Benešov was, unfortunately, violently interrupted during the unhappy invasion of the Swedish army to the Town of Benešov.

The brewing industry dropped into a deep crisis and the aristocrats required the restitution of all rights connected with brewing back to their hands. The recovery of the brewing industry in Benešov occurred in the middle of the 19th century, when Benešov was incorporated into the newly constructed railway network. In the year 1872, the burgesses founded a joint stock company, which itself subsequently established its own joint stock malt plant and marketplace for agricultural commodities. New plants were built on the periphery of the town in Táborská street.

The new company had to overcome serious financial problems with difficulties already from the very beginning, and as early as 1873 the founders were forced to reduce the malt plant and to built a brewery in the place of one half of the plant. The persisting financial problems forced the burgesses to sell the entire plant in the spring 1887 to the new proprietor of the Konopiště estates, Franz Ferdinand d'Este. Extensive renovations which created the basic part of today's brewery in Benešov were completed in the year 1897. After this renovation the brewery produced 50,000-60,000 hl of beer a year, up to the beginning of World War I. The government, acting as a new owner, subjected the brewery to an entire reconstruction. The beer production was rising again and finally it achieved a volume of 80,000 hl a year. In the year 1938 Benešov and Konopiště was the place of the "First Nation-wide Conference of Czech Brewers".

The beer production continued to rise up to the year 1944, to as much as 120,000 hl a year, but the years after the war again meant a significant decrease in beer production, and a very slow development from the viewpoint of capital expenditures. In the year 1956 the Benešov brewery was transferred to under the administration of a state-owned enterprise with the headquarters in Velké Popovice. The annual beer production was rising evenly up to the 1970s hand in hand with an extensive reconstruction. The beginning of the 1990s meant a unique development for the Benešov brewery. The management board of the company started a new era of the company development, which is based on the high quality of the products made.

The new trademark "Ferdinand", together with the new business and advertising concepts, helped the company achieve in 1992 a yearly record of 233,712 hl of the beer brewed. The 12° Ferdinand beer achieved a big success at the nation-wide competition of the Czech Business Inspection where it took the second place. In the year 1994 the Benešov brewery started to produce 10° and 12° beer known as Staročeské pivo ("Old Bohemia Beer") and thus it has completed its range of beers with another type, in addition to its traditionally produced light and dark beers known as Ferdinand. At present the product range of the Benešov brewery is further enriched with the commercially very successful beers Rytíř ("Knight") and Blanický rytíř ("The Blaník Knight"). In the year 1994 the brewery was awarded the Golden Mace Tábor Prize for its dark beer.

In the year 1999 the same product obtained the Golden Seal prize. All of the above mentioned facts confirm an important and irreplaceable position of beer in Benešov and in the adjacent region.