Top 10 Breweries in Switzerland
Switzerland is a small, multilingual country of about nine million people that supports a surprisingly diverse brewing culture. The German-Swiss tradition of lager production, the Romand (French-Swiss) farmhouse and artisanal brewing scene, the Italian-speaking Ticino, and a growing craft scene in Zurich, Basel, Bern and Geneva have produced a market considerably more interesting than Switzerland's modest beer reputation might suggest.
1. Feldschlösschen, Rheinfelden
Feldschlösschen (Little Field Castle), founded in 1876, is Switzerland's largest brewery and the dominant national brand. Its castle-like brick brewery buildings in Rheinfelden, near Basel, are one of the architectural highlights of Swiss industrial heritage, and the brewery offers guided visits. Owned by Carlsberg since 2000, Feldschlösschen produces Switzerland's most widely sold pale lager and now brews several former regional brands as well. Its commercial dominance makes it essential context for understanding Swiss beer; the quality of the core lager is consistent within the style's conventions.
2. Brasserie des Franches-Montagnes (BFM), Saignelégier
BFM is Switzerland's most internationally acclaimed craft brewery and one of Europe's more important producers of wood-aged and unconventional beers. Founded in 1997 by Jérôme Rebetez, a trained oenologist, and based on the Franches-Montagnes plateau in the canton of Jura, BFM is best known for L'Abbaye de Saint Bon-Chien, a strong, sour, wine-like ale of around 11% that matures in oak barrels for about a year and is released as an annual vintage; the New York Times once singled it out as the best barley wine in the world. The range also includes La Cuvée Alex le Rouge, a spiced "Jurassian" imperial stout, and a run of unconventional beers that stray well outside style guidelines. Rebetez's winemaker's approach of patience, oak and acceptance of variation has made BFM) a reference point for European brewers interested in terroir.
3. Brauerei Locher, Appenzell
Locher, the Appenzell family brewery, is Switzerland's most characterful traditional regional brewery, set amid the Appenzell canton's strong folk culture and culinary traditions. The Locher family has brewed Appenzeller Bier since 1886, now in its fifth generation, and the range runs to around 40 beers. Quöllfrisch, a naturally cloudy lager brewed with Alpstein spring water, is the flagship and one of Switzerland's better regional lagers. In 1999 Karl Locher began distilling Säntis Malt whisky, matured in the brewery's old beer casks, making Locher one of Switzerland's first whisky producers. Now the country's largest private brewery, Locher took over its struggling rival Chopfab Boxer in 2024.
4. Trois Dames, Sainte-Croix, Vaud
Trois Dames (Three Ladies) is one of Switzerland's most respected artisanal craft breweries, founded in 2003 by Raphaël Mettler in Sainte-Croix in the Vaud Jura and named after his wife and two daughters. A year spent in Vancouver in 2006-07 steeped Mettler in North American brewing, and his range, with names such as Rivale, Fraîcheur, Pacifique and Voisine, includes hoppier, stronger beers than most Swiss brewers were making at the time, along with a respected barrel-aged sour programme and collaborations with American breweries such as Crooked Stave and Jester King. Swissinfo's profile is a good introduction.
5. Chopfab Boxer, Winterthur and Yverdon-les-Bains
Chopfab began in Winterthur in 2012 as Doppelleu, grew quickly to cult status and a listing at Coop, and in 2018 merged with Bière du Boxer of Yverdon-les-Bains, the largest independent brewery in French-speaking Switzerland. Profitability did not keep pace with sales, and in 2024 Brauerei Locher acquired the over-indebted company after creditors agreed to a debt reduction. Both brands continue, making Chopfab and Boxer among the most widely available Swiss craft-style beers.
6. Cardinal (heritage brand), Fribourg
Cardinal was founded in Fribourg in 1788 and produced one of Switzerland's most significant regional beers for two centuries. Feldschlösschen bought it in 1991, and after Carlsberg took over Feldschlösschen it closed the Fribourg brewery in 2011, despite local protests; Cardinal is now brewed in Rheinfelden. The historical significance is real, but today the brand functions largely as nostalgia within the Carlsberg portfolio.
7. Docteur Gab's, Puidoux, Vaud
Docteur Gab's was founded in 2001 by three childhood friends and is one of the pioneers of craft beer in western Switzerland. Now based in Puidoux, above Lake Geneva in the Lavaux wine region, it has grown steeply in recent years, runs a brewpub in Montreux, and has moved into German-speaking Switzerland by buying Zurich's Turbinenbräu.
8. Turbinenbräu, Zurich
Turbinenbräu has brewed in Zurich's Altstetten district since 1997 and runs a large restaurant and beer garden at the brewery, with fresh bottling for the city every week. Founder Adrian Weber sold the brewery to Docteur Gab's, which plans to move it to a new site within two years, so check the current location before visiting.
9. Brauerei Felsenau, Bern
The Felsenau brewery has brewed in Bern's Felsenau district, on the banks of the Aare, since 1881, when Johann Gustav Hemmann bought the site. It produces around 25,000 hectolitres a year, pairs traditional open fermentation with modern equipment, and is best known for its Bärner Müntschi.
10. Bad Attitude (Birrificio Ticinese), Stabio, Ticino
Representing the Italian-speaking south, Bad Attitude is the main brand of the family-owned Birrificio Ticinese in Stabio, near the Italian border. Brewer Roberto Bianchi's hop-forward beers made headlines around 2010-11 as the first European craft beers sold in cans, following American pioneers such as Oskar Blues, and the brewery remains one of Ticino's best-known craft producers.
Explore on the map
Swiss breweries span the linguistic regions, from German-Swiss Feldschlösschen, Locher and Felsenau to Romand BFM, Trois Dames and Docteur Gab's and Ticino's Bad Attitude. Switzerland is not yet plotted on our map, so use this list to plan a trans-Swiss brewery journey. For the neighbouring scenes, see our guides to Austria and Germany.