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| Tap Room |
Age is just a number, at least that’s
what they say. Age also equates to experience leading us to the “age old”
question, youth versus experience. The same holds true for beer. Would you
choose beer from a new startup brewery or one that is well established and has
a history? Yuengling, America’s oldest brewery was founded in 1829. In contrast
Germany’s oldest brewery Weihenstephan was founded in 725. While I
have yet to visit America’s oldest brewery I did seize the opportunity to visit
Germanys.
A mere two hour drive from Stuttgart, 20
minutes from the Munich airport lays the town of Freising. With a population of
approximately 45000 Freising is the home of the Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University which is
where I found myself the day before Thanksgiving, sort of. Freising is also
the home of the Weihenstephan brewery, adjacent to the university. In early November the
Navigator and I paid a visit to Weihenstephan, embarking on a two hour tour of
the brewery. Naturally, beer samples were included.
Weihenstephan
operates at maximum capacity year around. Despite their obvious need for
expansion, and an offer from the town to provide the land, the brewery remains
true to its roots remaining at their original location where they have brewed
beer for more than a thousand years. In so doing Weihenstephan places history
and tradition ahead of profits, a rarity in this day and age.
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| Brewery |
As the state brewery of Bavaria, Weihenstephan beers are
generally considered by beer enthusiasts to be among the best in Germany. Weihenstephan
strictly adheres to the
Weihenstephan strictly adheres to the Reinheitsgebot or “German Beer Purity
Law” using only water, barley and hops in their production process. Their
beer offerings include a hefeweissbier, weizenbock, hefeweissbier dunkel, kristallweissbier, dopple bock, and pilsner. As an American, lover of all
things big, I gravitated toward their bock both for its flavor and the 7.4% ABV.
Weihenstephan may be short on
variety, but they are definitely rich in history. As the saying goes, “If It
Aint Broke Don’t Fix it” and Weihenstephan definitely aint
broke. Age is just a number however in the German beer scene; it’s a really BIG
number.
Until
next time
Prost!
