Leipzig and Berliner Kindl-Schulteiss Tour

I know that this seems quite repetitive, but again, the past two days have been eventful.  We have managed to pack a day trip to Leipzig and another brewery tour into a little less than 36 hours.


In Leipzig we were able to tour two different breweries.  Sternberg was a much larger brewery than we have seen over the course of this class.   During this tour we were able to see the brauhaus, fermentation tanks and the bottling plant.  The bottling plant was the most interesting part of the tour for me because we were able to see the packaging of the beer which was different than the smaller breweries we have visited thus far.  This tour was also interesting because the tour guide mentioned a great deal about the history of the plant as well as the brand and marketing of that brand.  This brewery has developed beer that is inexpensive and marketed towards college age students. We were also able to visit Bayerischer Banhof Braueri, this was a much smaller brewery that has brought back the Gose tradition in Leipzig.  This place was interesting because it was housed in an old train station in Leipzig.  The master brewer who gave us the tour also describe the styles of beers that he has developed.  They are fairly alternative in comparison to other German breweries.  I was very excited to drink the Gose beer that he developed because it incorporated the traditional elements of the Gose including salty water and dual fermentation with lactobacillus, but also a hint of coriander.  I found the beer to be light, refreshing, and slightly sour.  We ended the day trip with a visit to the town Ratskeller where we were able to try another Gose style.  This beer was much saltier and I did not enjoy it as much as the first Gose.


Today, we visited Berliner Kindl-Schulteiss Brewery in Berlin as part of our final day here.  This was a very informative tour in which we learned a great deal about the brewing process as well as marketing and development of beer in Germany over the past 100 years.  It was also interesting to see another brewery on a much larger scale, similar to Sternberg.  However, I found this brewery to be even larger and more organized.  It was clear that the brand name of Schulteiss and Berliner Kindl were much larger names.  At the end of the tour, we sat in the tasting room and tasted several beers ranging from light to dark.  I enjoyed seeing the full range of beers that the brewery produced and marketed.  My favorite was the Schwartz beer which was a darker beer that smelled of figs.

The past week has been greatly informative and an amazing learning experience.  I will be sad to leave Berlin, but I look forward to the new adventures we will have in Munich.  It will be interesting to see the cultural and brewing differences between the North and South of Germany.


Prost!