Brewery Since 1050 AC
The Cloister's Tradition of Brewing …
... binds us to quality and nothing else, ideally.
We are located somewhere in the backwoods of Franconia, okay. This is where cloisters used to be located when they still grew their own food in the old times, as the Benedictine monks did who started building the cloister in Weißenohe at around 1050.
And this is exactly where we want to be located today, as it is where the local farmers grow the hops for our beers. Right in the next villages, in Lilling and Herpersdorf, hop farmers still know how to cultivate the special „Hersbrucker“ aroma hops that are essential in lending that elegant touch of bitterness to the Weißenohe beer specialities.
Most of the barley for our malts is also grown in the Jura Hills of our region. People grew malting barley in these hills even in ancient cloister days, as the poor soils cannot but produce low-protein barley – premium quality for brewing! Small malting plants in the area make the barley into malt for us.
And we still take the water from the natural springs that provided the drinking and brewing water for the cloister in its clerical days.
A decent beer does not need any more ingredients than just these three: water, hops, and malt. That's what the Bavarian Purity Law stated even in 1516.
The fourth ingredient permitted by today's purity law – yeast – is a living organism we continually tend and maintain right here on the premises. Something the monks did not yet know how to do.
So we tie in with the ancient cloister traditions, but at the same time, we take part in the state-of-the-art development of the art of brewing.
We take pride in what we do and are going to go on doing just that: brew good beer.
(Did you know that Franconian people are reputed to be masters of understatement?)
What you will experience when you visit us is one thing in particular: face-to-face contact. In our brewery, and of course in our country tavern. Our premium quality beers and the rustic countryhouse-and-cloister atmosphere here will make your personal field trip into the Franconian backwoods an unforgettable experience! And at the end of the day, take the most tasty and aromatic part of the day home with you, selecting your favourites from our unique range of genuine cloister-brewed Franconian delicacies.