The weisse squad
Austria’s capital has more weissbier breweries than you can shake a stick at. John Westlake reports
Salzburg is a delightful city nestling on the banks of the Salzach river with a superb alpine mountain backdrop, its cobbled, medieval centre and baroque architecture overshadowed by the impressive, Festung Hohensalzburg hilltop fortress. The principal beer brand in the Salzburg region is Stiegl, founded in 1492 and Austria’s largest privately owned brewery, producing a wide range of very acceptable beers including Weizengold, a typically unfiltered and fruity wheat beer with a delicate aroma and refreshing finish.
But this is far from being the city’s only indigenous wheat beer offering.
Adelbert Behr, a German big game hunter returning from South Africa in the wake of the Boer War, founded the Die Weisse brewery, not far from the centre, in 1901.
The ensuing years saw several changes of ownership, not to mention the indignity of being bombed during the War by the United States Air Force who were aiming for the nearby railway station but killed the brewmaster and his wife instead! In 1987 Hans Georg Gmachl, a local businessman, acquired the business and in 2002 the premises were considerably expanded and a new brewhouse installed, fortunately without losing too much of Die Weisse’s intimate character. Indeed, many of Herr Behr’s original hunting trophies can still be admired in the main reception area.
Apart from one or two seasonal specials, Die Wiesse produces just two regular brews and as the brewery name might suggest, both are wheat beers.
“We use 50 per cent barle.....
To read the rest of this article you can buy this issue
or subscribe to Beers of the World to have every issue delivered direct to your door.
By John Westlake
Section : Beer Destinations
Page number : 54
