Giesinger Bräu - former new kid on the block, but now a serious player on the Munich beer scene

Sometimes just cracking open a particular bottle of beer can bring back memories, transporting the drinker back to a place, or a time that constituted a significant moment in the life of that person. More often than not though, the pleasant memories associated with a particular beer, are just that, happy thoughts of a special moment, lost in time. Quite often, opening that bottle can lead a person off in a totally different direction, as happened to me, the other evening, when I opened up a bottle that had been lurking for a while, at the back of the fridge.

The beer in question was Giesinger Märzen, a beer I acquired following a visit to Fuggles Bottle Shop, a month, or possibly more, ago, and whilst the beer itself didn’t conjure up, too many memories at first, the label on the bottle certainly did. In the end, it set me off on a trail of exploration that saw me delving into the founding, and subsequent expansion of a brewery that, for many local drinkers, is a very welcome addition to the beer scene in its home city of Munich.

Giesinger Bräu  began production in 2007, starting out in a converted double-garage, in a residential area at Untergiesing, in the south of Munich, producing around 300 hectoliters of beer. By 2009, that figure had increased to an impressive 750 hectoliters of beer, and just two years later, after hitting the magic figure of 1,000 hectoliters, the small garage brewery had reached its limit. There was no room for further expansion of the plant, and space at the cramped backyard site was completely exhausted. A new location was needed, and plans for an ambitious expansion were put in place.

None of this was known to Matthew and me, when we called in at the brewery, during a visit to Munich in the summer of 2014. We’d stopped by to pick up a few bottles, after I’d seen a few ads, plus an article informing drinkers about this welcome new addition to the Munich beer scene. We hadn’t realised at the time that Geisinger had ran out of space and were just a few months away from moving to a new site, with a greatly increased capacity. The demand for the brewery’s carefully crafted beers had become too great, and space at the garage site was simply too tight.

A few months after returning home, I read about the opening of the new brewery, with its 20 fermentation and storage tanks, compared to just four at the garage. Almost overnight, Giesinger became the second largest private brewery in Munich, with the capability of producing up to 12,000 hectoliters of beer per year - more than ten times as much as the previous site!

Inspired by what I had read, I was determined to take a closer look, so when our next visit to Munich came about, in February 2017, it was the perfect opportunity to experience what Giesinger had created in their new home. An obvious improvement on the garage site, was the provision of a combined Bräustüberl and restaurant, which would enabled us to sample some of the beers and have a bite to eat. After taking the U2 U Bahn line to Silberhorn Straße, in the south of the city, it didn’t take long to find the Giesinger Bräu complex, which occupied two levels of a building, overlooking a yard.

Virtually opposite the brewery, is the impressive Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche – the red-brick church which acts as the Giesinger Brewery logo. We sat in the bright and modern upstairs restaurant, despite having decided not to eat. This was because we would be meeting up for an evening meal, with Matthew’s friend Will, who would be flying out to Munich later that day. The food looked good, and tempting too, and this combined with the excellent beer, meant it didn’t take long for the place to start filling up.

There were around a dozen beers advertised on the board behind us, although as we discovered, not all of them were available. This included the Smoky Fox, which was a shame, as I am a big fan of smoked beers. Instead, I started with that rarest of German beer styles a Märzen which was both amber in colour and malt driven. With hindsight, memories of this beer, especially its strong malt character, did come flooding back the other night, when I cracked open that bottle. 

Back at Giesinger, Matthew went for the Feines Pilschen - an authentic Pilsner-style beer, that is unfiltered, as are virtually all of Giesinger’s beers. Next up, I went for the Dunkles and, had it been later in the day, I would probably have tried the bottled Baltic Rye Porter as well. We had a quick look at the brewery on the way out. This is housed on the ground floor, where there is also a facility for the sale of brewery merchandise, and beer for home consumption.

This could be where the story ends, but there is another, larger and even more intriguing chapter to Giesinger’s quest to become a major player on the Munich beer scene. As demand for their beers continued to increase, the company looked around for a further site that would enable them to grow further, but in a more environmentally friendly and sustainable way. This led to the construction of a much larger brewery, occupying a 4,700 square metre site in Munich’s northern suburb of Lerchenau. This opened in the summer of 2020, but with the new location compromising the Giesinger name, the previous location in Obergiesing was retained as the company headquarters.

As part of the new brewery, the company also sank a well plunging 152 metres into the ground, and costing €1m (£840,000). The well is used to extract pure Munich water, which allows Giesinger to produce Münchener Bier, a term protected under EU Law since 1998, and one which requires the use of real Munich water, rather than stuff that comes out of the tap. This expensive gesture is the first in a series of steps designed to allow Giesinger Münchener Bier to be served at Munich’s world-famous Oktoberfest, thereby breaking the 100-year-old monopoly held by the city’s big six breweries - Augustiner, Hacker-Pschorr, Hofbrau, Lowenbrau, Paulaner and Spaten. who have operated the event as a rather cosy cartel.

Like I said, the brewery well is just the first step in a whole series of moves necessary to achieve Giesinger’s founder, and Managing Director, Steffen Marx’s dream of pouring his own beer at Oktoberfest.  You can learn more about the obstacles he faces, the opposition to his plans, and more about the man and his brewery, by clicking on the link to this article by Will Hawkes, which appeared in the well-researched and informative, Pellicle Magazine.

 

A quick catch-up

I’m conscious of the fact that it’s almost a week since my last post, but the truth of the matter is there hasn’t been that much for me to write about. Re-phrased, that perhaps ought to read, there hasn’t been much happening that I care to write about, despite having a couple of posts in draft stage, and one that is fully complete, and ready to go. That particular one relates to my visit to Greenacres Woodland Burials Centre on the outskirts of Norwich, where I went to pay respects to my parents at their final resting place. I haven’t hit the “publish” key yet, primarily because it’s a rather personal piece, which is totally unconnected to the principal themes of this blog, which are beer and travel.

I could argue that my visit to Greenacres, was what brought me to Norwich in the first place, and whilst I certainly made full use of my time in the city, there are many other towns and cities in this fair land of ours that I would prefer to visit instead. Nothing against Norwich, of course, but it’s a city I am quite familiar with and one which, not always for the right reasons, I associate with my parents in their twilight years.

The truth is, I’ve been feeling a little maudlin of late, and also rather tired. I’m not sure why I should feel this way, although I've been kept rather busy at work. I did find those four days in Cologne, manning the company exhibition stand, very tiring, as each day involved a nine-hour session where I was on my feet and also under artificial light, for much of the time. If I’m asked to help out at the next show – in two years’ time, I shall request a 3-day maximum stint, but 2025 is a long way off at the moment.

Because of feeling knackered, I rather uncharacteristically skipped this year’s Good Friday Ramble. I’d been having second thoughts regarding this 8-mile hike, which might seem surprising revelation for someone who undertook a 12-mile walk from Guildford to Farnham, last September, in order to complete the North Downs Way. Now that was heavy going, especially towards the end, but with that in mind, shouldn’t an 8-mile walk be a doddle?

It depends on circumstances, and the actual time frame involved. I had all day to complete that final NDW section, and there wasn’t the obvious distraction of a lengthy pub-stop half-way through! Three or possibly even four pints, together with a substantial meal, would lay heavy in anyone’s stomach, and I remember well the effect that just a couple of lunchtime pints, plus a sandwich can have on one’s ability to get going again. This doesn’t just apply to me, and I think it’s true that the first mile or so, after resting in a pub, really is hard work. It’s often better to stop for just a short break, say 15 minutes maximum, rather than anything longer.

I remember this effect from when I walked the equally lengthy South Downs Way. That was a decade and a half ago, and unfortunately those 15 years do make a difference, especially as I get nearer to my 70^th birthday! I’ve got a couple of years to go yet, but backing out of the Good Friday Ramble was a case of discretion being the better part of valour. My final excuse is, that as a slow walker, I often find myself struggling to keep up with the rest of the group, and for this reason why I usually prefer walking on my own.

It's a shame, as I was looking forward to catching up with old friends over a beer or two, whilst enjoying a bite to eat, at a pub I rarely frequent. I did check the public transport options before taking the decision to cancel, but the timings weren’t on my side. The ramble involved a hike of just over 4 miles to the Darnley Arms, from Cuxton rail station, and then a return walk of a similar distance, back. Surely, I thought, a substantial village such as Cobham must have a bus service, and indeed it does. Unfortunately, there was no service on Good Friday, which was a shame, as a bus into Gravesend, post-pub visit, would have been the ideal solution.

Instead, I played the dutiful family member and accompanied Eileen and Matthew on a drive down to Uckfield, to visit her sister and her niece. Matthew drove us down, in his shiny-new Ford Focus, and it was a nice treat to be driven, for a change. It would also have allowed me to enjoy a glass or two of beer, but it wasn’t that sort of visit!

On Saturday we called in at Fuggles Bottle Shop in Tunbridge Wells. It’s my birthday next week and Mrs PBT’s took the opportunity to buy a few bottles to help me mark the event. I selected four German, one Belgian and one British beer, as you can see here, on the attached receipt. The Rodenbach Grand Cru should be interesting, as it is a blend of two-thirds mature beer and one-third young beer. The more common, Rodenbach Classic, which is the brewery’s original Flemish red ale, is a blend of one-quarter “mature” beer and three-quarters “young” beer.

As an aside, I visited the Rodenbach Brewery at the town of Roeselare, whilst on a two-day tour of West Flanders, in the summer of 2015. For those who have heard the name, but are unfamiliar with the beer, Rodenbach is a sour beer that is aged for a minimum of two years in giant oak casks called foeders. The foeders are made from 150-year-old French oak, each with the capacity of about 8,000 gallons of beer. There are 294 of these oak foeders at the brewery, and they hold what the company believes is the largest collection of wood-aged beer in the world.

Returning to more mundane matters, I’ve spent much of the past two days in the garden, and was planning a short hike for Easter Monday, but the weather isn’t playing ball. I’ve still got two-thirds of the Southborough to Pembury section of the Tunbridge Wells Circular Walk to complete, but as hiking in the pouring rain has zero appeal, I shall look elsewhere for amusement. 

I will spend some time catching up on the blog, but I need to call in at Tonbridge railway station, at some time, in order to collect my ticket for Friday’s outing to Birmingham. Now that is something I am really looking forward to, and I can combine my visit to the station, with an escape to the pub.  So, until the next post, TTFN.

King's Head certainly impresses second time around

My last post mentioned moving on to what would be the final Norwich pub of the day, and that was going to be the classic King’s Head. Situated a short distance across the river Wensum from the castle, cathedral, and main shopping areas, this was going to be my second visit to the pub, the first having been a decade earlier. That was in April 2013, when I was in Norwich for a long weekend, in order to attend that year’s CAMRA Member’s Weekend and AGM.

I wrote at the time, and it was good then to get to know the place properly, and to explore and enjoy the delights of its many pubs, particularly as that visit represented my first proper trip to Norwich, despite having made several fleeting visits to the city in the past. The King’s Head was high on my list of pubs to visit, primarily due to the extensive range of locally brewed, cask ales it stocked, along with its self-proclaimed status as a “keg-free zone.”

Looking back at that first visit, it was late in the afternoon of my first day in the city, after having already visited several other pubs beforehand. I wrote at the time that the King’s Head was slightly different from what I’d been expecting, but apart from describing the place as “impressive,” I didn’t elaborate further. I based myself in the fairly basic, front bar enjoying a few of the extensive range of beers which the pub had on sale, chatted with a couple of locals about football (a subject which I know very little) and beer and pubs, (a subject I know quite a bit more about), with a local CAMRA member.

I mentioned the larger bar to the rear and, from what I found last Wednesday, this seems where the real diehard locals meet and congregate. The King's Head has been licensed to serve beer for over 300 years but by the start of the new century had become a rather run-down biker's pub in desperate need of a change in direction. Two new owners set about restoring the historic building to its former glory and the current licensee picked up where his predecessors left off, when he took on the King's Head in 2013.

Today, some of the best beers and breweries in East Anglia are showcased at the King's Head, and the ever-changing offerings keep even the most discerning cask ale aficionado intrigued. With no hot food, no electronic music, no TV, no fruit machines, and not even any gas to get the beers to the bar from the cellar, the pub thrives as a keg-free zone that is mercifully free of the fancy food, flashing lights and televised sport that so many of its competitors rely on.

This then, was how I found the King’s Head, when I walked in through the doors last Wednesday afternoon. I was greeted with the question, “What would you like, young man,” a term of address that certainly brought a smile to my face. There were six ales on tap, all cask-conditioned, of course, along with a selection of European, bottled beers. I spotted beers from the likes of Schlenkerla and Kloster Andechs on the blackboard, but stuck with the cask, kicking off with Little Green Men from Lowestoft-based Green Jack Brewery. I have friends back in Tonbridge, who are huge fans of this brewery, and I’m sure they will be jealous, when I describe this American Pale Ale as the beer find of the trip.

Later on, I switched to a dark beer, in the form of Mr Winters Vanilla Latte, a milk stout, from this Norwich-based, micro-brewery. Another fine beer, and here was some good conversation too in the cosy and convivial atmosphere e of that front bar. During the odd lull in the conversation, I flicked through the pages of the latest Norfolk Nips, the magazine of the county's CAMRA branches. The basic, simple, town-alehouse formula, certainly seemed to be working its magic, and meanwhile, in the back bar the more serious drinking, and banter seemed to be taking place. In addition, bar billiards and darts can be played here.

According to the photos on my phone, I departed the King’s Head just before 5.15pm. It had been a long-overdue visit, and I was please to renew my acquaintance with this classic, community-focused pub, with its excellent ale, and convivial atmosphere. I made my way back to Norwich station, via Tomblands. the cathedral precincts, and Prince of Wales Road. The latter was looking quite quiet and respectable, although that was likely to change later in the evening.

At the station, there was time for coffee and cake, before boarding the 19:00 London-bound train. Like the outward train, it wasn’t exactly crowded, and as we headed southwards into the gloom of the gathering dusk. I’d walked my socks off that day and had seen a side of Norwich had isn’t always visible to the casual visitor. By making the King’s Head my final stop, I had definitely saved the best until last, and this time around I felt I had finally understood its special appeal to lovers of old, town pubs.