Beer tasting with Salzburg’s Stiegl

By Rebecca Musgrave

In 1492 a brewery was established on the banks of the river in Salzburg, Austria. Workers had to walk down a small flight of steps to get to the water and as such the famous Stiegl (small steps) brewery was founded.

Far from its previous reputation as the “little brewery by the steps”, Stiegl is now the largest privately owned brewery in Austria, producing its millionth hectolitre or 200 millionth half litre glass of beer in 2009.

All the ingredients that go into their historic beer come from within Austria using 23,000 tonnes of barley from the lower Austrian wine region every year and water straight from the Untersberg Mountain.

Despite its modern brewing methods and facilities the family business still places tradition at the forefront of its philosophy. Stiegl is the only brewery in Austria to still use carthorses and a wagon to deliver beer around Salzburg city.

Stiegl owner Dr phil Heinrich Dieter Kiener said, “Delivering the beer with a horse-drawn cart in our often hectic times also shows a certain “courage to take things slowly,” which demonstrates our commitment to quality, because: Our beer also needs time to mature.”

The Stiegl-Brauwelt in Salzburg attracts many visitors due to its 519 years of brewing history, housed in a building that was previously a hospital during the plague in the 14th Century. The exhibition and tours at Europes’s largest hands-on beer museum and brewery show just how keen its owners are to keep their brewing tradition alive. The brewery offers a range of tours for groups of over 15 people from beer and cheese tastings to the worlds of salt and beer tour.

Visitors can continue their brewery experience with a trip to the traditional Bräustüberl pub or the Parcacelsus Room restaurant where they can tuck into soup and dumplings, washing it all down with the brewery’s beer of the month.

Admission to the beer exhibition with a beer tasting session and a souvenir is nine Euros for adults.

For more information on admission prices and opening hours visit: http://www.stiegl.at/en/brauwelt/