Region & History

How old is Augsburg's beer culture? Ask that question and you end up with Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. His 1156 town charter for Augsburg, according to regional tourism promotion, mentions the quality of beer for the first time. Whether this can be called a “first purity law” is a matter of debate among experts, since the text is not documented as a recipe regulation in the modern sense.

On firmer ground is an Augsburg brewing ordinance from 1442, which partly preceded the Bavarian decree of 1516. By that time, the brewers of the Free Imperial City had long formed their own guild, self-assured and influential on the city council. Augsburg was then a trading metropolis where the Fuggers lent money and financed emperors. And right in the middle of this city, beer was brewed as a matter of course.

Brauhaus Riegele traces its origins back to 1386, when Hans Smid ran the brewery “Zum Goldenen Roß.” The house took on its current name in 1884, when Sebastian Riegele Sr. bought the business. In 1911, production moved to a new building outside the old town. According to the brewery and regional sources, Riegele, with over 200,000 hectolitres, is the city's largest private brewery.

Hasen-Bräu traces its roots to 1464 and an inn called “Zu den drey Glass.” It owes its name to an anecdote: a brewer named Martin Eberle is said to have fallen flat on his face in the 18th century while trying to catch a hare (Hase) in his tavern. From then on he was called “Hasen-Preu.” Whether this is true cannot be verified, but it's a story people love to tell.

Legally, the area belongs to Bavaria, so the EU-protected “Bavarian Beer” (PGI, 2001) applies here too. The “Rieser Weizenbier” from the Nördlinger Ries, however, is not in the EU register. The Ankerbrauerei in Nördlingen, which traced its history back to 1608, stopped brewing on 30 September 2016, and its brands were taken over by Fürst Wallerstein Brauhaus. Since 2011, Maierbier has continued brewing on a small scale in Nördlingen.