Water & Soil

Munich's brewing water is hard water drawn from deep underground. The city sits on the Munich Gravel Plain, a thick layer of gravel deposited by Alpine glacial meltwater. Beneath it lie Tertiary-era layers holding clean groundwater. The six major breweries draw from their own deep wells—Augustiner reportedly taps water from 230 meters down.

What this water does to the beer comes down to its lime content. Brewers speak of high carbonate hardness—plenty of dissolved lime from Alpine rock. A benchmark figure of around 15 degrees German hardness is often cited, though exact values vary by well. The lime buffers acidity and raises the pH of the mash, the mixture of malt and water.

For dark beers, this is an advantage. Roasted malt brings acidity with it, and the lime balances it out, giving Munich Dunkel a round character rather than a sour one. Pale malt lacks that acidity. So brewers making a Helles use water that's had some of the lime removed first, often through boiling. The bitterness then stays soft, and the beer comes across as mild.

The soil helped with lagering too. On the high bank of the Isar, in Haidhausen and at Nockherberg, the gravel was easy to dig into. Brewers sank their lagering cellars deep and packed them with ice in winter. Those working above ground covered the cellar roof with gravel to keep the heat out. The chestnut trees that later grew there are tied to this cooling system. Sit in the Augustiner-Keller today and you're sitting atop this very principle, and the Hirschgarten likewise thrives on shade and cool ground.