Region & History

If you want to know how old brewing is in the north, look first to Lübeck. In 1363, several beer brewers there joined together to form a guild, and by the 15th century the Hanseatic city is said to have had more than 180 breweries. The main beer brewed was Rotbier, which kept longer thanks to its higher alcohol content and travelled better.

That suited a city whose ships carried salt, herring, and beer across the Baltic Sea. Almost none of that abundance survives today. Lübeck's best-known brewery, Lück, was founded in 1866 and closed in 1988; since then no beer has been brewed on a large scale in the city.

Further north, centuries later, a new center emerged. In 1888, five citizens founded the Flensburger Brauerei in Flensburg. Today it is one of the few large German breweries operating without a corporate parent, and according to its own account it remains largely in the hands of the founding families.

On the west coast, brewing takes place in Marne in Dithmarschen. According to the brewery, beer has been brewed on this site since 1775, and the present family brewery dates back to 1884, now run by the fifth generation.

No beer from the region enjoys a protected designation of origin like Kölsch; neither EU law nor any convention ties it to a specific place. Instead, the number of small breweries is growing. By one count, it rose from 15 in 2007 to 27 in 2017, including craft breweries such as Lillebräu in Kiel.