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Beer in Austria comes in a wide variety of styles. There are many small breweries across the country, although a few large breweries dominate the market. The most common beer is ''

Märzen ''Märzen'' or ''Märzenbier'' (german: March beer) is a lager that originated in Bavaria. It has a medium to full body and may vary in color from pale through amber to dark brown. It was the beer traditionally served at the Munich Oktoberfest. ...

''.

Breweries

Styria Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , Styria is the second largest state of Austria, after Lower Austria. Styria is bordered to ...

n breweries, in the south, include ''

Gösser Gösser () beer is the main brand of Göss Brewery in Leoben, one of the largest and most-well known in Austria. The brewery is part of Brau Union, the largest Austrian brewer, whose majority shareholder is the Dutch brewing company Heineken. His ...

'', ''Puntigamer'', and ''Murauer''. '' Hirter'' is produced in the town of

Hirt Hirt is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Al Hirt (1922–1999), American trumpeter and bandleader *Aloys Hirt (1759–1837), German art historian and archaeologist *August Hirt (1898–1945), German SS officer * Egon Hirt (born ...

Carinthia Carinthia (german: Kärnten ; sl, Koroška ) is the southernmost States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The main language is German language, German. Its regional dialects belong to t ...

. In

Lower Austria Lower Austria (german: Niederösterreich; Austro-Bavarian: ''Niedaöstareich'', ''Niedaestareich'') is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Since 1986, the capital of Lower Austria has been Sankt P ...

, ''Egger'', ''Zwettler'', ''Schwechater'', and ''Wieselburger'' are brewed, and in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Ottakringer Ottakringer () is the last large brewery remaining in Vienna, Austria, and is located in Ottakring, the 16th district of Vienna. History The Ottakringer brewery was opened in 1837 by the master miller Heinrich Plank under the name of ''Planksch ...

''. From the more westerly parts of Austria come ''Kaiser'', ''Zipfer'' and ''Kapsreiter'' in

Upper Austria Upper Austria (german: Oberösterreich ; bar, Obaöstareich) is one of the nine states or of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, a ...

Freistadt Freistadt (, literally "Freetown") is a small Austrian town in the state of Upper Austria in the region Mühlviertel. With a population of approximately 7,500 residents, it is a trade centre for local villages. Freistadt is the economic centre of ...

in Upper Austria is also home to Freistädter Bier, a brewery owned and operated by those who own a house within the city walls. Continuing West,

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the ...

is home to ''Stiegl'', as well as ''Augustiner Bräu'' and ''Edelweiss''. Weizenbier (wheat beer) is the most popular type of beer in this region. From

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

and

Vorarlberg Vorarlberg ( , ; gsw, label=Vorarlbergisch, Vorarlbearg, , or ) is the westernmost States of Austria, state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also has the second-smallest population, it is ...

come ''Falkenstein'', ''Frastanzer'', '' Mohrenbräu'', '' Starkenberger'', ''Zillertaler'', ''Fohrenburger'' and ''

Der Wilde Der or DER may refer to: Places * Darkənd, Azerbaijan * Dearborn (Amtrak station) (station code), in Michigan, US * Der (Sumer), an ancient city located in modern-day Iraq * d'Entrecasteaux Ridge, an oceanic ridge in the south-west Pacific Oc ...

(Wildschönau Brewery)''.

Slogans

* ''Freistädter ''- "Frisch. Frei. Freistädter." ("Fresh. Free. Freistädter.") * ''Gösser'' - "Gut, besser, Gösser." ("Good, better, Gösser.") * ''Stiegl'' - "Es muss ein Stiegl sein." ("It's got to be a Stiegl.") * ''Egger'' - "My home is my Egger." * ''Puntigamer'' - "Das 'bierige' Bier." ("The 'beery' beer.") * ''Ottakringer'' - "Warum erfrischt mich das Ottakringer bloß so? Bloß so." ("Why does Ottakringer refresh me just like that? Just like that.") * ''Villacher'' - "Die brau'n sich was, die Kärntner!" (a play on words - brew (brauen) and dare (trauen) rhyme in the German language. ''They know to brew something, those Carinthians!'') * ''Kaiser'' - "Hast ein Kaiser, bist ein Kaiser." ("Got a Kaiser, then you are a Kaiser.", "Kaiser" is the German word for Emperor deriving from Caesar) * ''Zipfer'' - "Ein Glas heller Freude." ("A glass of delightful joy", a play on words - "helle Freude" means "delightful joy", but "Helles" is also a type of beer) * ''Murauer'' - "Rein das Beste." ("Purely the best.")

Stiegl

One of the most common brands of beer to be found in Austria is ''Stiegl'' ("''little stair''" or "''little step''"), founded in 1492. ''Stiegl'' brews both a

helles Helles or hell is a traditional German pale lager beer, produced chiefly in Southern Germany, particularly Munich. The German word ''hell'' can be translated as "bright", "light", or "pale". Flavour profile Helles-style beers typically are f ...

(a light

lager Lager () is beer which has been brewed and conditioned at low temperature. Lagers can be pale, amber, or dark. Pale lager is the most widely consumed and commercially available style of beer. The term "lager" comes from the German for "storage" ...

) and a

Weissbier Wheat beer is a top-fermented beer which is brewed with a large proportion of wheat relative to the amount of malted barley. The two main varieties are German ''Weizenbier'' and Belgian ''witbier''; other types include Lambic (made with wild ye ...

(Hefeweizen), as well as other specialty beers, including a grapefruit ''

Radler Shandy is beer or cider mixed with a lemon or a lemon-lime flavored beverage. The citrus beverage, often called lemonade, may or may not be carbonated. The proportions of the two ingredients are adjusted to taste but are usually half lemonade ...

''. Stiegl is the most popular beer of Austria that isn't owned by Brau Union. MohrenbraeuPaleAle

The brewery has a large museum of beer and beer making on the outskirts of Salzburg, a tour of which ends in a visit to the pub for a beer on the house.

Ottakringer

'' from

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

can be found more often in the eastern states. Over the past decades, it has earned somewhat of a cult status leading the company to name one of their canned variants "16er-Blech" (Ottakring is the 16th district of Vienna, "Blech" a slang term for a tin can). Ottakringer raised some attention for supplying rock festival campers in Austria with chilled "Ottarocker" branded cans on-site for a reasonable price, thus removing the need for campers to carry their beer supplies all the way to the festival.

Egger Bier

, ''Egger Bier'' is brewed by a brewery in

Egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the a ...

, Bregenzerwald. This led to a lawsuit with the above-mentioned ''Egger'' from

, which ended in an agreement between the two breweries. So, when buying an ''Egger'' in Vorarlberg you get one from Egg, whereas in the rest of Austria it will be from Lower Austria.

Mohrenbräu

Established in 1834, the

Mohrenbrauerei The Mohrenbrauerei Vertriebs KG is a brewery in Dornbirn in the Austrian state of Vorarlberg. It is Vorarlberg's oldest brewery. With a total market share of 47.2 percent in the gastronomy and retail sectors, in 2013, the Mohrenbrauerei was the ...

is Vorarlberg's oldest brewery. At the same time, it is market leader with a total market share of 47.2 percent in the gastronomy and retail sectors. There has been a discussion about whether or not the name and logo – in German, ''Mohr'' is an outdated and

pejorative A pejorative or slur is a word or grammatical form expressing a negative or a disrespectful connotation, a low opinion, or a lack of respect toward someone or something. It is also used to express criticism, hostility, or disregard. Sometimes, a ...

term for an African – suggests

racial stereotyping An ethnic stereotype, racial stereotype or cultural stereotype involves part of a system of beliefs about typical characteristics of members of a given ethnic group, their status, societal and cultural norms. A national stereotype, or nation ...

. The company insists that the name and logo refer to the original brewery founder Josef Mohr and have been in use for almost 200 years.

References

{{Beers of the world