The Bayerische Staatsbrauerei Weihenstephan (''Bavarian State Brewery of Weihenstephan'') is a German
brewery
A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of bee ...
located on the site of the former
Weihenstephan Abbey
Weihenstephan Abbey (''Kloster Weihenstephan'') was a Benedictine monastery in Weihenstephan, now part of the district of Freising, in Bavaria, Germany. Brauerei Weihenstephan, located at the monastery site since at least 1040, is said to be t ...
in
Freising
Freising () is a university town in Bavaria, Germany, and the capital of the Freising ''Landkreis'' (district), with a population of about 50,000.
Location
Freising is the oldest town between Regensburg and Bolzano, and is located on the ...
,
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
. In 2014, the total output was .
The brewery advertises itself as "The World's Oldest Brewery".
History
Establishment
![Weihenstephan](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Weihenstephan.jpg)
Until the 1950s, the brewery described its date of foundation as the year 1146. At this time, a document allegedly dating to the year 1040 resurfaced. In it,
Otto I
Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), traditionally known as Otto the Great (german: Otto der Große, it, Ottone il Grande), was East Frankish king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the oldest son of He ...
,
Bishop of Freising
The following people were bishops, prince-bishops or archbishops of Freising or Munich and Freising in Bavaria:
Bishops of Freising
* St. Corbinian (724–730); founded the Benedictine abbey in Freising, although the diocese was not orga ...
bestowed a
brewing right upon the abbey. The document is generally dismissed as a forgery from the early 1600s. The first written record of the brewery dates to the year 1675.
Another source, dating to 768, indicates the presence of a
hops garden nearby.
State Brewery
In 1803, as part of a larger wave of
German secularization, Weihenstephan Abbey was dissolved. The cloister passed into the ownership of the Bavarian government, where it was incorporated as the ''Königlich Bayerische Staatsbrauerei Weihenstephan'' (''Royal Bavarian Brewery Weihenstephan'').
In 1921, the brewery adopted its current name. Today, although it is fully owned by the government of Bavaria, it is run as a modern enterprise in line with private sector practices. The grounds around the brewery were developed into a campus of the
Hochschule Weihenstephan-Triesdorf
The Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Science (german: Hochschule Weihenstephan-Triesdorf) is a Fachhochschule in Freising, Germany.
Facts and figures
Students (winter semester 2016/17)
* 6,400 students (4,200 in Weihenstepha ...
.
Awards
* 2016: Gold medal at the ''
World Beer Cup
The World Beer Cup is an international beer competition organized by the Brewers Association, a trade group
A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organizat ...
'', in the category South German-Style
Hefeweizen
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 ...
, for Weihenstephaner Hefeweißbier.
* 2016: Silver medal at the ''World Beer Cup'', in the category German-Style Wheat Ale, for Weihenstephaner Kristallweißbier.
See also
*
List of oldest companies
References
{{authority control
1040 establishments in Europe
1040s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire
Beer and breweries in Bavaria
Beer brands of Germany
Breweries in Germany
Pages translated from German Wikipedia
Buildings and structures in Freising (district)
Government-owned companies of Germany
Companies established in the 11th century