Eggenberg Castle () is a

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

located in Vorchdorf,

Upper Austria Upper Austria ( ; ; ) is one of the nine States of Austria, states 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, and Salzburg (state), Salzbur ...

. It is famous for its

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 b ...

History

Beer has been brewed at Eggenberg Castle () since the 14th century. Commercial brewing at its location began in 1681 when Michael Weismann purchased the property from the Monastery of Kremsmünster. It has been owned by the Forstinger-Stöhr family since 1803.

Samichlaus

Samichlaus is one of the strongest

lager Lager (; ) is a Type of beer, style of beer brewed and Brewing#Conditioning, conditioned at low temperature. Lagers can be Pale lager, pale, Amber lager, amber, or Dark lager, dark. Pale lager is the most widely consumed and commercially availab ...

beers in the world, at 14%

alcohol by volume Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as alc/vol or ABV) is a common measure of the amount of Alcohol (drug), alcohol contained in a given alcoholic beverage. It is defined as the volume the ethanol in the liquid would take if separated from the rest ...

. The name means ''

Santa Claus Santa Claus (also known as Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle or Santa) is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts during the late evening and overnight hours on Chris ...

'' in

Swiss German Swiss German (Standard German: , ,Because of the many different dialects, and because there is no #Conventions, defined orthography for any of them, many different spellings can be found. and others; ) is any of the Alemannic German, Alemannic ...

. It was originally brewed by the Hürlimann Brewery in

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

, Switzerland. Hürlimann's founder Albert Hürlimann was a world leader in the scientific study of

yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom (biology), kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are est ...

, and the brewery has a long history of yeast development. The ''Samichlaus''

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

beer was first brewed in 1979 for sale in 1980. Production continued annually until 1997, when the brewery closed. In 2000, it returned, this time produced by Schloss Eggenberg in collaboration with the original Hürlimann brewers, using the original Hürlimann Samichlaus recipe. The beer is only brewed once a year, on December 6 (which is the day of

Saint Nicholas Saint Nicholas of Myra (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Patara (Lycia), Patara in Anatolia (in modern-day Antalya ...

), which makes it a relatively rare brew. It is in the style of a

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

Doppelbock Bock () is a strong Beer in Germany, German beer, usually a dark lager. History The style now known as ''Bock'' was first brewed in the 14th century in the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic town of Einbeck in Lower Saxony. The style was later adop ...

, and undergoes unusually long fermentation by traditional cold

lagering Lager (; ) is a style of beer 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 word for ...

over a ten-month period, leaving very little residual sugar in the final beer.

Notes

External links

Schloss Eggenberger historyHomepage Schloss Eggenberg breweryRateBeer
{{coord, 47, 59, 23, N, 13, 55, 20, E, type:landmark_region:AT-4_source:dewiki, display=title Beer in Austria 1681 establishments in the Habsburg monarchy 17th-century establishments in Austria