Original subtitles

In the eighth century, monks traveled across

Europe to spread the word of God.

In many places, monasteries were built that took on many

secular tasks in the early Middle Ages.

On his pilgrimage to Rome,

St. Corbinian and his allegiance came across the Nährberg hill in Freising

and they decided to settle down there and build a monastery.

The monks started brewing beer.

This has allowed the monastery to grow and prosper over the years.

But wars, famines and

the plague severely threatened monastic life.

The monks, however, did not allow themselves to be deterred, rebuilt the monastery

again and again and provided a quiet place to pray and of course a good beer,

which they stored in the dark, cool cellar in the mountain, similar to this one.

As the centuries came and went,

one thing has always been preserved, the unique art of brewing.

And beer is still brewed right here in this very place.

This is the oldest brewery in the world.

This is Weihenstephan.

Founded in 1040.

Weihenstephan is a brewery.

No beer factory.

It is something special to be able to brew beer here when you know that the monks

brewed beer in these walls 1000 years ago.

Our founding father Corbinian brewed beer here.

And now we are allowed to brew beer here.

This is a unique place and something very special.

I will be honest, when you say, the recipe is 1000 years old.

A recipe is always something alive.

At some point the day comes when you brew the beer.

And then, when it is so far in the storage cellar

that you say, today I can try it for the first time.

It's an exciting moment

when you say, okay, now I'm really excited to see what comes out of it.

If you then take the first sample and then you see the color, smell the whole thing,

then taste it and you say, okay, wow, that's how I imagine it to be.

It's always one of the most beautiful moments of the whole year.

One really has to say so.

We have to see that we humans have come into contact with alcohol for a very, very long time,

through so-called rotted fruit and that we have certainly also harvested it in a targeted manner.

And that we actually started making beer a lot when people settled down.

And that began in the fertile crescent.

And that was about 11,000 years ago.

There is more and more evidence that beer productions took place a little earlier.

That was the first big step and there were actually two very,

very big changes in development.

One thing was at the end of the Middle

Ages, when the whole thing was simply professionalized,

and that started at the end of the Middle Ages with a few other changes.

And the second, very, very big revolution was the industrial revolution.

So when you come to the end of the Middle Ages and there

are these great changes in the building industry, I would even

say it is the greatest revolution that has taken place, if you look more closely at it.

In urban planning it was the case that the houses

were built more and more out of stone, especially the ground floor.

That was now important for the beer, because if it was made of stone, then

you could simply cook in there, stoke a fire, and the city wouldn't burn down straight away.

If you didn't pay attention to it.

And exports simply increased due to this

emerging monetary system and it was served in corresponding

inns, which were also often associated with bakeries.

Bakery, brewery, inns, that was all together.

So this industrial revolution

brought us energy in a simplified way, simplified the steps for us.

We have understood more and more how the process works with the help of the fantastic measuring

instruments that we have received more and more, such as thermometer, microscope and so on.

It was always about making stable products.

If things just rot quickly, then the whole harvest has been of no use.

So that has always been that background.

I have to dry something, I have to add salt, I add alcohol or I make it sour.

These were the procedures to this day for how I preserve food.

And that has been mastered very, very well in the monasteries

and in these monasteries a lot of people, mainly pilgrims, were fed in large dining rooms.

Weihenstephan is such an example.

And that's how this special product came about.

We are here in the Freising Cathedral.

In addition to the brewery and the former

Weihenstephan monastery, the Freising Cathedral is a bit like the home of Saint Corbinian.

Saint Corbinian is not only the founder of the Weihenstephan monastery,

but also the patron saint, the patron saint of the city of Freising.

But he is also the patron saint of the diocese and here of the cathedral in Freising.

Here in the main nave of the Freising Cathedral, there are several paintings on one

side of the life and work of Saint Corbinian, the patron saint of the city and the cathedral.

And one of the most important paintings is of course the so-called bear legend,

how the bear attacks Saint Corbinian and how he tames the bear to become his companion.

And that can be seen here just before the altar on the main nave, on the side.

And it shows in the middle

the holy Corbinian and also the bear, who is of course in the center of this legend.

Saint Corbinian and his legend, his story with the bear,

has become part of the DNA and history of this region.

He found his peace here, in the crypt of the Freising Cathedral,

where his remains are kept in a relic.

And that is also one of the fundamental stories through which the legend of

Saint Corbinian manifested itself, but also founded our brewery.

There is that special tingling sensation when you are also allowed to work here.

It's something very special.

It's these halls, it's this environment, it's so full of history

and so full of beer emotion.

I think you can taste that too.

It is something special to be able to work here in Weihenstephan,

because you are simply

part of this long history that is almost 1000 years old.

This knowledge and this

tradition have been passed on over the years.

Yes, it's something special.

It is fun.

Yes, the recipes have always been passed on from master brewer to master brewer.

But we don't have an old, dusty book, 1000 years old.

They were of course passed on again and again.

By now, of course, I have my recipes on my PC or on site in the brewhouse,

where mainly new beers are mashed.

But they have been passed on and they are always being further developed.

Every year you have something different where you say,

okay, I still have to make some tweaks on this spot or that one

so that I have the taste again as people imagine it, or even gets better.

Therefore, recipes are living things.

These are not old, dusty things, they are living things.

They are always being further developed.

When someone comes along and says, hey, the beer is so great, what you did.

That is of course the nicest thing. That's what we do it for.

That's why I say

I never wanted a job where I just sit at my desk and fill out forms.

I want to create something.

At the end of the day, I want something in my hand

that people can see.

And when they then say, hey, that's great, I like it

that is a good beer.

That makes you really proud and also drives you.

Because that's what counts at the end of the day.

Weihenstephan is a district of Freising.

Freising is in Upper Bavaria, so near Munich.

In Germany.

Where the Weihenstephan monastery used to be.

That's still our brewery, it's still the monastery walls, so part of it.

The brewery is in the old monastery building.

And in the building next door is the Technical University of Munich.

So we have always had a very close connection with the university here in Weihenstephan.

One part is the brewery, the other is the university.

So it's connected, it's at the top of the hill.

And then the fermentation and storage cellar of the brewery is built into the mountain.

That's the middle part of the brewery.

And at the bottom we still have a few buildings for bottling and packaging.

So, it's divided into three sections as the brewery was built on the mountain

which are scattered down the whole mountain.

So we are here a classic traditional

Bavarian brewery, which of course has also dedicated itself to the classic varieties.

And we are actually trying to preserve these varieties,

develop them further and produce them in the best quality.

Of course, the beer culture has a long tradition in Bavaria.

Somehow everything has to do with beer.

Every festival and almost all customs have something to do with beer.

It's just very important.

The whole agriculture, too.

Barley and wheat are grown here and

the largest hop-growing area in the world is in Bavaria.

What do you need hops for? For the beer, of course.

People, beer tents, folk festivals, beer gardens, lots of breweries that we have.

Everyone has something to do with a brewery or with the product beer.

So that is already very rooted here and we are also famous or known for it.

So all the people come from all over the world and they only associate Germany with Bavaria anyway.

They think that we only have beer mugs, lederhosen and mountains here.

Because it is simply the most beautiful part of our country.

Germany is very beautiful.

But Bavaria has always been very special and that's why there is beer culture here.

To which everything is related to and it has a great tradition.

I come from a family, we had a bakery

and that's where it developed, the interest in food production and of course yeast was also involved.

It was going a lot in the direction of beer and then I just started studying brewing here.

And I noticed more and more that I really enjoy it.

I enjoy all the technical systems,

all the technological factors, all the adjusting screws in the process

that really make a good beer in the end.

To really learn this in detail and to get more and more knowledge

about it has actually strengthened my passion for beer.

That's why I'm happy today to be able to continue doing this

and to be responsible for the quality of the beer.

Good Morning.

Nice to have you here for a tasting.

The bottling from this week.

We will do a silent tasting and we will taste our products from left to right.

One request, please evaluate according to the scheme.

We have the DLG scheme here. Which means, the highest rating is five points.

If you notice any mistakes or something is noted,

we would discuss it afterwards when we are finished with the tasting.

Please also take a look at the haze,

and color of the beers so that we can compare them with our specifications.

And of course, it should taste like our beers!

Good?

And then I would say we start.

We taste every beer, i.e.

every batch that is in our tank will be tasted by us and then approved.

Because only then, we can really make sure that the beer tastes the way we want it to.

Quality describes the condition of a product,

which means that it can also be positive or negative.

Of course, we want very good quality and strive for it.

Quality also means that you always produce the same product

and that it corresponds to customer expectations.

You can analyze the beer in different ways and with different machines.

But in the end, the best analyzer for beer are still us humans.

In other words, the sensory analysis is still the go-to way.

We'll start with the first beer and discuss it.

What do you think of our wheat beer?

Nice haze, right?

Shall we compare?

Is it okay here from the bottles?

I have a small devaluation in the mouthfeel.

Maybe it's because of the pouring. The beer is a little less sparkling.

But I actually remember it with more carbon dioxide and more liveliness.

Maybe we have to taste it again from the bottle.

Let's get to our big favourite!

"Vitus". - The winner of our hearts.

The holy "Vitus".

No problem with the haze at all.

A real banana bomb.

The high alcohol content is properly embedded,

but that doesn't come out at all.

It has a warming effect due to the alcohol.

Nice to drink.

Dangerous.

A very good beer.

Great!

What makes a good beer?

A good beer is when I order a second one.

Then people like it.

And I really have to manage that, or we as a brewing team have to

create a nice, round, balanced beer that tastes like more.

When people say, wow, that's great, I like it.

I would like one more.

Then we have reached our goal.

Because, at the end of the day

it's not about any analyzes, certificates or

any data on a paper,

but the beer has to taste good, it has to be there for the people and it has to be good.

Because I think that's somewhat a part of our success.

In Germany we have a purity law that tells us how we can brew beer.

And we are allowed to use four ingredients for this.

Water, malt from wheat and barley, hops and yeast.

We make our beer from four raw materials.

Malt is grain that has been processed in such a way

that we can use it as brewers

which means that we only use barley and wheat malt for our beers.

You take the barley malt, grind it small and mix it with water.

Different temperatures are then maintained

in order to then make the process of

making the sugar later usable for the yeast.

That means we mix it with water,

then separate the solids again

and it is then boiled as the wort in the next step.

It will be heated to 100 degrees and the hops are added.

The hops are then the flavor of the beer.

It brings not only bitterness, but also aroma.

And after the hops have been added,

they are separated again in a whirlpool.

There, some protein will be precipitated out again

and then the wort will cool down and the yeast will be added.

Yeast is a microorganism that produces alcohol and CO2 from sugars.

That means it metabolizes the sugars that we have prepared beforehand in the mash

and then turns them into alcohol and CO2.

Beer is known to be fizzy or tangy.

Then we go to our fermentation and storage cellars, first in the fermentation tank with the yeast

and then after the main fermentation in a storage tank,

where it is stored cold.

After that, it is either filtered for the bottom-fermented, lager beers

or it is bottled directly for our whole wheat beer.

Bottle and barrel filling, packaging, logistics center and then off to the big wide world.

The most important date is definitely 1516, when the Purity Law was enacted in Bavaria.

The purity law says how beer should be brewed.

And this date is so important because it was

the first idea written down about how beer should be made.

So the first draft of a, let me say, uniform beer idea.

That only has these four, or at that time three raw materials

were written down that only these raw materials may be used for beer production.

And that's something very special, because that was

actually the kick-off of the situation of how beer will be brewed in Bavaria

in the future.

And that was an incredibly important date for every brewer, of course also for us as the

Weihenstephan State Brewery.

Because this purity law was the first important guideline for how Bavarian beer will develop

and is actually the basic reference and recipe for how the master brewer should brew beer.

And today, more than 500 years later,

we are still brewing beer on behalf of the Bavarian Purity Law.

Water, malt, hops, yeast.

Nothing else.

No additives. No stabilizers.

No flavor enhancers. Nothing else. Just these four ingredients.

It's like a green label that you just know, you can rely on it.

Here we just have four very simple ingredients with natural raw materials.

And the people, the brewers know,

through their training, knowledge, through their experience,

how to deal with it.

How they have to adjust the process so that they can

make a range of hundreds of thousands of different beers and tastes from four ingredients.

And that is what is fascinating about it,

that it does not restrict it at all,

but on the contrary, it stimulates creativity.

And from these difficult specifications, if you will,

using only four ingredients, you can make such a wide range of

tastes and beer out of them.

Right behind us is the Hallertau, still the largest hop growing area in the world.

We get hops from the Hallertau, of course.

So it's really just a spice, but a very crucial one.

Because thereby you can really influence the beer,

not only in terms of its bitterness, but also of its aroma.

The traditional hops from the Hallertau are very good for beer

because we have the highest quality classification worldwide, internationally.

For example, the inside of the hops is important, the lupulin.

It is the yellow dust.

Which is needed for the beer, for medical use and so on.

I've been in the family business since the third generation.

We have been planting hops since 1899.

I've always wanted to be a hop farmer.

I realised it at a young age and always helped with the harvest.

I just always enjoyed that.

Our farm cultivates 70 hectares of agricultural land

of which 24 hectares are hops.

Here, for example, we have the Hercules variety.

Otherwise, we still cultivate the varieties such as tradition, sapphire, pearl, a little of mandarin.

The interesting thing about hops, for example, is that they can grow up to 20 centimeters a day.

That it grows 7 meters upwards.

That it can develop a high density.

I often come out here to check the hops

because you have to be careful that it is not attacked by pests or fungal diseases.

It's very relaxing to be out here in the garden

as you only concentrate on the hops and relax.

Because it is a very nice environment to enjoy nature.

I like that.

I know the hops are ready when the individual cones are closed.

When I look at the inside of the hop cones and see enough lupulin.

That is around the time of August 1st.

It will take 30 days to bring in the full harvest.

The hop harvest is carried out with a tractor, for example.

The tractor drives a wagon through the hop garden and picks up the hops with its cutting device.

It cuts it off at the bottom and pulls it up using a chain system.

The chain system then tears off the hops and the hops then go into the wagon.

Then I drive home and unload the hop vines backwards, individually or together, to the hop harvester.

These are then let through by the hop harvesting machines.

Hop cones and leaves are separated and then hops are dried in the hop drying system.

The hops are dried to a relative humidity of 7% to 10%

and are then packaged and sealed.

Yes, I take great pride in farming our own land.

I get up early in the morning, looking forward to bringing in our hops

and celebrating the work done at the end of the day.

I have the knowledge from my father.

He is a hops farmer himself and he also took over from his father.

It is a family tradition that the father

imparts knowledge to the younger generation as best he can.

I hope that one day I will have children to whom I can pass our cultural heritage.

We have just received the new harvests from Hallertau.

For example, I think this hop variety is one of my favorite hops.

The "sapphire" variant.

Because the "sapphire" has its own traits.

It makes the whole thing a bit softer and rounder in taste,

so that the beer is even more easier to drink.

So even more beautiful.

A lot of alpha acid.

It smells really good.

Yes.

Very fresh. A bit lemony.

It just came last week, now it's dried and is about to be processed.

These are now our samples, to just

judge the hops.

Smells pretty...

Yes, what do you think, since it has so much alpha acid,

we should take less of the basic hop, right?

Yeah, my idea would be that we might

take a little bit less for the basic hops at the beginning

a little less for the bitter ones, and then use more intense hops at the end.

So that we bring in a little more aroma, because the harvest

smells really great this year.

And I think maybe the hop oils will come out again then.

So I think that's a good idea.

Well, let's try it that way, right?

Sounds good, that's how we will do it -Yeah.

Festival beers are traditional in Bavaria because every region, every place has its own folk festival

and an extra beer is brewed for this, which is mostly bottom-fermented.

With the festival beer we have the opportunity to create something new every year.

We have the option of using other hops.

Of course, we want to continue to produce a classic Bavarian festival beer

that will be drunk at our folk festivals.

But here we really have a little more leeway and can then

change the color or the flavor or the hops,

which often brings out a completely different beer.

Here is the opportunity to be creative.

Every year it is a very special moment when you can try the festival beer

from the tank for the first time to see whether it has really turned out the way you imagined it.

We have a new harvest of hops every year and we want the next festival beer

to be just as good or maybe even a little better than the previous festival beer.

And of course, we have to do a little math and choose the hops.

This year was a bit special because we have the "pearl" variant as the basic hop.

But at the end we added the variation "sapphire" as aroma hops.

A really nice aroma hop from the Hallertau to make the whole thing a little

rounder, smoother and drinkable.

That you can not only drink it from the small test glass here in the brewery, but also from

a mug in the beer garden or at a folk festival.

And that it is still nice and drinkable.

That's what it's about, isn't it?

I love this place.

We have always enjoyed going to this place with my friends in the past.

When we didn't know what we should become one day or what profession we should learn.

And yes, many wanted to go to the bank or to insurance.

I've never wanted to sit at my

desk 100% and of course we also drank beer back then.

I've always been fascinated that you can actually

make so many great different beers from just a few raw materials.

Yeah, I always wanted to be a brewer.

That was always so. I wanted to make my own beer once.

It was always my wish, my imagination.

Now I am a brewer, even a master brewer in the oldest brewery in the world.

Who would have thought?

And after such a long week of doing a lot of things, talking to a lot of people,

working in the brewery from morning to evening and exciting projects, it is fun.

But after such a long week you just have to

come down and enjoy nature and enjoy your own beer.

I can drink my own beer.

We did that, my team and I. And that's nice.

That makes me proud too.

It is the Technical University of Munich.

The background of the research

that is carried out here somehow always comes from practice.

From the ideas in practice. From problems in practice.

And they tried to understand biochemically and technically easily and then simply to solve them.

We simply get thousands of samples per year and even more, which we have to analyze, which

we have to interpret, where we consult with the industry, with the manufacturers, but where we

also work on and also carry out forward-looking research projects.

We have a lot of that here in the house in this regard.

And that's how this whole story comes about, that we have a very close connection

with the Weihenstephan State Brewery, which is right next to us,

which is ideal simply because of this local proximity.

Weihenstephan is actually the center or the origin of beer, one can say

where students from all over the world come to the university, to brew beer here.

Weihenstephan is really the benchmark for beer.

If something new is invented somewhere, in biology, in chemistry,

in the technology of beer brewing, then we are right at the front.

And we are also open to the one or the other smaller experiment being made

directly with us, if it's about better biology, better cleaning qualities, whatever.

Then we are very open here because we are the first to benefit from it.

We have the university, we know how beer is brewed.

From everywhere they make a pilgrimage to us on the Weihenstephan hill

to drink the best beer in the world.

Beer is just something special.

It is a cultural drink, but it is also a drink that creates culture.

The whole beer culture here is part of the whole DNA,

not only of Bavaria, but also here in the region.

So this beer culture is part of the whole story.

I think what makes Bavaria so special is a kind of coziness.

It is nature that affects people.

That means we are very close to the mountains.

We have beautiful lakes.

That is the closeness to nature.

And I also believe that in Bavaria, the love for beer makes a big difference,

it promotes sociability and getting together.

That is what Bavaria is all about for me.

Bavaria is special.

If you want to explain it to someone, it's not just the beautiful landscape.

It is also the atmosphere of life. These are the people.

It is the comfort.

It's all an feeling of life where you just feel comfortable at home with your friends.

The Bavarians love beer and beer is at home here.

Hops are at home here, beer science is at home here.

The oldest brewery in the world is at home here.

So all of Bavaria breathes and lives beer.

With a lot of people involved who really, really care about it.

There is really a lot of knowledge, time and love in this glass.

And I think you can taste and feel that too.