Lengnau, Switzerland:
Braustübli Knüxx / Brauerei Knüxx

Thursday 16th January 2014

Bob Thompson

This little brewery lies somewhere between a hobby brewery and a nano-brewery. It is very small indeed and its delightful little pub is only open on three evenings a week. The odd name appears to be a constructed from some sort of combination of the surnames of the two founders and the registration numbers of their car and motorcycle, I'm not kidding! Anyway, I only think this is correct, yet does it really matter? The two brewers in question are Eric Guex and Marcel Knoll and one or both were there when we visited that evening.

I was with fellow imbibers Russell and Steve and we left the station in the pouring rain. As we passed the premises all three of us completely failed to appreciate its location so continued to trudge through the deluge towards nothing in particular.

Eventually we realised our mistake and retraced our steps to the pub. I was walking behind the other two and my only excuse for passing the pub by was that there was a different name displayed higher up on the building, so I thought it wasn't our destination. How wrong can you be!

Thankful to be in the dry and warm we took a seat and were told they had a light beer (Jura Gold Hell) and a dark (Knüxxola Dunkel), so we ordered them both and were please that they could be served in 0.5l glasses. This is not always the case as most bars will give you a Stange (0.3l). We liked them both so ordered another.

It wasn't long after when Russell, who had his drinking head on, finished and wanted more. The waiter told us that there was an Amber Bier called Alt (5.2%) so he ordered that but qualified it with the request that it should be a small one as we were running out of time.

Well it certainly was, please see the photograph of what he received, next to the Stange which he eventually got. Of course, it was a joke but a good one nevertheless as there was a split second when we were all fooled.

Outside the small pub was covered with fairy lights. As the Christmas tree was still there we weren't sure whether these were decorations that hadn't been taken down or that it looks like this all the time, which wouldn't surprise me. Inside was equally weird with the bar in front of the entrance and a small room to left. This also had what looked like Christmas decorations with the addition of several skulls, shrunken heads (not real!) and a witch's broomstick.

To the right of the bar was a small room and I could see some brewing equipment so I asked if I could take some photographs and it was agreed.

The two stainless steel vessels that look vaguely like big stew pots are the copper and mash tun. The other container on the trolley is a fermentation tank. Presumably it is movable to allow the fresh beer to be decanted from the copper and then it is moved away for maturation.

All too soon we had to leave and catch our train to Bern, where Russell and I were staying the night.

We all agreed that this was a wonderful little pub and vowed to return some time. Yet that won't be easy as it is only open on three evenings a week, but one can only dream.

Important Information:

Knüxx, Solothurnstrasse 5, Lengnau. CH-2543. Tel: 041 (0) 32 652 1452

Open: Monday/Thursday-Friday 16.00-23.30.
Tuesday-Wednesday/Saturday-Sunday: Closed.

Lengnau railway station is on the Biel / Bienne to Solothurn line and has an every half hour service with every second train continuing beyond Solothurn to Olten. From Biel / Bienne it is easy to reach Bern.

From the railway station main building turn right and then left into Bahnhofstrasse. At the end, turn right into Bielstrasse, which almost immediately changes into Solothurnstrasse. The pub is a little way up on the left behind a tree. It should take just over five minutes.