Friday 17th August 2012

Bob Thompson

Rosenheim is a smallish city on the River Inn in Upper Bavaria not far from the Austrian border. It dates from the 13th Century. Geographically it's an important railway junction where the Munich to Salzburg (and on to Vienna) line splits from the Munich to Innsbruck route (and south to Italy over the Brenner Pass).

The city is home to two breweries, Auerbräu and Flötzinger. The former is close to the station and has its tap located in a shack-like structure in the brewery's yard that doesn't open until the evening so wasn't visited on this occasion.

The Flötzinger Bräustüberl is a much more impressive building and is very close to its namesake brewery which is actually located at Herzog-Heinrich-Strasse 7. Like most traditional breweries in Bavaria this one has a long and interesting history.

The first record of its existence was in 1542. The following year it was first registered for tax which was two Kreuzer for each bucket (64 litres) produced. In 1604 the first proprietor is mentioned in records and this was Johann Huber who owned the brewery from 16.10.1604 to 10.03.1611.

The Plague in 1634 badly affected the town when one third of the population died. This was followed by the thirty years war. Then the town was destroyed on 02/03.05.1641 by fire which left only the town walls intact.

Another disaster was the War of the Spanish Succession from 1703 to 1715 when there was much pillaging from the Austrian forces.

During this period, 1n 1705, the brewery passed to a widow by the name of Wältl. However, by 1710 she went bankrupt and eventually was bought out by Georg Floetzinger who gave his name to the brewery that lasts to this day, even though it had many owners over the years following.

An important purchaser was Sebastian Zollne Jn in 1780 who invested in the brewery. Another major change occurred in 1804 when King Ludwig II passed the town from the court to the citizens and it became a city. It was then that the people saved the churches and the monasteries from dissolution during this period of secularisation.

In 1890 there were still eleven breweries in Rosenheim. In 1918 the Stockhammer brewery and pub succumbed to a takeover by Flötzinger and this was followed in 1920 when the Weissbierbrauerei Welckler was absorbed. In 1934 the Steegmüller family gained control and remain in charge of this private brewery to the present day.

It was a pleasant hot afternoon when I, along with fellow imbibers Patrick and Vaughan, passed over the threshold. We elected to drink in the biergarten and selected from an impressive range of five draught beers. In addition there were a large number of bottled beers from the brewery.

We were offered a choice of Hell (5.2%) (normal light beer), Dunkel (5.3%) (dark), Hefe Weissbier Hell (5.3%) (wheat beer), 1543 Weissbier Kellertrübes (5.5%) (unfiltered cellar-fermented natural wheat beer) and Pils (4.8%). Between us we had them all except the 1543 and the consensus of opinion was that they were all very good examples of their styles.

The biergarten is quite small and I took a look at the interior of the pub itself as almost all of the clientele were in the garden. I was impressed by the classic rooms that so typify the ancient pubs in this part of the world.

Important Information:

Flötzinger Bräustüberl, Samerstrasse 17, Rosenheim 83022

Open: Wednesday to Monday 10.00-24.00. Closed Tuesday.

The pub is about fifteen minutes walk from Rosenheim station which is well served by RB (Regional local), RE (Regional express), and EC (Euro-City) that operated towards Munich, Innsbruck and Salzburg.

Update January 2020. Hours are now: Monday: Closed; Tuesday-Sunday: 11.00-24.00.