Tuesday 14th August 2012

Bob Thompson

Traunstein is a well preserved hill-top town in the very south of Bavaria that possesses three traditional breweries.

The Alps dominate the southern skyline and the nearest city is Salzburg in Austria, less than thirty minutes journey by train.

At the edge of the central area is St-Oswald-Strasse where, about a hundred metres along, you will find the brewery tap called Brauhaus. The brewery is located behind and in its promotions calls itself "Traunstein's smallest brewery".

The general perception in Germany of breweries is that small is beautiful, so this statement isn't so strange.

As this was a very hot day the biergarten in front of the brewery was very popular, but I headed to the building to take a good look inside.

I must say that this is a very good-looking pub, and popular too. They offered a lunchtime buffet and there always seemed to be a queue. The clientele was very wide ranging, from families to office staff and also workers in boiler suits.

Like a lot of Bavarian breweries this one has a lot of history. It was established in 1587 by Hans Wochinger in the town of Vilshofen. In 1892 descendent Jakob Wochinger purchased the Scheicher brewery in Traunstein.

At the same time brother Fritz took change of a brewery in Rottalmünster. Finally the family built a new brewery in St-Oswald-Strasse, Traunstein.

The Bräustüberl (brewery tap) opened in 1971, which is where I was now. Wheat beer was introduced in 1995 and a new bottling plant was installed in 2002.

As can be seen the brewery celebrates its 425th birthday in 2012 and there were festivities between 14th and 16th September that year, shortly after my visit.

Five draught beers are produced year round. These are Export Hell (a light mild, slightly cloudy, so unfiltered, lager beer with a bitter aftertaste) (5.3%), Urtrunk (an unfiltered cloudy Zwickel bier) (5.3%), Export Dunkel (Dark) (4.9%), Hefe-Weisse (wheat) (5.1%) and Pils (a classic pils in the dry German style) (4.9%).

All are available in the Brauhaus and, although not served directly from the cask, nevertheless only contained the natural gasses produced in the maturation process.

Important Information:

Wochinger Brauhaus, St-Oswald-Strasse, Traunstein, 83278.

Open: Summer (May to September): Daily 10.00-24.00;
Winter (October to April): Tuesday to Sunday 10.00-24.00.

The brewery is about 12 to 15 minutes walk from Traunstein station which is served by RB (regional trains), RE (Regional Express) and EC (Euro-City international trains).