Neumarkt (Oberpfalz), Bayern (Bavaria):
Neumarkter Bräustüberl (Brauerei Glossner)
Tuesday 25th May 2010
Bob Thompson
The buildings of the Glossner brewery look absolutely beautiful from the little square in front.
The Bräustüberl is the tap alongside the Glossner brewery. You enter through a porch that is made out of a former copper.
A portion of the brewery adjoins and there is a functional yard at the back that separates some of buildings and extends along to the brew house.
The whole area is surrounded by the ancient town walls and some of the brewery is actually built into it.
The first mention of the Glossner name in connection with brewing and pubs comes in 1574.
Brewing for the next 300 years in the town was mostly done on a Commune brewery (Kommunbrauerei).
Some of these still exist in Northern Bavaria; they are owned by the community and individual pubs use it to brew their beers.
In 1902 Franz Xavier Glossner purchased the last two of these left in the town. The Upper brewery was established in 1527 and the Lower in 1537.
By 1913 he had purchased a brewery called Lammsfriedl on the present site and this he modernised.
On 19th and 29th April 1945 there were massive air raids on the town and all of the breweries and a lot of the pubs were destroyed.
Initial reconstruction was completed in 1951 and the modern era commenced in 1967 when a brand new brew house was opened.
Property around the brewery was purchased and consolidated into the site.
Another major development was in 1985 when a new well was sunk. The quality of the water is so good that the state, after analysis, has certified it as genuine mineral water and is marketed as such. There is also an interesting Museum of brewing on site.
Nowadays the brewery produces eighteen different beers under their own name.
In 1997 they took over Brauhaus Altstadt and this is now closed, yet the name lives on as another four organic beers are produced under the Altstadter name.
Apart from the mineral water mentioned earlier, the company produces 30 different varieties of soft drinks. Around 50,000 hl of this are made each year.
The per annum production of beer is 40,000 hl. If that is not all, there is a schnapps and brandy distillery on site.
As befitting the month in which I visited, there was a huge maypole outside, and a tree in blossom, see the photos.
The major part of the Bräustüberl is downstairs and is more of a restaurant. I walked up some stairs to a wonderfully traditional bar, again see photograph.
On tap were Torschmied's Dunkel (4.9%), Original Neumarkter Gold (5.0%), Hopfgarten Edel-Pils (4.8%) and Hefe-Weiss (5.5%).
I started with the Gold, which is the main light beer and I thought it was very good with more bitterness than you usually get.
I also had the Pils, which was very dry in the German style. They were both really well crafted beers.
I recommend this pub without hesitation and it is well worth the journey from Nürnberg.
Important Information:
Neumarkter Bräustüberl (Brauerei Glossner), Schwerterhausgasse 9, Neumarkt 92318
Tel: 09181 22145
Open: Monday and Wednesday to Saturday 09.30-19.00; Tuesday 09.30-23.00.
Sunday: Closed.
The brewery is about fifteen minutes walking from Neustadt railway station and you go past the Gans brewery on the way! The station is served by S-Bahn local trains from Nürnberg and Regional Express trains running between Nürnberg and Regensburg.
Update January 2020. Hours are now: Monday: Closed; Tuesday: Open by arrangement;
Wednesday-Thursday: 16.00-23.00; Friday: 12.00-23.00; Saturday-Sunday: 09.00-23.00.