Monday 14th April 2014

Bob Thompson

This pub-brewery has been around for twenty years but it is housed in a building that is much older. It is believed to date from 1620 and the current management maintain that it has been a brewery in its past. I could not find any evidence of this but it would not surprise me as it is in the heart of the Altstadt (Old Town) and in the middle of the 19th century there were many practising the trade.

Its modern history began in 1994 when it was opened by the Joh. Albrecht company of Dortmund, who make small and medium sized breweries. In the first half of the 1990s they opened a number of pubs around the country to promote their products. These are to found at Soltau, Bielefeld, Konstanz, Düsseldorf and Hamburg. The last two are featured in BeerVisits.

However, this is an Albrecht pub no longer as it is owned by a local firm who also operate the Regensburger Hof Stadt Hotel and Regensburger Ratskeller restaurant in the cellars of the town hall. Weissbräuhaus presumably supplies these up-market locations with beer. The change from the previous regime took place in 2008 when it was renamed as present.

I think it is important to emphasise that despite the name it does not exclusively brew wheat beer, which is lucky for me as I am not a great adherent of that style; although I appreciate there are many that are.

If you really want to get up close to the beer’s creation the brewing process brewing is done every Tuesday. Brewer Helmut Weber will talk you through the process. He previously worked at the respected Brauerei Jacob in the small town of Bodenwöhr. The pub sells bottled beers from this brewery.

I must say that the pub is extremely attractive, as I have found all the Joh. Albrecht outlets to be; they have spent a lot of money to get it right.

On entering I noticed the burnished copper brewery immediately; it extends up and through the upper floor. There were a number of high tables near the front door and that’s where I settled.

I noticed that there is a terrace of tables out on the street. There was a violent hail storm when I arrived so they were devoid of drinkers. The pub is quite expansive and I noticed there was a lot of seating space beyond the bar / service area which had a few stools at each end. I also went upstairs, because that was where the facilities are, and was surprised how much more room there was.

There’s a lot of wood is used in the furniture and on the upper level walls there is light coloured panelling to mid-height. The walls are directly painted upon with a lot of illustrations of brewing and sayings connected with it. Additionally there some more peculiar paintings and phrases; even including the ceilings. There are garlands of hop bines decorating the bar area.

There are four draught beers available: Weissbier Hell and Weissbier Dunkel (Light and Dark Wheat beers), also Altbayerisch Hell and Altbayerisch Dunkel (Old Bavarian Light and Dark). The latter two are in the usual local style. They are served from polished copper tanks on the bar and the fact that there are just four of them indicates to me that they do not brew seasonal beers or specials, a pity because I had the two lagerbiers and they were both good.

We don’t normally dwell much on food but it should be mentioned that the owning company has their own farm, slaughterhouse and butcher. The signature dishes are their sausages and they serve Weisswürst (White Sausage in the Munich style), Pfalzer (Beef) and Bratwürst (Nürnberg style). The two beers I had were very good so I recommend this pub to anyone visiting this beautiful city.

Important Information:

Regensburger Weissbräuhaus, Schwarze-Bären-Strasse 6, 93047 Regensburg
Tel: 0941 51055

Open: Monday-Sunday 10.00-01.00

The pub is in the middle of the old town and the only bus is the Altstadtbus (route A) which is free and uses many pedestrian-only streets. It starts at the big shopping complex on the opposite of the station and then stops in front of the station before doing a circuit of the Altstadt before returning to whence it started.

It is around 10 minutes walk from the station. Regensburg is served by many trains of different sorts from all over Germany. It is an important junction on the Frankfurt/Nürnberg to Vienna (Austria) main line where it intersects the Munich to Prague/Dresden route.