Having just been in Munich for brewing school, I felt obligated to elaborate on one of Charlie Papazian's blogs. There is a similar situation of consolidation of the bigger breweries in Germany as has happened in the U.S. While some have fallen in to this, some have held out and remained private.
Examples of breweries that have fallen in to the hands of large corporations are Spaten and Lowenbrau. I thought these were two separate breweries, but you can actually walk between the two buildings in Munich and a bridge connects them in to what is now Spaten-Lowenbrau Group. That's not all, this is owned by the brewing giant Anheuser-Busch-Inbev.
However, there are some holdouts in the German brewing world. My two favorites are Augustiner and Flotzinger.
If you have ever been to Munich, you will find that the locals do not usually prefer Hofbrau, Paulaner or Spaten. They flock to the Augustiner Keller, Brauhaus or Hirschgarten, which are Augustiner Brau's major venues to drink the liquid gold. Augustiner is actually owned by a foundation, "The brewery was bought in 1829 by Anton Wagner. Today, 50% of the brewery is in possession of a foundation for public utility, established by will of the last descendant of the Wagner family. The other 50% is held by various limited partners."
My other favorite is Flotzinger Brau in Rosenhiem, which is about 30 minutes south of downtown Munich. One of my professors, Dr. Michael Zepf, is the brewmaster at Flotzinger and gave us a great tour of the brewery, followed by a wonderful dinner prepared by his wife. It is still privatly owned and they make great beer, evidenced by his gold medals at the World Beer Cup. And, if you want a more authentic German beer fest experience than Oktoberfest, head down to the festival in Rosenhiem for the two weeks just before the big one. Apparantly many tables are broken, which means its a good time.
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