This Friday is World Beer Day and the district of Ebersberg in particular has a long brewing tradition: just last year, thanks to a newly discovered document from 1060, the Grafinger brewery Wildbräu was not only the oldest brewery in the district but also the third oldest in all of Bavaria. A call to brewery boss Gregor Schlederer.
SZ: Mr Schlederer, how do you celebrate World Beer Day at Wildbräu?
Gregor Schlederer: We at the brewery don’t do anything special about it, it’s being celebrated everywhere at the moment anyway, it’s the folk festival season. The day of the Bavarian beer is more important to us, which we celebrated in April with our brewery festival.
Speaking of Bavarian beer, an online survey has just revealed that Kölsch is the most popular type of beer. Will there be a Wildbräu-Kölsch soon?
That will probably be difficult (laughs). We’re in Upper Bavaria, so that probably doesn’t go over so well here. In addition, Kölsch is a protected geographical term, I think there have even been scandals about beers from the wrong place. So if we wanted to brew one, we would probably have to do it in Cologne.
What are the most popular types of beer in the district of Ebersberg, what is particularly popular with Wildbräu?
With us it’s more the classics, i.e. mainly the light ones. That always goes well. Now in summer, when it gets very hot, cyclists are also in high demand.
According to surveys, completely non-alcoholic beer is also becoming increasingly popular. Do you also notice this trend?
We also have non-alcoholic beer in our range and that sells, too. Nevertheless, it is a bit difficult for us as a small brewery. The production is more complex because you first brew a beer and then remove the alcohol from it again. And that’s not exactly an affair of the heart for me and our master brewer.