“Organic” has long since established itself as a buzzword, is often preached in the same breath as “sustainable” and “regional” and comforts the consumer’s conscience even without a tangible seal. All the more edifying are establishments like Haderner Bräu, the first certified organic brewery in Munich. In 2016, the small brewery of the Girg family moved to Großhaderner Straße, seven years later and only 600 meters away, it is now celebrating its opening again this weekend.
The historic Stürzerhof, one of the oldest farms in Hadern and the birthplace of the brewery founder Joseph Pschorr, serves as the new location. The farm was, so to speak, inherited its fate, as Minister of Justice Georg Eisenreich (CSU) noted in his speech at the opening ceremony on Thursday. As a resident of Hadern, he has known the Stürzerhof for a long time, and the previous speaker, the second mayor Katrin habenschaden (Greens), also followed the three-year renovation.
In their speeches, both attribute a role model function to the Haderner Bräu as an organic pioneer. The success of the Girgs was commented on by Habenschaden with the rhetorical question: “Yes, if things continue like this, where will we see each other then?!” Cheerful Johlen, the spokesman for the Wiesn hosts, Christian Schottenhamel, doesn’t change a face. One of many allusions to the upcoming Oktoberfest, at which not a single organic beer is represented.
However, there is not too much selection of organic breweries in Bavaria, says Thomas Lang, first chairman of the state association for organic farming in Bavaria. He speaks of 13.5 percent organic cultivation area, other federal states are already further there. Organic hops are particularly well represented in Franconia. The Girg family gets their hops for their beer from there. In addition, Lang can only think of Germeringer and Riedenburger as other Bavarian organic beers.
The fact that there is room for improvement when it comes to organic farming hardly sounds among the political celebrities. She prefers to use her speaking time for an exchange of blows. Habenschaden describes the German Purity Law as a “successful ban policy” well before the founding of the Greens, while Eisenreich countered by differentiating between ban and law. And Markus Söder (CSU), who sends a greeting via video instead of tapping the first barrel of Haderner as announced, waves the fence post; his sample package Haderner has probably not arrived yet.
However, the couple Thomas and Marta Girg have “better things to do” this weekend – to put it in the words of virologist Christian Drosten. After the official tapping of the beer on Thursday, the celebrations continue from Friday to Sunday, with tours of the brewery and farm shop, live music, a craft market, a children’s program and a morning pint on Sunday. The trained beer sommelier and the trained wine sommelier have now completely dedicated themselves to their Haderner Bräu and are present at the farm full-time.
Together with master brewer Johannes Rachel, Thomas Girg decides on the taste of the five Haderner standard varieties: light beer, wheat beer, dark beer, non-alcoholic cellar beer and Indian Pale Ale. There are also seasonal beers such as Märzen, Bock beer or the current festival beer – all unfiltered and naturally cloudy. Girg is particularly happy about the new brewery and the large malt silo. “It’s a completely different order of magnitude than before,” he says. He used to brew about 3000 hectoliters a year, with the new system up to 6000 hectoliters are possible depending on the increase.
Meanwhile, his wife Marta proudly presents the new taproom with a view of the brewing kettles and next door the farm shop with regional organic products, including honey, cheese, wine, flour and of course Hadern beer, which you can even bottle yourself. In the past, the Girgs would have bought these products for themselves from friendly farms anyway when they delivered their beer. That hasn’t changed, says Marta Girg. Only now they would take a little more with them for their own farm shop.