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Upper Franconia is the region with the highest brewery concentration in the world. In Münchberg there were four breweries in the 19th century. But in the meantime, they have all closed. Complete building parts from the previous Nützel Brewery still exist on Bismarckstraße, however (see photo, right, of Nützel Brewery). If you look through the high windows, (photo above right) you can even still see the brewery boiler; it was bought from the former municipal brewery.

Nützel-Bräu (Engl. Nützel Brewery) (Pöhlmann and Nützel families)

The origins of the Nützel-Bräu go back to the year 1772. In 1802 master baker and beer brewer Johann Andreas Pöhlmann from Untersteinach bought the estate of Johann Christian Fickenscher at Ludwigstraße 6. That’s why this year was later promoted as the year of foundation. Only in the 20th century they called themselves Nützel-Bräu, since Christian Nützel came from Guttenberg in 1891 and married the widow Mathilde Pöhlmann. Nützel first brewed in the municipal brewery and later built the existing brewery building in 1926/27. The last brew was brewed on April 27, 1991, but the brewhouse with its high windows still eexits on Bismarckstraße. Across the way was the malt house and below, on the other side of Ludwig-Zapf-Straße was the brewery tavern (German: Bräustübl).

Bären-Bräu (Engl. Bears Brewery) (Pöhlmann family)

The Bären-Bräu was founded in 1834 by Heinrich Pöhlmann under his name. In this year his parents transferred the parental (Nützel) brewery on Ludwigstraße 6 to his brother Karl. Heinrich Pöhlmann brewed his own beer in his brother Karl’s brewery until 1850, because it was then forbidden by law for him to brew with his relatives. From then on he had a choice only between brewing in his own house or in the municipal brewery; from 1864 it was brewed in the Five's Brewery. In 1901 the Bären-Bräu built a new building at Stammbacher Straße 24 (picture) and closed finally in 1971, after it was taken by Munich Löwenbräu in the previous year.

Mönchsbräu (Engl. Monk's Brewery) (Holper and Langheinrich families)

In 1840 Friedrich Holper founded the Mönchsbräu under his name. In 1890 the brewery building was built under the name “Holper and Langheinrich, Mönchsbräu” on Zelchstraße. In the late 1920’s the building was torn down. In 1931 the Mönchsbräu was finally taken over by the brewery Aktienbrauerei Helmbrechts. The picture shows the the company buildings at Zelchstraße and below the "Special Tavern" on the corner of Bahnhofstraße and Bismarckstraße (left) and the Bayerischer Hof on Klosterplatz (right).

Bischoff-Bräu (Engl. Bishop Brewery) (Meister family)

Georg Meister founded the Bischoff-Bräu in 1868, which was canceled in 1992/93. In 1997 with the demolition of the buildings at Luitpoldstraße the business was discontinued and the end of the brewing process in Münchberg was sealed. In 1991 they tore down their ice cellar, a brick building in the Kreuzberg Ravine. However, it's steps are still exisiting in the lower area of the ravine.

Breweries in Münchberg – Overview of building locations:

If you click on the appropriate brewery names an enlarged view of the respective brewery locations opens in a new browser window. The newly opened browser window can be closed after it is viewed.

Data of the beer town of Münchberg

In 1791 Philipp of Weitershausen wrote: The brewery citizenship distributes more than 6,000 buckets of beer annually (equivalent to 5,326 hectoliters. 1 bucket = 89.2 liters) 30 percent of them were of poor quality.
In 1793 there were one public and two private breweries in Münchberg, along with 31 municipal malt houses. There were two brewmasters and four assistants active in brewing. In the town of Münchberg three innkeepers and four “tapsters” distributed beer.
In 1909 the Bischoff-Bräu sold 11,911 hectoliters of beer out of town, 4,699 of them in Saxony. In the same year the Mönchsbräu sold 12,490 hectoliters out of town, 7,305 of them outside of Bavaria, many of them by refrigerated wagons on the railroad.

More on the subject of beer town Münchberg can be found in Band 11 zur Stadtgeschichte „Die vornehmste städtische Nahrung“ (engl. volume 11 of the city history “The Principal Urban Food”) and in the brochure „Bierparadies Oberfranken“ (engl. “Beer Paradise Upper Franconia”) by Uwe Meyer, who also displays numerous collectibles in his private beer museum in Walpenreuth near Zell. A few exhibits from the Münchberg beer past can also be seen displayed in a show window on the left at the beginning of Lindenstraße (pedestrian zone), which one passes shortly after the H30 Old Post House.