Maisel's Brewery and Cooperage Museum

The Maisel family has been brewing beer in Bayreuth since 1887, and their brewery complex on Kulmbacher Strasse includes one of the most interesting brewery museums in Bavaria. The centrepiece is the cooperage — the barrel-making workshop — preserved intact from when it closed in 1979, with all the tools, machinery, and barrels still in place. It offers a rare look at a craft that has almost entirely disappeared.

Tours of the brewery include the cooperage, the historic cellars, and the modern production facilities, finishing with a tasting of Maisel's range of wheat beers. The on-site bierhaus serves food and the full beer range; it's a pleasant stop even if you skip the tour. Bayreuth is in the heart of Franconian brewing country — the highest density of breweries per capita in the world — and Maisel is a good introduction to the local tradition.

things to do museum
A story
When Maisel's Weisse wheat beer was launched in 1955, wheat beer was an endangered style — almost nobody brewed it. The Maisel family helped revive it, and today Maisel's is one of the most recognised wheat beer brands in Germany. The brewery's cooperage, closed in 1979, was preserved exactly as it stood, becoming one of the last intact examples of traditional barrel-making in Bavaria.

Other places in Things to Do