Hofbräuhaus Traunstein

The Hofbräuhaus Traunstein was founded in 1612 by Duke Maximilian I of Bavaria as a Weißes Bräuhaus — a white brewery specialising in wheat beer, a court-controlled product in Wittelsbach Bavaria. The building stands close to the Stadtplatz and has been brewing on this site for more than four centuries. It is a family-owned business, not the Munich tourist machine of the same dynasty, and considerably more serious about its beer.

The brewery produces a range that includes Helles, Dunkel, Festbock, and several wheat beer varieties. In 1975, all eight of its beers won gold medals from the German Agricultural Society simultaneously — a rare distinction. The brewery tap is a reliable place for lunch or an afternoon beer, with the unshowy atmosphere of a working Bavarian brewery serving its own town rather than performing for visitors.

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A story
During the great fire of 1851 that destroyed almost all of Traunstein, brewery workers saved the Hofbräuhaus by dousing the flames with beer. The building survived. In 1982, Hofbräuhaus Traunstein became the first brewery in the world to offer wheat beer on tap — a distinction the town does not advertise loudly enough.