The Augustiner Bräu Kloster Mülln is a brewery located in the city of Salzburg, in the Mülln district. The attached Müllner Bräustübl is the largest Austrian brewery. The entire building complex, the former Augustinian monastery, is a historic building.
Augustiner Bräu Kloster Mülln History
From 1465 to after 1525 the Collegiate of the Augustinian monks had its seat, which also took care of the parish of Mülln. The monastery was orphaned and Prince Archbishop Burkhard II von Weißpriach established Augustinian hermits from Munich who took over the estate in 1605 and expanded it from 1607 to 1614. After the mother house of Munich, it was the second largest Augustinian monastery in the Bavarian region.
The brewery was founded in 1621. The monks initially sold their beer at the monastery door, later in specially purchased inns. Until 1818 this monastery was in the hands of the Augustinians (extinction of the Augustinians in Salzburg), then after a period in which it was used as a barracks in 1835 under Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria and then it was passed into the hands of the Benedictines of Michelebeuern.
The still existing brewery was built in 1912. In 1949, the Benedictines acquired the nearby historic inn Krimpelstätter in addition to the existing inns. In addition, a carpentry shop was produced that produced barrels, so that production could take place independently throughout.
In 1939 the brewery was sold. 50% of the company passed to Heinrich Kiener and Alois Fuchs from the Forst brewery in Merano. In 1940, however, the brewery was closed and production stopped in 1944. After the Second World War, the sale of beer resumed. However, as investments were needed due to the damage caused by the war, a new company was founded.
The brewery now operates today under the name Augustiner Brauerei Kloster Mülln OG and is 50 percent owned by the Benedictine abbey Michaelbeuern, 25 percent each by Maria Gabriella Barth, daughter of Fuchs, and Heinrich Dieter Kiener of the Stiegl brewery in Salzburg. The managing director is the abbot emeritus of Michaelbeuern, prelate Nikolaus Wagner OSB.
The brewery includes the vast Müllner Bräustübl with a large garden, which is considered to be the largest Austrian beer restaurant (5000 m² of usable space, around 1,400 seats in the garden). The interior includes three rooms with wooden panels, a large bar and a sales area for culinary delicacies. The largest room is the Stockhammer Hall, which at the time of its construction was equipped with a reinforced concrete ceiling using the latest technologies. The said paintings are remarkable. The bar uses only wooden barrels and allows them to run out of artificial carbon dioxide without gravity. Guests can bring their own snack; but also sausages, cheeses, salads, fish and sour bread and the spirit of the times also offer various trendy dishes at stands and kiosks.
Brewery tours are also offered, where six 16-week beer brewing stations are shown: brewery, cooling vessel, fermentation cellar with open fermentation tanks, storage, filter and barrel cellar.
The Augustiner brewery still uses wooden barrels and in the Bräustübl beer is served in stone jugs. Annual beer production is over 12,000 hectoliters (early 2017). Depending on the season, quick beer and Christmas beer and Märzen beer are served all year round.