Haller Str. 29
74564 Crailsheim
Tel: +49 7951 91930
www.engelbier.de
Crailsheim Station 500m
Opening hours:
Monday to Friday 7:30 to 17:00
Closed weekends
Output: 70000 HL
Founded in 1738 as Zum Goldenen Engel and in the Fach family since 1877, this relatively big regional brewery produces a large range of beers with around 60% of it sold in draft form. There were some 13 breweries serving 4000 residents when the Fachs took over and they thrived through innovation, utilizing steam operated machinery by 1903 and replacing horse-drawn carriages with automobiles in 1920.
images from Engel, past & present
The brewery, along with most of the town, was destroyed during WWII but the Fach family has rebuilt it to become one of the most celebrated breweries in the region, winning numerous awards. Their website offers notes on their beers, along with food pairings, and is available in English. Oddly, they use screw-cap bottles and I must say it deterred me from buying any at the local shops. While I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with such caps, I find they look cheap and don’t seem to fit with the image the brewery is trying to present. That said, if I see their seasonal beers, I’d buy them just the same and are certainly easy to transport if spillage is a factor. For this reason, the tasting notes below are from draft versions I sampled at their Keller.
They appear to offer tours and tasting seminars but contact them in advance to ensure their being available. I did not notice a shop but the beers are readily available in stores in town.
Their next door restaurant “Brauereigasthof Engel-Keller,” offers both regional German and Greek dishes and has a large range of their beers on tap. This is where I sampled the beers reviewed.
Beers: Engel Gold, Engel Hell, Engel Kellerbier, Engel Premium Pils, Engel Hefeweizen, Engel Kellerbier Dunkel, Engel Aloisius Märzen, Engel Bock Hell, Engel Bock Dunkel, Engel Hefeweizen Dunkel, Engel Dunkel, Engel Kellerbock. The also have a range of alcohol free beers, Radler mixed beers and organic beers in bottles.
Beer calendar:
Engel Maibock in spring
Engel Volksfestbier during their autumn Fest
Engel Weihnachtsfestbier for the Christmas season
Back to Crailsheim.