Hellingen Brauhaus is a small historical communal brewery. It’s located in Hellingen, a quaint village nestled in the largely rural Hildburghausen county of Thuringia. It’s also part of the municipality of Heldburg, which is rich in communal breweries. Across the border from Lower Franconia and part of the Fränkischer Reichskreis, it’s included here even if many locals may not particularly agree.
lovely Hellingen
Hellingen Brauhaus
98663 Heldburg (Hellingen)
Coburg Station 28 km
Opening hours:
Not open to the general public outside of their Whit Sunday Fest
Output: ?
History of Hellingen Brauhaus
The brew house sits on the Helling River, where beer has been brewed since 1716 when brewing rights were bestowed by the Duke of Hildburghausen. The current building was built onsite in 1870 and was refurbished with a new brewing kettle in 1918. The cool ship dates back to 1962 along with some major exterior upgrades in the late 1980s. The old bakery is just up the road and is prominently featured at the Braufhausfest, illustrating the strong link between the two endeavors throughout history.
Hellingen Brauhausfest on the Helling River
Hellingen Brauhaus Brauhausfest
Hellingen Brauhaus holds the Brauhausfest on Whit Sunday and occasionally on added dates if there’s beer still available. It’s a word of mouth kind of thing so I was happy when a good friend who’s also a member of a communal brewery invited me along. These are small village affairs but they are well-organized. Along with the expected beer, there’s always good food on hand. The Steaksemmel was excellent. I had already eaten something at the Lindenau Brauhausfest so wasn’t really hungry enough to sample anything from the bakery. I’ll save some of my appetite for that next time.
Hellingen Brauhaus beer
The Hellingen Brauhaus Hausbier was a lovely hop forward supremely dry session beer which didn’t look so great in the glass mug but the Steinkrug was gorgeous. Unfortunately, you had to buy the Krug to use it so took a picture of my friend’s.
It was a brief but great visit to the Hellingen Brauhaus Brauhausefest and I hope I’m lucky enough to do it again next Whit Sunday.
Beers on tap: Hellingen Brauhaus Hausbier.
Similar communal brewery experiences in Thuringia can be found in Hildburghausen county.
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