Lindenau Brauhaus is a small historical communal brewery. It’s located in Lindenau, 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.
Lindenau Brauhaus
98663 Heldburg (Lindenau)
Coburg Station 22 km
Opening hours:
Not open to the general public outside of a biennial Fest
Output: 2 batches per year for their own consumption
History of Lindenau Brauhaus
The old brew house was built in 1866 and was refurbished in 1910. Villagers are allowed to brew under the direction of the brew master twice a year. With proper storage, the batches will last through the year. It’s a real museum piece brewery and it’s worth going out to the Braufest just to tour it. Our guide was also a cooper so he explained a bit about his making/maintaining of the wooden barrels used to lager the beer. Even with my basic German, I could follow along and found it interesting.
inside the fascinating Lindenau Brauhaus
Lindenau Brauhaus Brauhausfest
Lindenau Brauhaus holds the Brauhausfest only ever other year so timing is certainly key. 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. They generally have a real family affair atmosphere so feel free to bring the kids. Music is often part of the scene and this was no exception.
enjoying the friendly local atmosphere
Lindenau Brauhaus beer
After the tour and all the talk of wooden barrels, we were a bit disappointed to find the beer coming from a regular tap. I’d left the tour a bit earlier to take photos outside before the rain descended and found the beer to certainly have a pleasant woody quality. On finding out, my friend rushed back in for an explanation. As it turns out, they store the beer in the barrels to impart the flavor but transfer it to kegs for ease of serving. It was nonetheless low carbonation and as a top fermented beer, quite different than what you find in most of Franconia.
Lindenau Brauhaus Hausbrauerbier
Lindenau Brauhausfest food
A fest would be pretty lackluster without food. Unsurprisingly, they had tasty Bratwurst typical of Thuringia which are tough to beat. My friend enjoyed his Wildschweingulasch, and I imagine it was quite good. There was a big assortment of cakes and I couldn’t resist having a piece as always a great value.
tasty food at Lindenau Brauhaus Brauhausefest
It was a brief but great visit to the Lindenau Brauhaus Brauhausefest and I hope I’m lucky enough to do it again in two years.
Beers on tap: Lindenau Brauhaus Hausbrauerbier.
Similar communal brewery experiences in Thuringia can be found in Hildburghausen county.
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