Even though I am not a beer drinker, I made a brewery tour during my last stay in the Salzburg region. One of the key brewers of the Austrian border town is Stiegl, who are truly rich in tradition: the company has been founded in 1492. Here is my review of Stiegl-Brauwelt Salzburg (literally: “Stiegl Brewing World Salzburg”), which is a brewing museum with a factory tour touch.
Stiegl-Brauwelt – Location & Admission
The Stiegl-Brauwelt is located in the Maxglan borough, you find it in the middle between Salzburg Airport and the historic part of the city. The closest bus station to the museum and factory is Richard-Knoller-Straße (Bus line 27). There are sufficient visitor parking lots on the Stiegl grounds.
The museum opens from 10:00 to 17:30 hrs daily. In summer months (May to September), the museum closes at 19:00 hrs. You may enter up to one hour before closing time – but to have a relaxed time, I would rather recommend 90 minutes. Adult admission is 12.90 EUR, you can also have a beer tasting included for 18.90 EUR. The museum is free if you have the touristic Salzburg Card, the tasting supplement is 3.50 EUR here. The museum is also open to younger people – beer tasting is of course not possible for this age group. There are guided tours as well. The restaurants (see blow) close at 22:00 hrs, with the kitchen operating for warm dishes until 20:30 hrs.
Stiegl-Brauwelt – The Museum Tour
You start your tour heading downstairs from the gift shop. The museum tour is split into different stages. The first one is a 180 degrees movie, which introduces you to beer making and gives you a slight touch of the tradition of the company. Typically, these things tend to come with a strong touch of marketing – but this one was really well done. I just take the Windows error message popping up during the show as small Easter egg to raise the people’s attention.
How Beer Is Made
The second section of the museum is about how beer is made. You may use an audio guide, but the signs are in German and English, so that you likely get around if you are able to consume my reviews. The first part is about the ingredients. Of course, the focus is about how Stiegl beer is brewed – but they for example also explain the difference between their products and the beer which is popular in my home town Cologne, Kölsch.
After being introduced to the ingredients, you are introduced to the process and manufacturing process as well as the sub-products. As Stiegl-Brauwelt shows real (typically historic) facilities, this part is also very illustrative and easy to understand.
Some Marketing, of course…
So far, you could call this place rather a beer museum, which is doing a good job explaining people how beer is made. Of course, this place wants to introduce you to the story of the company – which is rather the second part of your visit. The first part focuses on the development of the Stiegl brand. Very soon, the museum shows a lot about how and where the company is supporting the community. There are exhibitions about sports and cultural sponsoring for example. Two kinds of sports featured and supported by Stieg are soccer and ski jumping. It also shows some interesting memorabilia like airplane models made out of beer cans.
A virtual tour to Wildshut, a traditional beer manor driven by the franchise in a village close to Salzach River, North of Salzburg. This is somehow also the introduction to the history of the company. There are even some historic documents, but even though that area is not too comprehensive, the touchscreen displays and the showcases give quite some background about the company, including some information about the likely most unfortunate event, a fire in the main processing site in 1887.
Stiegl-Brauwelt – Shop
One reason why I definitely would recommend to take sufficient time for your visit is the souvenir shop. I typically pass these merchandise areas fairly quickly – but this one is really widespread and worth some minutes. You likely would expect some brewed ones (of course, also chilled if you feel the urge for some sips). But the range of additional merchandise from shoes, shirts, beer mugs to model cars is really amazing and somehow illustrates the power of the brand.
Stiegl-Brauwelt – Services / Food
The Stiegl-Brauwelt area has a lovely beer garden in its inner courtyard, but laso a couple of other cozy places to have a beer and add some bites to it. Some of the rooms are also available for rent.
Stiegl-Brauwelt – My View
To me, Stiegl-Brauwelt is perfect marketing: even though the price is rather average, you get a really good value for money. The museum tour is very detailed and beautifully illustrated. It gives you a friendly and good feeling about the company. As said, I don’t drink beer – but I really loved to be at this place and was really tempted to buy some merchandise. Go for the beer crackers if you don’t get them for free anyway… Lovely stuff. And if you have time to grab a bite there – it is definitely not a bad option. Cheers to this Top Pick!
Factory Tours
Here are all my postings about all kinds of Factory Tours:
Flyctory in Salzburg & Berchtesgadener Land
All my postings related to the German – Austrian region of Salzburg & Berchtesgadener Land: