Schneider Weisse

Everyone who has ever set foot in Bavaria knows the Munich-based Schneider Weisse. As the oldest wheat beer brewery in Bavaria, the Weisse Brauhaus is an institution in the German beer landscape and with numerous breweries, the Schneider Weisse is omnipresent in Bavaria's state capital and beyond.

An eventful story

The history of the Schneiders is closely interwoven with the history of wheat beer in Germany. In the seventeenth century, wheat beer was something very special: wheat beer is the drink of the nobility and the higher classes of society. Anyone who was self-respecting and wanted to at least emulate the standard of living of the rich and famous tried to get their hands on the much sought-after wheat beer. However, it wasn't that easy: to date, only one family in Bavaria had the right to brew wheat beer. However, that changed with Duke Maximilian I, who received the right to brew wheat beer through an inheritance. Of course, the prince did not wield the mash paddle himself. In view of the tempting sums that could be earned with wheat beer, he founded numerous wheat beer breweries instead. In 1872, the success of the bottom-fermented beer was so high that even large breweries such as the “Königlich Weisse Hofbräuhaus” considered no longer producing wheat beer, the wheat beer had temporarily passed its peak. Since Georg I. Schneider never lost faith in top-fermented wheat beer, he negotiated with the Bavarian Hofbräuamt and was ultimately the first commoner to be given the right to brew wheat beer. This marked the beginning of the era of the Schneider family.

Family ties

By coincidence, the disused “Zum Maderbräu” brewery in Munich was for sale at the same time. George I struck immediately and began brewing wheat beer again with his son. That was the birth of Schneider Weisse. One can only speak of luck that the brewery and its recipes remained in the family when father and son died in the same year. George III Schneider then took over the brewery at the age of 20 and demonstrated his sensitivity. The brewery had to struggle hard due to world wars and other setbacks. Due to inflation alone, the price of beer rose to an incredible high of 12,700,000 marks per liter. But the Schneiders managed to get the brewery and the family through the crisis. Today all crises have been overcome and 140 years after the brewery was founded in Munich, the next descendant, George VII, is already in the starting blocks to continue growing the brewery in the sixth generation. Today, when a beer no longer costs a whole million, we like to treat ourselves to one or two Schneider specialties. Special delicacies are the TAP X Nelson Sauvin or the Aventinus Vintage !