Brothers are a great thing: with brothers you can steal horses, you can play a game of football or fight with them, you can measure yourself against them and you have an outlet for excess energy. And even in adulthood, brothers are quite practical because you always have someone at your side that you can rely on completely. There are three brothers in the Digwa family and they work together.
The adventure began with Christoph and Stephan Digwa. The two of them made their first attempts at brewing more than ten years ago. At that time they didn't have their own brewery, so they had to make do with their grandma's preserving pot. The first brews were made in the laundry room and the duo was hooked. After two years, the brothers had gained enough experience and recipes to take the plunge into commercial brewing. They chose the Rethmar estate as the location for their first brewery. Because Stephan is a trained brewing engineer, they were able to put together and set up the entire system themselves. In this way, they got to know their brewing system down to the smallest detail and were able to handle its peculiarities wonderfully right from the start. While the brewhouse was still being set up, the brothers were already networking and landing valuable orders that catapulted them onto the beer market with immediate effect. Brewing could begin and the third brother also joined the business!
The unusual name of the estate brewery dates back to the Middle Ages. At that time, the region's citizens and farmers fought for their rights. One of the freedoms fought for was the right to brew tax-free. In the Great Outdoors, the area between Hanover, Hildesheim and Peine, people were allowed to brew without having to pay taxes. Unfortunately, today the brewery still has to pay taxes on its goods, but the name remained. Das Freie still swears by traditional craftsmanship and carries out every step itself, from the selection of regional raw materials to bottling. The team knows all the suppliers and only uses the highest quality ingredients for their beer. In order to get the most out of the fruits of their homeland, every component is used according to the ecological cycle principle: After the brewing process, the spent grains serve as food for the farm's lambs and are used for fertilization, and the yeast is used in the kitchen. With care, dedication and sustainability, the brewery has created a wide range of special brews and is now an integral part of the German beer market.
Gutshof Rethmar Betriebsgesellschaft mbH
Gutsstraße 16
31319 Sehnde
Deutschland 
