Fürstenberg Brauerei

Last Wednesday was our last excursion with Silkee, our PPP Tutor here in Radolfzell. Silkee studied at Amherst and is one of our most valued resources here in Radolfzell. We took the Bahn to Donaueschingen, just 40 minutes away from Radolfzell. We were all really excited to go to the Brewery. In fact, Fürstenberg is one of the most well known breweries of the world, and they sell their beer all over the world. It was amazing to see the headquarters in a town of just 15,000 people.

Donaueschingen sits at the foot of the black forest on the way towards Freiburg. There is not much in the area in terms of industry and large cities. Luckily the weather was perfect and just a short walk from the train station was the Fürstenberg Château.

There we met with our Brewery Tour Guide, who then quickly showed us the Brewery from inside. The tour was quite short, but all German beer follows a strict law that was introduce by the King of Bavaria in 1516 called the "German Beer Purity Law". It states that beer can only have 4 ingredients: Wheat, Hops, Barley and Water. Other than that, the liquid doesn't qualify as beer according to the German standards. Funny too, because in my Economics 430 course with Prof. Jim Adams we discussed the Germany Purity Laws dating back to 1516 and how they play within the bounds of the present day European Union and its trade laws between member states like Heineken of Holland.

The brewery uses modern technology, and most of it was closed off to us. However, we did get to see the old technology that was used and copper vats of wheat and barley. It was very interesting to see. The smell of the factory smelled like a college party gone wrong, but impressively, the factory was very clean. We saw the bottling room as well. In fact, in Germany because of its strict recycling rules, most of the bottles are reused and sterilized and then reused. I find that very impressive.

At the end of the tour, there was of course a tasting, and beneath the factory in some cellar ceremony hall, we were served our choice of Fürstenberger Beer. We had the choice of Pils, Hefeweizen, Dunkelweizen, Export and of course a Diesel, Radler and alcohol free with lemongrass. We were also fresh buttered pretzels. After an hour of sitting there, we had to scramble back to the train station and make the train, or else we'd be stuck in Donaueschingen for another two hours.

Back in Radolfzell, most of the PPPlers went out with Silkee to the "Tankstelle" we we ate dinner and had drinks. Amazingly, despite being the end of September, the weather here has been excellent. Chilly in the mornings yet very warm and sunny by mid-day.