Unions-Bräu Haidhausen

Unions-Bräu HaidhausenUnions-Bräu Haidhausen
Unions-Bräu HaidhausenUnions-Bräu Haidhausen
Brewery, Bar, Eatery

Einsteinstrasse 42
München, 81675
Germany

// CLOSED //
BEER STATS
Average:
4.21
Beers:
3
Ratings:
0
PLACE STATS
Average:
3.94
Reviews:
7
Ratings:
7
pDev:
10.66%
View: Beers | Place Reviews
Recent ratings and reviews.
Ratings by seanyfo:
Photo of seanyfo
Reviewed by seanyfo from Scotland

4.08/5  rDev +3.6%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4
Visited on the afternoon of the 30/09/2010

Located 2 mins from Max-Weber-Platz U Bahn on Einsteinstrasse.

On entering, the main restaurant/seating area, is on the right hand side along a short corridor. Straight ahead is a staircase leading down to the braukeller which was closed in the afternoon. According to the website there are many more rooms downstairs but we didnt seek them out, we sat in the restaurant.

Walking down the short corridor, there is a large walled glass cabinet displaying all the steinkrugs from previous Oktoberfests.

Lots of dark wood furniture, with a trellis of creeping plants hanging overhead (maybe dried hops?), the beer dispensing area is on the far righ hand side.

Quiet on a thursday afternoon with a few locals discussing whats wrong with the world, we were promptly served by a friendly waiter who entertained my German.

He brought us some unfiltered helles served in its branded chalice along with some fresh baked pretzels which were very tasty. Also sampled the dunkel, both beers are not world clas but are in good condition and tasty enough.

Selection was both Unions helles and dunkels on tap with Franziskaner Hefeweisse in bottle, so limited but this is expected.

Food was not sampled.

I liked the beerhall, the decoration was very traditional and i can imagine the walls talking their history. Albeit quiet, thankfully not a tourist trap, it was a pleasant experience to try some different beers. I can imagine an evening visit may be better. Would definitely return.
Oct 17, 2010
More User Ratings:
Photo of crossovert
Reviewed by crossovert from Illinois

4.08/5  rDev +3.6%
vibe: 5 | quality: 5 | service: 4 | selection: 2.5 | food: 4.5
Stopped here on Good Friday. Lots of people were fasting so it seemed odd that me and the people I was with were eating,but eventually other tables ordered a bit of food. I just had a pretzel.

The atmosphere is a 100% polar opposite of the other biergartens i have been to in Muenchen. It is more of a neighborhood-style place. It is super quiet and peaceful with not a huge amount of seating.

The service is pretty good for a German place, of course you still need to call them down but our waiter was extremely nice and friendly.

There were only 2 beers vom Faß, Maibock will be added in a week and ill prob go sample that, but it is some very tasty stuff. There are a few guest beers but I would recommended the house beers.

My pretzel was generic, like any other, I tried some of my friends potato/egg/cheese thing and it was delicious.

This is a must-go in Muenchen, it is right outside of the Ubahn exit.
Apr 24, 2011
Photo of Tbone
Reviewed by Tbone from Illinois

4.58/5  rDev +16.2%
vibe: 5 | quality: 5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5
Update may 2011 : We're back in Germany after 2 years and Union's brau is still the best gig in town. Note that the praise in my original review below applies only to drinking downstairs in the keller and to getting the Helles from the wood cask and the real unfiltered Dunkels. The upstairs and the garden outside do not serve the wood cask version and its not nearly as good (though still better than all the bland filtered Helles around town). Another warning is that the great Dunkles often runs out and they replace it with Lowenbrau Dunkles which is highly inferior. If its not opaque and cloudy and if you can see shiny amber light coming through it than you've got Lowenbrau. If you ask about it, you'll never get a straight answer, but that's rather normal in my Germany experience where the servers have no interest in giving information about the beers. In other places it can be a game of 20 questions just to found out what is on tap rather than in bottle and whether they have any seasonal beers on.

The keller is only open after 4 Mon-Sat,. and only until 4 on Sunday. In Summer, it is only open when the weather is too bad for the outdoor garden or if their is live music. We have now set a schedule where anytime its raining we head for Unionsbrau.

BTW, if you enjoy old timey Dixie land Jazz, check out the Mississippi Jazzmen who play often in the keller. They are a group of humorous old men in their 70's who've been jamming together for 50 years.
---

Begin original review from Dec 2008

This place place should be the #1 slot on any Munich itinerary.

Head straight for the keller downstairs, which opens at 4:00 pm M-Sat.

The vaulted ceilings adorned with dried hops make for great atmosphere, not to mention the glorious old-school brew system where every piece of equipment from the grain mill to the wood fermenters to the wood cask filling machine is on full display and seems like a brew museum, but its all in use.

Most importantly, you can taste all of that history in the beer which is full of an amazing depth of woody flavors. All the beers are natrüb (unfiltered) which IMO improves the body and flavor of almost any beer, but especially of German lagers which can otherwise be a bit dull.

Their normal beers are a Helles and a Dunkle. However, our visit saw the Dunkle replaced by a Dunkle Xmas Bock, which I would have to rank in the top 5 beers of all the 50 or so German Bocks I've had. Both beers had a deep grainy, malty profile with a toffee note, and the Bock had nice chocolate and toasty notes.

Oh, and the food was excellent and cheap. $5.50 for a excellent crispy schweinhaxe (a Sat special) and very tasty ribs that didn't need the mediocre sauce put on them.


Prost!
Dec 13, 2008
Photo of BrewSomerville
Reviewed by BrewSomerville from Canada (ON)

3.15/5  rDev -20.1%
vibe: 3 | quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 2 | food: 4
Atmosphere was good, but there are kind of two different places you can go... the upstairs or the downstairs. Upstairs is a bit more classy and pricey. Downstairs has the same Beers, but, more laid back feeling and a more pub- style menue (German pub).

Food was great. The Beer was good, but had loads of diacetyl in it.

Service was good 'til a point. The dude translated the menue to me in English which was nice. But then when I asked for the cheque ("Zahlen bitte") it took about 35 minutes to get it! (very bad in my opinion) it wasn't that busy either.

They had Beers brewed there, plus some other offerings from Löwenbräu to choose from.

Food was delicious, good presentation and all.

I was told by one of my instructors at Doemens academy (a brewing school) to check the place out, and I think that it was a good recommendation. The brew set up there was cool to see, they had really old-school stuff there. A wooden mash tun, an actual copper kettle (not just for show on the outside with stainless inside), wooden fermenters!, and a truly antiquated wort cooler.
Apr 19, 2008
Photo of JohnW
Reviewed by JohnW from England

4.18/5  rDev +6.1%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4
This medium sized beer hall and restaurant is a little off the beaten track, so not on the "tourist trail" and thus usually quieter and used by local people rather than visitors. Easy to get to on the U-Bahn, just get line U4 or U5 travelling north from the Hauptbahnhof or Karlsplatz and get off at Max Weber Platz. On leaving the U-Bahn take the east exit labelled Einsteinstrasse, and the stairs/escalator come up right outside the Beer Hall. Large restaurant beer hall area, with several smaller adjoining rooms, with pleasant decor and atmosphere. To the rear is a small beer garden with seating for about 60 people at tables under trees. The Beer Garden is surrounded by 5 story apartments blocks which seems a bit bleak at first, but on a sunny day under the shade of the trees it was very pleasant and peaceful. Service was good and a basic but reasonable priced food menu (not in English but fairly easy to work it out) our waiter did speak some English. Two Unionsbrau beers were on tap, an unfiltered Hell and a Dunkel beer, both were very pleasant, though not outstanding, other beers were from Lowenbrau stable. We visited at mid-day on a Friday and it was not very busy, so easy to find a seat. Most of those there appeared to be local folk.

I would certainly visit again, and although the beers are not outstanding, they are very pleasant and worth trying, as UnionsBrau beers not available anywhere in the central area of Munich, makes this a worthwhile trip out of the centre.

Post Script - May 2010
We visited here again mid-day, though due to bad weather the beer garden was closed, and the Beer Cellar only open in the evenings. We sat in the main restaurant, and very comfortable it is too. Good service - and an English Menu was available, we had the UnionsBrau Unfiltered Hell, which was very tasty and had a slight hint of sourness with the hoppy finish. We then had the Maibock which was very similar in character but much stronger at 7.1%. Food was good, prices reasonable and good service. Not that busy at mid-day being off the tourist trail, but well worth searching out.

JohnW
B'ham UK April 2007
Apr 16, 2007
Photo of Derek
Reviewed by Derek from Canada (BC)

3.9/5  rDev -1%
vibe: 5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 3 | food: 3
Visiting this old microbrewery was a pleasant change from the typical large beer halls in Munich. I thought it was well worth the walk from the Marienplatz (across the river).

You can see the whole microbrewery at the back of the keller. The grain mill is on the right, the beautiful copper tuns in the middle, along with a classic wort cooler, and the lager tanks/barrels are on the left. Very cool.

I specifically made the hike to try their doppelbock. It was worth it. Their baked prezels were quite good too. It was in the middle of the afternoon, so there were only a few other people in the keller. Plenty of seating though, with a restaurant upstairs as well.
Apr 09, 2006
Photo of Bierman9
Reviewed by Bierman9 from New Hampshire

3.58/5  rDev -9.1%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 3 | food: 4.5
I hit Unions for a super Sunday Brunch, on a rare, warm, sunny day a couple of weeks ago. I initially wanted to hit the reknowned Braukeller, but it was closed, so I laxed in their backyard Biergarten. It was a cozy little area, under a few good-sized chestnut trees, with some big, round tables. A few tables were ring-like, with an open area in the middle where a tree was growing. Cool! On Sundays from 10A to 12N they offer Weißwürst at 0.50Eu each. Great deal! And I eat them skin and all; München tradition be damned. Tasty as all hell, and I'm eating all I paid for... hahahahaha!! Good Brezns as well! Service was good and efficient, though not overly friendly. May have been due to the fact that the Fraulein had a busy morn, with little assistance. She gets a mulligan from me.... this time...
Bier? They have their own unfiltered Hell Kellerbier. Thought they had a Dunkles as well, but no sign of it anywhere. Also had available Franziskaner Hell and Dunkel Weizens.... Bier was decent, but not anything to make an out of the way trip for. A look into their regular dining area showed a cool, traditional looking area; something I'm very comfortable in.... plenty of dark wood, vaulted ceilings, hops strung from everywhere.... looks great! Worth a return for their nice atmosphere, and cheap Weißwürst on Sundays, anyhow! Prosit!!

overall: 3.58
atmosphere: 4.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 3 | food: 4.5 | $

95
Oct 04, 2004
Unions-Bräu Haidhausen in München, Germany
Place rating: 4.21 out of 5 with 7 ratings