Kulmbacher Schweizerhof-Brau

Be sure to post back with what the brewery says. I'm curious.....

 

A specialty package from an old brewery and inn, eh? And with a biergarden still in operation -- cool find!

Some of us folks who collect "breweriana" tend to specialize in collecting foreign packages (bottles, labels, etc), so you might just find someone who doeso: I see a lisiting at a popular auction site for a large format bottle very similar to your example, which sold.

Here's the present day website and a listing at a webpage spotlighting breweries in the region:
http://www.fraenkische-brauereien.com/aufgelassene-brauereien/k/kulmbach/kulmbach.html

 

Looks like it's an old pilsner: http://books.google.com/books?id=5X...a=X&ei=kWRwU_WeG8GhyASRo4C4DA&ved=0CC4Q6AEwBA

Still, I'd crack it and have a sip. You never know.

 

There were several German beers imported in the US in those flip-top bottles in the 80s. Altenmunster came in 3 different sizes (plus a regular crowned bottle). Needless to say, they were probably sold for less than the empty bottles cost at a brewpub or growler station today. The 1 liter size went for $3.

 

Would that importer happen to be Joseph Gies of Chicago? A few years back I found a commemorative 50th anniversary mug (E.K.U.), and have to guess that Schweizerhof may have had the EKU facility package their beer for export (as other Kulmbach breweries and brands --like Monchshof and Reichelbrau-- had done.)

 

The paper 'ribbon' (covering the cantilever wire mechanism holding the stopper down) is a common feature, but the principal of that importer (Florian Wipper, of HDT Imports, Portland, Oregon) seems to have been active until 2008.

 

Hello,
Sorry this response is months to late but here some details:
Schweizerhof was an old brewery in Kulmbach existing from 1764 until 1980.
Any beer (Bier) with the Schweizerhof Logo produced after that might be brewed by Kulmbacher Brau AG which has taken over several local breweries including Reichelbräu, Sandler, Kapuziner, EKU.
Reichelbräu had actually a 150 year anniversary but ceased to exist, but Kulmbacher has still made the glasses and celebrated it as one of their origins. So they may also have made one or the other beer with the Schweizerhof, but my bet is the bottle you have is very old.
Schweizerhof is still a nice restaurant and Biergarten but they do not make their own beer anymore.

Hope this helps. And the current importer for the U.S. are the Shelton Brothers in MA.

 

http://franken-wiki.de/index.php/Brauereien_in_Franken#K

 

Kulmbacher schweizerhofbräu was truly and AMAZING beer! I drank it, whenever I could find it, from the time it came available in Eugene, Oregon, until the time they completely stopped making it, which was probalby in the mid to late 80's.
I spoke to the importer around 2001 or 2002, and they told me that the brewmaster was actually at their office at the time that I called. (sound incredible, I know). The story goes, they had the brewrey in an old Church, which caught fire and burnt down, then they started making beer once again, and that building also burnt down. I think they stopped making it after that. The way I remember it, it was first kulmbacher schweizerhofbräu, then I think it was made for a while by EKU.
I can honestly say I have never, ever had another beer that was even close to it, and I can still remember the complex and wonderful taste and aroma that this beer had. It was light-copper in color, wonderful malt taste, full-bodied, with lower carbonation, and the hop taste was an underlying light to moderate bitter taste with a hoppy finish that really put a smile on your face. The malt and hop flavors seperated from each other so well that you could taste everything individually.
I did try to get the recipe from the brewmaster but I was told they would not give it out. One thing that I would really like to do is to talk to someone who lives in Germany and really knows their beers from this region, and could tell me what beer is most similar to kulmbacher schweizerhofbräu, in taste and body, as well as malt to hop balance.
The other thing I would like to do is MAKE this beer so I can have one whenever I want, which would be often! I haven't really drank a beer in about 25 years, due to the fact that this beer is not available anymore.

 

BTW, the website that was given by grandolph doesn't seem to work anymore.
A late 70's era photo of the brewerey is here:


And the link to the new working page is HERE:

http://www.fraenkische-brauereien.com/aufgelassene-brauereien---a---l/k1/kulmbach/kulmbach.html

 

I do think the restaurant/brewhouse still makes the Schweizerhof beer from the old receipe, but it's just that they don't make it in large quantities anymore, for export - please correct me if I am wrong. I am CERTAIN you can still get that beer if you go to their restaurant in Kulmbach, Germany, since there would be no reason on Earth to stop making such a wonderful, favorful, and unique beer.
I would think that perhaps after the problems that the brewery faced, (fires, etc.) that it may not have been commercially viable to export to USA anymore after the mid-1980's. Once again, anymore who knows for certain, please correct me if there was some other completely different reason.