Freistädter Brauhaus-Trail

Have you always wanted to know where beer was brewed in Freistadt before the brewing community merged? Then visit Freistadt and walk the Freistadt Brewery Trail.

The tour through the medieval brewing town of Freistadt takes you to the town's 20 original breweries - history and stories included!

You can order the Freistädter Brauhaus-Trail including 2 vouchers on our homepage - here
This takes you to the 20 former breweries in the city - history and stories included. And because such an exploratory tour can make you thirsty, the map includes two vouchers for a beer break. Tickets are available from the Freistädter Brauhaus, the Freistädter Biershop and the Freistädter Tourist Information Centre for €4.

History & stories
1 unique legal form: The "Commune" as the legal form of a company
is now the only one of its kind in Europe.

11 types of beer are currently brewed in the brewing commune in Freistadt:
From the classic Ratsherrn Premium to Black Bock.

100 per cent Austrian ingredients are used in Freistadt beer.
The hops come exclusively from the Mühlviertel.

2,800 tonnes of malting barley from the Weinviertel
are processed annually for Freistädter beer.

16,000 kilograms of Mühlviertel natural hops are needed by the brewing
the brewing community annually to produce its beers.

65,000 cubic metres of Mühlviertel primary rock water are
into Freistädter beer every year.

Refreshment stops*
A Freistädter Brauhaus, Brauhausstraße 2
B Latino Lounge & Bar, Eisengasse 10
C Hotel Goldener Adler, Salzgasse 1
D Zum Goldenen Hirschen, Böhmergasse 8-10
E Foxis Schlosstaverne, Hauptplatz 11
F Café Konditorei Hubertus, Höllplatz 2

* Catering establishments in the BierWeltRegion Mühlviertel - Here you can redeem the enclosed vouchers!
vouchers here!

FREISTADT'S BREWING HISTORY
In 1363, Duke Rudolf IV the Founder granted the citizens of Freistadt the right to brew beer. At that time, only those who owned a house within the city walls were considered citizens. In 1525, there were a total of 20 breweries and inns in the city that also brewed beer. These are the stops on our brewery trail.
Over the years, fewer and fewer breweries were able to maintain operations: in 1770 there were only two breweries left - a wheat beer brewery and a brown beer brewery. For economic reasons and to prevent the ever-present risk of fire in the town, it was considered abandoning the two breweries in the town and building a joint brewery outside the town walls. Finally, on New Year's Eve 1770, the purchase contract for the former
former "Stadtschreibergärten" was finally signed - today this is regarded as the founding document
of the brewing community in Freistadt.
The Freistadt brewery is still located there today, where the hoppy Freistadt beer is brewed according to the principles of the Freistadt Beer Manifesto.

1. FREISTADT BREWERY:
The building was completed in 1780 after 10 years of construction and the first brew of Freistadt beer was brewed here on 4 March of that year. The listed brewery is considered the most important baroque industrial building in Upper Austria. The famous Austrian painter and artist Prof. Arik Brauer designed a 56 m2 glass relief in the brewhouse for the brewery, as well as the brewery fountain.
brewhouse and the brewer's fountain in the beer garden. The new brewhouse is still in the same place today as it was back then and is open to the public via the beer shop. The brewery also houses a brewery gallery and its own brewery pub.

2. EISENGASSE 16:
Gasthaus zur Goldenen Sense: In addition to the scythe leaf, the guild signs of boot and shoe, pretzel and scissors from the 17th century are clearly recognisable on the sign in the guild inn for shoemakers, bakers and tailors.

3. EISENGASSE 14:
Gasthaus zum Goldenen Schiff; the front door dates from 1596 and shows a lamb as the house sign of the owners Lemmerer.

4. EISENGASSE 12:
Gasthaus zum Goldenen Stern; in the passageway you can find Prussian caps with Art Nouveau paintings, which were only rediscovered by chance in 1995 during renovation work.

5. EISENGASSE 10:
The house stretches as far as the moat and is one of the longest in the town. In 1637 it belonged to Hans Hens, a wood carver who moved to Freistadt to build the altar. Only the centre picture of the altar remains today (in the chancel of the church), the rest has fallen victim to woodworm!

6. SALZGASSE 1:
One of the most beautiful facades in the city centre with neo-baroque Bacchante figures from the 19th century. Well-preserved granite paving and a section of the historic battlements in the courtyard.

7. SALZGASSE 2 AND PFARRGASSE 20:
Late Baroque and Art Nouveau elements; the crocodile in the passageway escaped from a circus camped in Freistadt at the turn of the century. Hunters were commissioned to catch it. Kaspar Obermayr, a colonial trader who owned this house, had it stuffed and hung in his shop entrance and said that he had strangled it himself on one of his trips to the Nile.

8 SALZGSSE 3:
The town bought the house and towards the end of the 16th century established the town's wheat beer brewery to compete with the wheat beer imported from Bohemia. Brewing barley beers as brown or red beers was reserved for the citizens of Freistadt. The building was the German school and then also a wheat beer brewery. In 1770, the building was sold to the citizens, who had already founded the brewing commune to regulate beer production.

9. ACCESS VIA SALZGASSE 9:
Classic Gothic Gibelhaus; the last brown beer brewery was located in the rear building until 1780, and later the city's first cinema, run by Kaspar Obermayr.

10. SALZGASSE 13:
Already mentioned as a brewery since 1525; the town's inner baths once stood here. It used to be the inn "Zum schwarzen Rössl" and is still an inn today with the name "Vis à vis".

11. SALZGASSE 32:
Brewery known as the "Clösterle", very simply designed but with a historic, Gothic centre preserved.

12. SALZGASSE 34:
Gothic three-window house with crested hipped roof and historic door; the wheel deflector stone set over the corner of the house is typical of historic towns and can be found on many corners and house entrances. This was to prevent damage caused by horse-drawn carts, which could not be steered as precisely as today's vehicles!

13. WAAGGASSE 27:
Biedermeier façade with fresco from 1819 "Mary crowned by the angels"; the last of the 5 beer brewing fountains can still be found here in the courtyard. It was also used as a fire-fighting fountain during the town fires. The brewing section and the brewmaster's parlour have been renovated and made accessible for special guided tours.

14. WAAGGASSE 22:
Gothic window jambs and portal from around 1500; the wooden statue "Immaculata" can be found in a niche: A sudden and dangerous drop in the level of the alleyway caused great concern among the residents. After the foundation of the statue of the Mother of God, the inexplicable ground movements stopped again.

15. WAAGGASSE 21:
The beautiful stucco ornamentation, the pilaster strips on the façade and the late Baroque door are still preserved today.

16. WAAGGASSE 15:
This town house was a brewery until 1724; Gothic barrel and cross vaults can still be seen in the courtyard passageway. The first and only petrol station in the city centre was located here before the company moved to the suburbs in the 1970s.

17. WAAGGASSE 14 OR SAMTGASSE 7
This very old building (first documented as early as 1383) was not repaired after the great fire of 1507 and was then used as a barracks for marching troops. The Freistadt post office was located here from 1896 to 1992. The massive supporting pillar is impressive. According to the statutes, this brewery had to supply the Bürgerspital with 6 buckets of beer, 1 bucket during Lent;

18. ELLEN- UND KLAFTERMASS
An old cubit and fathom measure and a bucket still bear witness to Freistadt's importance as a trading and brewing town.

19. PFARRGASSE 5:
Old soap boiling house; one of the oldest Gothic doorways in the town. The window axes with plaster bands are clearly recognisable.

20. HUTERERGASSE 4:
The "Brauhaus in der Höll" was one of the last breweries in the town. Here you could brew a certain amount of beer on your own account, which was given to the individual houses. After its closure in the 18th century, the house was used as a wagon shed by the Thury family, who ran three hammer mills in the Thurytal valley.

21. DECHANTHOFPLATZ 3:
The essentially Gothic house has a Baroque façade with a striking sun door (original in the castle museum). The attention to detail in the façade design is clearly recognisable here.

22. EISENGASSE 11:
After the two city fires in 1507 and 1516, which severely destroyed the city, Emperor Maximilian decreed the so-called Innsbruck-style raised firewalls, which are clearly recognisable here on the long side. This was to provide better protection for the wooden and thatched roofs.