NEWS
EUROPEAN BEER STAR 2024
With two awards at the European Beer Star, we achieved a top position in both a traditional and a creative category.
The Bio Honeybock Linden Blossom received the Silver Star in the "Honey-Beer" category. The unique combination of fine organic Linden Blossom honey from the Donautal region from the Mühlviertel Hochland beekeepers and our Mühlviertel organic barley ensures an unmistakably slightly sweet and smooth character. Suitable for the award ceremony in Nuremberg and the Christmas season, this beer is best enjoyed with honey gingerbread.
The Bio Mühlviertler, a classic lager with 100% organic raw materials from the Mühlviertel, was awarded the Bronze Star in the "Austrian-Style Märzen" category. This beer convinces with its harmonious character, fine malty aromas and an elegant hop bitterness, which is typical of the Mühlviertel region.
Collaboration with Von Trapp
Hofstetten Brewery, the oldest brewery in Austria, recently traveled to Stowe, Vermont to brew a special beer with the famous von Trapp family, whose story was made famous worldwide by the musical “The Sound of Music”. This trip was more than just a meeting of friends - it was a symbolic combination of Austrian brewing tradition and the moving story of a family that once had to leave their homeland. The idea was clear: a joint beer that combines the long tradition of both families. Malt from the Mühlviertel was sent to Vermont for this purpose - more precisely, the historic ancient barley variety “Heines Haisa”, which has been cultivated by Hofstetten again since 2012. Mühlviertler Malling hops were also included. At the von Trapp brewery, they were used to brew a Zwickl beer that is reminiscent of the taste of earlier times. “A beer like our grandparents drank after the war,” explains Peter Krammer proudly.
Although the story of the von Trapp family became famous worldwide in the USA through “The Sound of Music”, it is surprisingly little known in Austria. The musical tells the moving story of the family's escape from the National Socialists. Interestingly, the history of the von Trapp family can also be traced in Austria - especially in the Salzburg region, where the family originally came from.
The joint Zwickl beer will soon be available in the USA. For interested beer lovers, we can offer our Heines Altes Lager, on whose recipe the beer brewed in the USA is based.
Austrian-Beer-Challenge 2024
Huge success at the 20th edition of the Austrian-Beer-Challenge for the Landbrauhaus Hofstetten. State Champion with the Granitbock 25 years of BierGuide in the category "Bockbeer bottom fermented". Silver for our Pils in, which is thus among the TOP 3 in the category "Pils" for the third time in a row and underlines our consistent quality. As if that wasn't enough, we dominated the category "wood cask-aged beers" with a double win. The winners were our G'froren's Portwine (1st place) and our Granitbock Glenmoray (2nd place).
At the crowning conclusion, we have secured the prestigious title of "brewery of the year 2024" due to 2 state championship titles and 2 silver medals,
StarkÖL
After the beer trip of the "8 glorious 7" to Denmark (2012) it was decided to brew a "StarkÖL". Thus, in the Camba Bavaria and in the Hofstetten brewery, one brew each of dark Bock was brewed, which were hopped very strongly with the American hop varieties Chinook and Centennial. After the two brews were combined, the beer was frozen at Hofstetten to produce a strong Ice bock. The "Oak Aged" version was then aged for several more months in American Bourbon barrels.
The result is an extremely exciting, complex Ice bock. The aroma is dominated by strong vanilla aromas, accompanied by subtle hop tones reminiscent of citrus fruits. The tart initial taste harmonizes wonderfully with the intense aromas from the bourbon barrel. Full-bodied, slightly sweet impressions follow - the strong malt body plays all facets before the stout fades out in a warming calm.
Brewer Edition 2020: Iced Porter
Our brewers Hermann W., Klemens N., Jakob B. und Jakob W. created a new beer in cooperation with brew master Markus T.: a special brewer edition Iced Porter!
From creating the recipe to brewing the beer including the design they worked together and
our great Porter was established in 2019. This year the last edition was frozen to create an enomous ice bock with flavours of coffee and toffee.
The brewer edition is a deep dark, top fermented beer with intense roasted malts flavours. Its graceful whitecap fulfils a stunning appearance with the dark colour. Delicious to look at but even better to taste.
From now on the brewer edition will be brewed every year but we don’t want to keep things standard, so we stay excited what our brewers bring up next year.
Conrad Seidl & Markus Kafka visit Hofstetten for TV report!
In a new beer report on “Servus TV,” hosts Conrad Seidl and Markus Kafka will be visiting St. Martin to brew the Granitbock with us! Before they can start mashing in, however, they will have to get the necessary ingredients.For this, they will need to travel to the “Erlebniswelt Granit” nature park, where the granite stones for the beer were historically harvested. Once this not-so-unrisky task has been completed, the stones will be heated over an open fire and tossed into 120-year-old stone vats, thus producing the unique caramel notes in the beer. To ensure they have a solid foundation for their Granitbock Vertical Tasting (2008-2012), reporter Markus will also bake rye bread with Hofstetten’s own Hilda beforehand.
