The Weihenstephan brewery is the oldest in the world. According to the official version, beer has been brewed here since 1040, which we always talk about during our excursions in Munich and Bavaria. That year, local Benedictine monks were granted the right to brew beer within the walls of the monastery and sell it. True, many copies have been broken regarding this date, because in Bavaria there is also the Weltenburg brewery, founded in 1050 and also claiming to be the oldest brewery in the world.
So far, the dispute between the breweries has been resolved as follows: the Weihenstephaner brewery included the phrase “the oldest brewery in the world” in its logo, and the Weltenburg brewery included “the oldest monastery brewery in the world” in its logo.
By public transport from Munich you can get there by S-Bahn 1, to the final stop. Be careful - the train consists of two parts!!! One says Flughafen (airport), no need to land there!! At Neufahrn station Neufahrn is divided in half, the first carriage goes to the airport, the second to Freising.
The city of Freising, where the Weihenstephan brewery is located, is several centuries older than Munich, so before you start tasting the hop line, take a walk. And the order is important here. First the city, then the beer. In reverse order, at least I can’t do it. There is a beer there called Vitus. For those in the know, this is Weizenbock. Translated into Russian - strong wheat beer (7.7% vol. strength). This is a serious drink and it’s better not to be rude with it, otherwise the evening will be lost.
The old houses of Freising stand picturesquely along the banks of numerous canals and channels of the Isar, where trout splash in the clear water. Some streets in the city are so narrow that two people have to walk behind each other. The huge residence of the Bavarian bishop looms over the city. In essence, this is a huge castle-fortress, to which steep and narrow paths lead, in the interweaving of which it is easy to get lost. The castle has repeatedly suffered from numerous wars, so the elements of a fortress are quite logical. The main cathedral was built, in the best traditions of the Middle Ages, over five hundred years. Therefore, you can find elements of the Romanesque style, Gothic and, of course, Baroque in it. Where would Bavaria be without Baroque?
A loaded bear with barrels stands here not out of whim, but for business. Monks had to fast at all times, this is part of their work. The list of foods allowed during fasting is limited, and the human body has no ability to eat. Sometimes dad gave permission to include any products in the Lenten menu. Although he is not a nutritionist, he has rights. The monks loaded the bear with barrels and took beer to Rome. A bear without a balalaika and a bicycle does not move quickly; the journey to the eternal city took more than two months. Naturally, the beer turned into a rare sour rubbish in the heat. They say the Pope tried it, thought that there was no life at all beyond the Alps if people were ready to drink such crap, and gave permission to consume the drink. They say you can’t drink a lot of this swill anyway. Since then, monks have been drinking beer to maintain strength and good spirits. And during Lent they brew especially dense and strong varieties of dark beer.
Beer is perhaps the most famous drink in the world. It is popular literally everywhere, and most adults have tried it. However, despite the drink's popularity, there are many things about beer that most people don't know about.
1. Beer and facial hair
Thick facial hair can make drinking beer difficult. It can also be used to make beer. A brewer in Oregon has actually discovered a way to make a foamy drink from yeast harvested from his own beard. Although it may seem quite nasty, it works. After all, most of the world’s yeast for fermentation is collected from rotting rocks. Why can't they ferment in the beard?
2. Foam
Many beer drinkers disapprove of foam on the top of the glass: it makes drinking difficult and looks unappetizing to some people. However, foam is a very important part of beer. The foamy head, as it is called, is created by a complex reaction of carbon dioxide and can tell a lot about the quality of the beer. Many famous beers, including Guinness, are characterized by a thick foam head. Its absence may mean that the beer is probably stale and tasteless. The holy grail of foam enthusiasts is the so-called “Brussels lace” - a perfect foam that does not settle and forms a lacy pattern in the glass after it is empty.
3. Marijuana and beer
Not many people know that marijuana and beer are actually pretty close relatives. The flavoring agent in beer, hops, is a member of the hemp family, which (as you might guess from the name) also includes hemp. Even though they are plants from the same family, they share many genetic properties.
4. Dead animals and beer
Taxidermy is certainly one of the few things that is not at all associated with beer. At least that's what most people think. But the British brewery BrewDog clearly disagrees and in 2011 released the strongest beer in the world with an alcohol content of 55 percent. And its main feature was that each bottle of the drink, which was called “The End of History,” was placed inside a stuffed animal (with the cork sticking out of its mouth).
5. The oldest beer in the world
Although there is a lot of information about beer drinking throughout history, actual recipes for ancient beers are quite difficult to find. In 2010, the remains of a shipwreck were found near Finland. A real treasure was found in the hold of the ship - the world's oldest drinkable beer. It tasted of burnt cork and a sour aftertaste (the latter was attributed to the fermentation process and the actual taste was supposed to be much more pleasant). Now they are going to start producing a new brand of beer using this ancient recipe.
6. Michael Jackson and beer
When most beer drinkers discuss Michael Jackson, they don't mean the King of Pop. They talk about the British Michael Jackson (1942-2007), a scientist who researched beer and came up with new recipes for it. Jackson (who earned the nickname "The Beer Hunter") was a writer and journalist who single-handedly saved beer from oblivion in the late 1970s (beer was considered a disgusting poor man's drink at the time). Jackson always thought that beer was an important component of culture and without his research, the modern world of alcohol would be completely different.
7. Water and beer
Although water is generally quite tasteless, it is actually a very important factor in the taste of beer. After all, the main ingredient of beer is water, and no ingredients can save beer if it was brewed with low-quality water. Throughout history, many brewers have based their production precisely where quality water was available.
8. Pyramids and beer
In ancient Egypt, the Nile water was so full of bacteria that locals often drank beer instead of water. This came in handy during the massive construction projects of the Egyptians. When the Giza pyramids were built, the workers were paid partly with beer. They were kept in a constant state of light drinking, given beer three times a day. Without this, the workers would probably have rebelled.
9. Peruvian spit beer
Chicha is a traditional Peruvian corn beer that is said to have been brewed during the Inca era. His secret ingredient was extremely strange - it was saliva. There are many strange bacteria and enzymes in the human mouth. Some of them can actually replace the brewing process. This means that the fermentation process of corn can be activated by chewing it, moistening it in the mouth, and then spitting it into the beer mixture.
10. Best beer in the world
Beers are extremely difficult to rank. After all, this is purely a matter of taste and some people like one beer, while others like a completely different type. However, when it comes to choosing the absolute best beer in the whole world, all beer lovers agree on one opinion - Westvleteren 12. This is a 10.2 percent dark beer with a refined, chocolate flavor. And it is produced by a monastery in Belgium.
For beer lovers, it can be very interesting to visit the most iconic places and breweries where their favorite drink is brewed. Here you can directly see how beer is brewed. Follow the whole process, from beginning to end, and also visit souvenir shops and buy a lot of interesting things to remember your visit. So, let's take a virtual tour of the best breweries in the world.
Heineken Brewery, Amsterdam
The Heineken Brewery, also known as the Heineken Experience, is not only a brewery but also a beer museum based in the original brewery building. The museum tour showcases a variety of exhibits, interactive exhibits, and two bars. The Heineken Experience is considered one of the best attractions in Amsterdam. Here you will be told everything about the types and varieties of beer, its origin and much more. 
Guinness in Dublin
Guinness is the most recognized Irish brand in the world. It's no surprise that the Guinness Brewery, also known as St James's Gate Brewery, is one of the most popular attractions in Dublin. The brewery was founded in 1759, and the tour takes you through the 250-year history of the legendary Guinness.
Stella Artois Factory, Leuven
Stella Artois has been brewed in Leuven since 1926, but the brewery itself has existed on this site for many centuries. A visit to Leuven should include a brewery tour! 
Samuel Adams Beer House
Samuel Adams Beer House is a famous place in Boston, USA. Samuel Adams is a much newer beer, especially compared to previous brands. Founded only in 1984, this American brewery quickly gained popularity. The origin of the beer is Boston, Massachusetts, where the company still operates a small brewery. Tourists visit this place en masse for exciting beer excursions. 
Tiger Brewery in Singapore
Visit the brewery where Singapore's most popular beer is brewed. Tiger Brewery has a visitor center and a tour through the 80-year history of local brewing. 
Carlsberg plant, Copenhagen
Carlsberg was founded in 1847 in Copenhagen, and its oldest brewery is open for tours. During the tour you can learn about the history of Carlsberg, purchase a collection of bottles as a souvenir, and enjoy the beer garden and bar. 
Weihenstephan, Germany
The Weihenstephan brewery is located in Bavaria, Germany. The brewery was founded in a local abbey in 768. However, a brewery license was only issued by the city of Freising in 1040, making Weihenstephan the oldest continuously operating brewery in the world! The factory is open for tours, where you will be told about the 1,000-year history of brewing. You will visit a museum, learn the art of brewing and take part in a beer tasting! Read also about the most unusual beer in a separate article. 
Chimay Brewery, Belgium
The famous Chimay brewery is located in an old Trappist monastery. The brewery has been based in the abbey since 1862. Visitors can not only take a tour of the distillery itself, but also visit the gardens and abbey church, and of course enjoy local Chimay beer in a nearby restaurant. 
Brooklyn Brewery, New York
Brooklyn Brewery was founded in 1987 and currently brews over 10 different types of beer year-round, as well as several types of seasonal beers. The brewery is open for tours, beer tastings, and even private tours. This place is not as famous as many on the list, but an excursion here will be very interesting. 
Maison Leffe, Belgium
The famous Belgian Leff beer was originally brewed at the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Leff. Today Leff is brewed at the Stella Artois brewery in Leuven, but you can visit the original brewery in Dinant, called the House of Leff, and learn about the beer's centuries-old history. In conclusion, visit the collection, where you will learn a lot of interesting things.
How to get there: S-Bahn 1, to the final stop, follow the sign on the carriage - the train is divided into 2 parts, one goes to the airport, the second to Freising.
This is a small town northeast of Bavaria, close to the airport. I decided to go there after passing by on the train, on the way, if I’m not mistaken, from Nuremberg. At Freising station the train stops for about five minutes; here it connects with the S-Bahn line S1. And the S-Bahn goes here in a funny way: a train of two cars at Neufahrn station is divided in half, the first car goes to the airport, the second to Freising. And for five minutes I admired the high hill on which two bell towers of the ancient cathedral could be seen. We were told that this is the former capital of Bavaria, a city older than Munich, and there is still the residence of the Bavarian bishop, which we saw through the carriage window. Also, this place is mentioned in “Doctor Faustas” by Thomas Mann as the birthplace of the main character. Since it was extremely convenient and inexpensive to travel here, one spring day we headed to the nearest S-Bahn station, bought a Partner-Tageskarte Außenraum grüne/gelbe/rote Zone for 9 euros and an hour later got off at Freising station.
The city stands on the Isar. And in the literal sense of the word. The houses hang directly over the water, some span the Isar like residential bridges. There are balconies over the water, bridges to the entrances, dovecotes, and in the water itself there are trout. She is huge and moves in shoals.
A couple of Italians excitedly pointed at the water with their hands - then took off, most likely in search of a fishing tackle store.
When we arrived, the whole city was filled with bears. I didn’t fully understand what this was connected with - there was some kind of city anniversary, the artists were given a bear. And the bears were painted in the most incredible way.
In the cities of Bavaria, it is generally customary to place some kind of animal on the streets, which plays the role of a local totem. In Garmesh these are cows, in Munich - lions, in Augburg for some reason rhinoceroses, in Ulm - sparrows, etc. There are bears in Freising. In some very old century, either the 8th or 11th century, the monks decided to get permission from the Pope to drink beer during Lent. They loaded the bear with barrels and took the beer to Rome. Considering the beast of burden, it is not surprising that the Pope allowed beer to be drunk at any time. According to another version, the beer turned sour along the way and the Pope tried it and allowed the monks to drink “this nasty thing” whenever they wanted. As a result, beer is drunk always and everywhere in Bavaria, and especially dense and strong varieties of dark beer are brewed during Lent. And the bear became a symbol of Freising and is depicted on the city’s coat of arms (although it looks more like a wolf there).
From the station we walked towards the residence of the Bavarian bishops - not so long ago the local see was occupied by the current Pontiff, so it was interesting to see. But having moved not far from the station, we quickly got lost in the narrow streets that invariably led to the Isar and its tributary. Then I saw on the map that there were only two channels. Although, while wandering around looking for the road to the residence, I counted at least a dozen. The streets in the city are so narrow that two people have to walk behind each other. Even in Passau or Wasserburg there is no such feeling.
You could pick up an information sheet with a map at the station or in the city center. We had already left the station; we still had to get to the center. All this was reminiscent of Kafka's "Castle", and we are in the role of surveyors trying to find the way to the goal. Finally, we came across some stairs. Since it led upstairs, we decided that, most likely, it was going precisely to the residence on Domberg. And they were not mistaken
The residence is essentially a castle-fortress, which is not surprising. After all, Freising is more ancient than Munich, the capital of Bavaria, there were bridges over the Isar and the local bishop controlled the transport of salt - the main strategic raw material of the Middle Ages. The bridges were destroyed by Emperor Herrich the Lion, who moved the capital of Bavaria from Freising to Munich. The residence itself is surrounded by a light colonnade and terraces, reminiscent of Italian Renaissance buildings. The Dome Cathedral was built, like almost all cathedrals of the Middle Ages, about five hundred years ago, which is why it was started in the Romanesque style, continued in a somewhat ponderous Gothic style, and the decoration was Baroque, owned by the Azam brothers - they worked a lot in Munich and throughout southern Germany. You can walk around the residence itself without hindrance; security, even in the form of elderly guards, is nowhere to be seen. The cathedral itself was closed for renovations - a shame. And it was impossible to visit the library that day. And there is a collection of early Cyrillic handwritten books. The proximity of Moravia, the region where Cyril and Methodius worked, has an effect. There are even books in the Glagolitic alphabet. But the gallery around the cathedral was open. There are tombs of Bavarian bishops, paintings, and several side chapels. The gallery is incredibly long, bright, gravestones walled up in the wall seem to be an element of decor - there are so many of them that they are no longer perceived as a cemetery.
There is also a wonderful observation deck - you can see the airport, the Benedictine monastery on the neighboring hill and some mysterious buildings behind the railway line - the old Schlüter company, built so that its silhouette echoes the Dome Cathedral. We did not reach it. In the residence itself there is a monument to the blessed Bishop Otto von Freising, the famous medieval historian. Marienkirche contains the relics of St. Corbinian of Freising, one of the first Bavarian bishops.
There is also an ancient stele on the territory; it seems that in Bavaria they play approximately the same role as the ancient Russian worship crosses. However, you can read more about all the shrines of Domberg. From the monastery we headed towards Marienplatz. Everything is like in Munich - the town hall (though it was hidden by scaffolding), Mary's Column, fountains - but everything is a little smaller. There is also a whole brood of bears made of stone, a pedestrian area with shops and cafes, and narrow streets going uphill with neat houses covered with greenery.
We were in Freising at the beginning of May - the catchment, which in St. Petersburg blooms in the middle of summer, was in full bloom, the lilacs were already ending. However, it is difficult to surprise with flowers in German cities, but the architecture of Freising is beautiful, the center, Dombreg, and even the surrounding streets - everything smells such tranquility and such antiquity that you want to settle here in your old age. However, we could not help but go to the oldest brewery in the world - Weihenstephan, located not far from the center.
The Benedictine monastery with the oldest brewery in the world stands on a nearby hill; Weihenstephan beer has been brewed here since 1040. Nowadays the Brewing Academy operates here. Without a diploma from this academy, Bavaria does not issue a license to produce their own beer. Local beer is standard, brewed in full compliance with the Beer Law; the Munich airport ditik always sells a set of two bottles of Weihenstephan beer and a branded glass. By the way, it should be noted that this is not the only beer in Freising - Hofbräu is brewed right there. The same one served at the Hofbräuhaus in Munich. But we didn’t get to the Hofbräu brewery. The old monastery operated until the middle of the 19th century - now there are no monks here, but there are a lot of student brewers - there is a funny composition on this theme in the garden at the academy. There is a botanical garden around the monastery, where different varieties of hops are grown.
Weihenstephaner Monastery
At the top of Mount Narberg, in the German city of Freising, is the world's oldest brewery, Weihenstephaner. The art of brewing beer originated here in 725, when St. Carbinian, with twelve disciples, founded a Benedictine monastery on the mountain. Near the Weihenstephaner monastery there were hop gardens, and the owner of these gardens paid tithes to the monastery with their products, which is historically mentioned in 768.
Monastery Brewery
In 1040, the Weihenstephaner monastery received a license from the city of Freising to brew and sell beer. Thus, the oldest brewery in the world was officially born. Over the next four centuries, the Weihenstephaner monastery was completely burned down four times, suffered an earthquake once, and survived many wars that brought destruction. But each time the monks rebuilt the monastery and did not stop brewing production.
Beer Purity Law
In 1516, Duke William VI of Bavaria signed a law on the purity of beer and announced it at the gates of the monastery. Since then, Bavarian beer has been brewed only from hops, malt, brewing yeast and water.
In 1803, the monastery was closed, but this did not affect brewing production.
Brewery Weltenburg
However, the Weihenstephaner brewery has a rival - the Weltenburg brewery. The monks of the Weltenburg monastery received a license for brewing only 10 years later than the monks of the Weihenstephaner monastery. The main argument of this brewery is that they still brew beer on the active territory of the ancient monastery.
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