WEIHENSTEPHAN (Germany)

Bavarian State Brewery Weihenstephan is the oldest operating brewery in the world.  For all brewers and beer connoisseurs, Weihenstephan is the recognized keeper of Bavarian and world beer culture, a place of pilgrimage and an absolute benchmark for quality.  In 1040, the abbot of the monastery, Arnold, bought the rights to manufacture and sell beer from the city of Freising, then the capital of Bavaria.  This is how the monastery brewery Weihenstephan (St. Stephen) was born.  And in 1516, at the gate of the monastery, the Bavarian law on the purity of beer, signed by Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria, was read.  It is here, within the walls of the oldest brewery in the world, that the prestigious faculty of the Munich Technical University known to any brewer is located.  Since its foundation in 1930, brewers from all over the world have received and continue to receive education here.  The value of Weihenstephan for Bavarian brewing and the quality of Weihenstephan beer is confirmed by the unique right to use the state coat of arms of Bavaria as the emblem of a brewer.