Germany’s ‘Best Kept Secret’ Found in Saxony:
U.S. Discovers Eastern German Radeberger Beer

Radeberger’s Brew Master Udo Schiedemair toasts new markets in USA.

Germany is famous for the art of beer making. But beer lovers in the West are now rediscovering a premium German beer that was locked away behind the Iron Curtain for forty years.

Radeberger Pilsner is currently being test marketed in Boston, Chicago, Columbus, Ohio, and San Francisco, under the direction of Binding Brauerei USA. During the second half of the 19th century, a new specialty beer came to Germany from Pilsen in Bohemia (now the Czech Republic). This so-called “Pilsner” - highly fermented and bitter with hops - spread rapidly in neighboring Saxony.

German entrepreneurs in the Dresden suburb of Radeberg decided to make the equivalent of this Bohemian beer in their own brewery. They knew that nearby wells offered the kind of soft water that was an important ingredient for the production of a good Pilsner beer. In 1866, they formed a small private brewery to create the first German beer brewed in the Pilsner style. In 1872, the Radeberger brewery was founded as the shareholder brewery “Zum Bergkeller.”

At the time, purity regulations required that any brewery that wanted to ship further than the distance that smoke travels from their chimneys would have to produce a high quality beer with good storage qualities. Radeberger Pilsner clearly met the quality requirements and by 1885 the company’s name changed to Radeberg Export Brewery. Demand increased and the German Pilsner beer began to be exported to the United States from around the turn of the century until the Cold War.

What makes Radeberger Pilsner distinctive from other beers? It has a light, vibrant golden color. It has a spicy, hoppy nose that is not too strong. Radeberger looks like a domestic beer but it has more flavor than most American beers, especially light beers, is less gassy, and gives a brief bitter sensation at the back of the throat. The head is creamy white foam that is made of tiny bubbles.

Radeberger might be described as being a beer that is somewhere between the light flavored domestic American beers but lighter and smoother than the heavier, bitterer flavor of other imports, such as Heineken or Beck’s.

“The water we use helps to make the beer smooth,” explains Radeberger Brew Master Udo Schiedemair.

At Radeberger, water from nearby underground reservoirs contains only a small amount of minerals so that the beer flavor is not blocked. Without the naturally soft water, which is common in Bohemia but rare elsewhere, a pilsner - the most refined yet delicate style of beer - would be just another pale, golden lager.

Mr. Schiedermair, the affable Bavarian-born “Braumeister” of the Radeberger brewery in Radeberg, is a graduate of the renowned Weihenstephan brewery school located near Munich. Considered by many as the Harvard of brewery schools, Weihenstephan offers two and four year training programs. Students are awarded engineering degrees in the time-honored art of beer making. Beer has been produced at a small monastery there since the year 1,041 AD but it began to be used as a school in the early 1840’s.

After graduating from Weihenstephan, Mr. Schiedermair worked at several small breweries in western Germany before being recruited by Radeberger in 1998.

“Making beer is in my blood”, he says. “My father was a brew master and so is my uncle.” Mr. Schiedermair ascribes other benefits to beer as well. “Beer is the best drink to have when you are thirsty after physical exercise,” he asserts.

With a royal decree on December 11th, 1905, his Majesty King Frederic August of Saxony, declared the Radeberg Export Brewery the "Royal Court Brewery of Saxony." It was also said to be the favorite of Prince Otto von Bismarck.

Today, Radeberger is perhaps the most well known brand of Saxon pilsner sold in eastern Germany. To keep up with demand production has climbed from just over 400,000 hectoliters per year in 1990 to 200 million hectoliters in 2000, making Radeberger the 7th largest pilsner brewery in a country with about 1,300 beer companies. One hectoliter equals 100 liters.

In terms of its reputation in Germany, Saxony can be compared with the beer-drinking state of Bavaria. About 40% of Radeberger’s entire production are consumed in Saxony where it also enjoys the largest (17%) market share. Here in Saxony, where beer is not only a delightful beverage but also part of a long and proud tradition, Radeberger can be found in nearly every good pub and sophisticated restaurant. But now the rest of the beer-loving world is discovering it too.—