"It tastes at least as good as before," says Ayings Bräu Franz Inselkammer (38) benevolently.
The most recent tasting was a kind of accolade for Bernhard Neunhoeffer.
Because he is responsible for the new brews himself since he officially succeeded Hans-Jürgen Iwan as first master brewer.
Aying
- special brews are already brewed, for example for the kirtabier or the celebrator.
They'll come to the bar in a few weeks.
But the regular beers, such as the Helle, already bear Neunhoeffer's signature and can already be drunk.
The fact that the native of Berlin will one day shape the fortunes of the Ayinger brewery still makes the 38-year-old “baffled” today.
And he is honored that he received such positive attention from the numerous applications.
He still remembers it exactly when he was surprised to see the job advertisement in the trade magazine “Brauwelt” at the end of 2019: “I actually didn't think of many opportunities, but still submitted my application.” After all, becoming a master brewer in the Munich area is not an option every day before.
And it's not that easy either.
Gained a lot of experience in different breweries
Inselkammer emphasizes that the family made a conscious decision to open a public tender: “We wanted to see what applications would come in.
After all, our brewery is not unknown.
And the industry isn't that big either. ”Many good applications found their way to Aying, from young people who had the confidence to do so to old hands.
What was important to the Inselkammers was their credibility, technical knowledge, enjoyment of the subject of beer, and their home in the Upper Bavarian cultural area.
Long cooperation is also desirable.
In the end, Bernhard Neunhoeffer, who grew up in the Tölzer Land and learned his basic hand tools at the Reutberg monastery brewery, stood out. Then I went to Doemens to Graefelfing, as operations manager of Kaiserwasser GmbH to Innichen (South Tyrol), to the test and training institute for brewery in Berlin (master brewer), to the Ottakringer brewery in Vienna, to the wheat beer brewery in Salzburg and finally to the Fürstenberg brewery in Donaueschingen . There he was production team leader and project manager for the planned move of the brewery to the green field. And now he lives in the Braumeistervilla on Münchner Strasse with his wife Sonja and their children Kilian and Maria. In Aying he had already sniffed into the bottling plant during the Reutberger times,from where grandma kept bringing a celebrator home and where Sonja and Bernhard Neunhoeffer celebrated their wedding in the brewery inn in 2013. “Of course there were always points of contact,” notes the new employee. But he couldn't have dreamed that he would be the Ayinger brewmaster.
Braumeister is the brewery's figurehead
Since he has been working since February, he was able to look over the shoulders of his predecessor Iwan and learn a lot.
He has to do with brewery director Helmut Erdmann almost every day, and there is a jour fixe with the brewery once a week.
In a way, the three make up the triumvirate.
“The master brewer is something special in Upper Bavaria.
It is also a figurehead for our brewery, ”explains Inselkammer.
That's why it's not just everyday work in the brewery that is important.
It is just as important that the master brewer shows up, for example at the regular regulars' table on Mondays in the Bräustüberl.
Inselkammer: “Everyone has a subjective opinion about beer.
The master brewer is also eyed and has to answer questions about the quality of the beer. "
The Aying brewery has 16 varieties in its range throughout the year. Bräu and Braumeister do not want to rule out that there could be further growth.