Schlenkerla and Spezial Become Bamberg’s Last Traditional Rauchbier Brewers

Around 1935, Schlenkerla and Brauerei Spezial became the only breweries in Bamberg still producing Rauchbier through the city’s traditional method. Both breweries retained their own maltings and dried malt in smoke from open wood fires, while smoke-free industrial kilns and commercially produced malt had displaced brewery-operated smoke kilns elsewhere. Schlenkerla and Spezial did not merely preserve an old recipe. Each modernized its smoke kiln while maintaining a continuous connection between malting, brewing, and the flavor of the finished beer. Their survival kept traditionally produced Bamberg Rauchbier alive and later provided the historical foundation for the style’s revival by other breweries. Slow Food subsequently included their traditional Rauchbier in its Ark of Taste because of this uninterrupted production tradition.