Zum Schlüssel Begins Brewing Altbier in Düsseldorf

In 1850, a young master baker acquired the building on Bolkerstraße that became Hausbrauerei Zum Schlüssel and began producing beer there. The property itself had a much longer history and was documented as early as 1632 under the name “Zu den drei Königen,” but 1850 marks the beginning of the present brewery tradition. Zum Schlüssel became one of Düsseldorf’s defining Altbier house breweries. Its top-fermented beer preserved the city’s older brewing method during the growing dominance of lager, while the brewery tavern helped sustain Altbier as part of Düsseldorf’s everyday drinking culture. Brewing continues at the historic Old Town site, making Zum Schlüssel an important link between nineteenth-century Altbier and the city’s surviving brewpub tradition.