Brauerei Spezial Begins Brewing in Bamberg

In 1536, cooper Linhard Großkopf established the brewing site that later became Brauerei Spezial in Bamberg. A surviving document identifies Großkopf as the founder of the brewery on what is now Obere Königstraße. The name “Spezial” appeared later and was associated with the seventeenth-century brewer and cooper Nikolaus Delscher, who was known as “Spicial.” Spezial developed into one of Bamberg’s defining smoked-beer breweries. It produces its own malt and dries it over an open beechwood fire, allowing smoke from the kiln to become part of the beer’s flavor. While most breweries eventually adopted smoke-free malting technology, Spezial maintained the older method and helped preserve Rauchbier as a living Franconian brewing tradition.