Schlenkerla Builds a New Brewhouse Above Its Stephansberg Cellars

In 1936, Schlenkerla owner Michael Graser had a new brewhouse constructed on Stephansberg in Bamberg, on the site of the brewery’s former beer cellar and beer garden. The project was a major stage in the gradual relocation of production from the historic tavern and brewhouse in Dominikanerstraße to the brewery’s storage-cellar site above the rock cellars. Brewing on Stephansberg eliminated the laborious transport of beer between the city-center brewery and the maturation cellars. From then on, Schlenkerla’s Rauchbier could be brewed above the cellars, filled into wooden barrels, and stored in the rock chambers directly below. The new brewhouse modernized the brewery’s operations while preserving its close connection between smoked-malt brewing, wooden-cask handling, and traditional cellar maturation.