High-quality raw materials

We use only the best raw materials for our Stiegl, and they come from Austria.

… hops, water, malt, yeast, and nothing else! And in order to make sure that our raw materials remain as high quality as they are, our boss Heinrich Dieter Kiener checks them on location, in person.

Water

Our pure, untreated spring water comes from a deep well at the foot of the nearby Unterberg, which is nearly 2,000 meters above sea level, the local mountain of Salzburg citizenry. The taste of Untersberg water was appreciated as far back as the 15th century by the Salzburg archbishops, and they had it served at the princely table, carried every day by water bearers.

Hops

The hops for our beers come primarily from the Mühlviertel. It is only for our Stiegl Pilsner, that we use an additional noble Saaz hop, which gives our pilsner its characteristic fine bitterness. Hops are an agricultural plant with a history.

They have been cultivated in the Upper Austrian Mühlviertel since the 12th century. They have been growing in Bohemia as far back as the 8th century and even earlier in some cases.

Barley

The high quality two-row summer barley that is the basis for our malt comes from the Lower Austrian wine region. Malt is brewer’s barley that has been transformed by steeping, germination, and kilning, and gives our beer its body and fullness of flavor.

In our region, barley is used almost exclusively for brewing, and the quality and variety can vary depending on the location, climate, and time of harvest. Two-row summer barley is the most suitable for brewing, due to its low protein content. Its quality is determined by: aroma, size, and shape of the grains, and the quality of the spelt and the inner grain.

Yeast

We breed our own yeast strains, in order to ensure that the taste of our beers remains unchanged. High quality is especially important when it comes to yeast. The brewers proverb is true: “The brewer makes the wort, and the yeast makes the beer.” Yeast is a single-celled fungus that is responsible for fermenting the wort, transforming malt sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide (Link: Brewing process/fermentation). The yeast also produces flavoring compounds as a byproduct, which contributes to the taste structure of the beer. There are two types of beer yeasts:

top-fermenting yeasts collect at the top during the fermenting process, while bottom-fermenting yeasts are found at the bottom of the fermenting vat. Depending on the yeast selected, beers are classified as top-fermented or bottom-fermented. The bottom-fermented beers include Stiegl Goldbräu and Stiegl Pilsner. The most prominent representative of top-fermented beer is wheat beer (Stiegl Weizengold), but rye and spelt beer are also top-fermented, as are the regional styles of Kölsch and Altbier.