Top quality raw ingredients

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

… hops, water, malt, yeast, and nothing else! In order to maintain the high quality of our ingredients as they are, they are inspected by the boss himself, Heinrich Dieter Kiener, on-site.  

Water 

Our pure, untreated spring water comes from a deep well at the foot of the nearby Unterberg, whose peak is nearly 2000 metres above sea level. The taste of Untersberg water was appreciated as far back as the 15th century by Salzburg's archbishops who had carried every day by water bearers and served at the princely table.  

Hops

The hops for our beers come primarily from the Mühlviertel of Austria. Only our Stiegl Pilsner uses additional premium quality Saaz hops gives our pilsner its characteristic fine bitterness. Hops have been used in agriculture for a long time. 

Hops have been cultivated in the Upper Austrian Mühlviertel since the 12th century and were grown in Bohemia as far back as the 8th century - and even earlier in some cases. 

The hops are harvested between the end of August and mid-September. Subsequently they are kiln dried at a temperature of 62 to 65°C. To ensure the quality of the essential oils produced is maintained the hops are stored in a cooling room at the Stiegl brewery at 4 - 6°C and only opened just before they are to be used. That's how these hops lend our beer its incomparable flavour.  

Barley 

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

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 most suitable for brewing due to its low protein content. Its quality is determined by aroma, size and the shape of the grains, and by 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. Quality is especially important when it comes to yeast. The brewers proverb is true: “The brewer makes the wort - 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. The yeast also produces flavouring compounds as bi-products, which contribute to the taste structure of the beer. There are two types of beer yeasts: 

Top-fermenting yeasts collect at the top of the wort vat during the fermentation process, bottom-fermenting yeasts at the bottom. 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 top-fermented beer is wheat beer (Stiegl Weizengold), but rye and spelt beer are also top-fermented, as are the regional brews Kölsch and Altbier.