Kloster Reutberg: Magnificent Alpine Views and Beers Worth the Hike

You’ll come to Kloster Reutberg for the beer and stay for the Alps. Or maybe it’s the other way around. Either way, the panoramic view from Kloster Reutberg’s terrace is one of the best beer garden views in Bavaria. If you get here in the morning while the mist is still clinging to the Alps, it’s as if the curtain is lifting on a majestic performance as the sun dissipates the clouds.

Speaking of early, cyclists and hikers flock to the monastery grounds perched idyllically atop a hillock rising gently above the meadows of Sachsenkam, especially when the weather’s nice. Be sure to arrive early enough to claim your front-row seat on the terrace. The early bird gets the worm. And don’t forget to bring sunscreen.

Brewed by Nuns

Kloster Reutenberg got its start as a Capuchin monastery in 1618 but became a Franciscan convent in 1651. Like their male counterparts, the Franciscan nuns preferred beer to water and founded a brewery on their grounds in 1677. The brewery and cloister were dissolved during the secularization of the Napoleonic era but were brought back to life a few decades later by King Ludwig I, who played a major role in revitalizing monasteries around Bavaria. (Another “beer famous” monastery he revived is Kloster Andechs.)

*For more on Kloster Andechs, check out Kloster Andechs: And Blessed Be Thy Beer

The brewery became a popular magnet for locals and day trippers alike during the nineteenth century, but the after-effects of World War One and the rampant inflation of the early Weimar period almost spelled the end of the brewery. In 1924 Alois Daisenberger, a well-respected pastor from nearby Reichsbeuren, stepped in to found a cooperative with the farmers and craftsmen of Sachsenkam in a bid to keep the brewery from insolvency.

Liquid Dividends by the Liter

Two Maß of beer — that’s two liters — and a meal, usually a roasted chicken or pork knuckle. These are the dividends doled out during the yearly shareholder meeting for the Kloster Reutberg brewery cooperative, the kinds of dividends that have sustained the so-called “spirit of Reutberg” during the past century. The cooperative’s existence is a story of resistance to consolidation and mergers, and a testament to the desire for independence from large corporations.

The spirit of Reutberg has even expressed itself in the form of flared tempers. In 1987, members of the board put forward a motion to merge with a brewery in Holzkirchen, which precipitated a showdown with a core group of members determined to resist the merger. The dustup resulted in the resignation of the entire board of directors. Those who defied the board were vindicated in the end: the brewery in Holzkirchen is no more, and just about all of the remaining established breweries in the region have been gobbled up by larger concerns.

Today, the brewery is one of the few remaining cooperatively owned breweries in Germany, but it’s not just locals who are doing their part to keep the brewery afloat. More than 2000 citizens of Munich are shareholders. Even politicians have gotten into the act. The president of the Bavarian Parliament, Ilse Aigner, is a member of the cooperative, as is former Bavarian finance minister and current vice-president of the Bavarian Parliament, Wolfgang Heubisch.

Gone are the days when bankruptcy threatened. The cooperative has become so successful that the members decided to cap the number of shareholders at 5200. Whoever wants a piece of the pie has to take a number and wait till a shareholder relinquishes his or her stake or gives up the ghost.

The Beers of Kloster Reutberg

Kloster Reutberg’s beers issue forth from an old copper system right next to the monastery church benevolently watching over the tiled brewhouse. On any given day you’ll have about twelve beers to choose from — more than enough to quench your thirst. The styles run the gamut from Helles, Pils, and Export to Bock, Märzen, Kellerbier, and three different kinds of Weissbier.

Reutberg’s Aegidius Trunk Kellerbier is a rewardingly fresh way to replenish your electrolytes after your hike to the brewery. Originally released in time for the Aegidius Fest in autumn but now available year-round, the Aegidius Trunk is a hazy Festbier the colour of liquid caramel. The residual yeast combines with the hops to yield a beer that’s intensely floral, almost soap-like. But that’s not to say this delicious beer is soapy, only that its perfume spices up the bready malt. A mild and peppery effervescence modulates the Swiss milk caramel and fresh cream on the palate, leading to a crisp and spicy finish. (Two Tankards)

As far as the typical clove and banana aromas of German wheat beers go, Reutberg’s Klosterweisse is on the restrained end. Brewed with 60% wheat, Klosterweisse certainly has that distinctive fullness on the palate, along with a mild citrus-grassy wheat character and a touch of light brown sugar. But with its clean fermentation profile and subdued clove and coriander aromas, it’s a bit more like a Weissbier for Witbier lovers — which isn’t a bad thing at all.

The mousse-like foam cap atop the Export Hell conceals floral aromas interwoven with herbal notes of boxwood. Creamy carbonation keeps the beer delicate and gentle, while peppery hops lend a refreshing crispness to the residual white nougat and country bread sweetness. If anything this otherwise elegant beer could benefit from a bit more mid-section heft.

Reutberg’s Export Dunkel is a crystal-clear dark amber-mahogany beauty that sparkles like copper in the sunlight. Mild cocoa builds into a crescendo of mocha and fresh dark bread in this full bodied and creamy beer, and bright hop notes of pepper-spice add liveliness without stealing the malt’s thunder. Toast combines with dried black cherry, fresh brown bread, chocolate, and brown sugar, leaving a pleasant residual sweetness to accompany the aftertaste of spiced dried apricots. (Two Tankards)

If you’re lucky enough to arrive in the months after the Feast of St. Joseph on 19 March, the Josefi-Bock is proof that the beer deities love you and want you to be happy. This scrumptious dark amber beer has everything a malthead could want: dates and honeyed figs, black cherry and Christmas cake, Ovaltine and dark fresh raspberries, even a nuttiness reminiscent of Oloroso sherry. Rich and satisfying with an autumn honey residual sweetness, this complex Bock swirls together spiced hot chocolate, pumpernickel bread, and nutmeg into a powerful elixir that’ll have you gazing off dreamily at the Alps in the distance. Don’t forget to weigh this beer down with some food before you continue with your hike. (Three Tankards)

A Beer Garden Feast

As for the food selection, it ranges from game and the bounty of the local lakes and streams to classics like schnitzel, sausages of various stripes, Spätzle, and the usual lineup of Brotzeit platters. The Reutberger Weißbiergrillwürste — two smoky and spicy russet sausages accompanied by superb potato salad — is divine.

*To find out more about beer garden food, check out The Art of the Beer Garden Food Feast

The back of the menu reads like a directory of local butchers, fruit and vegetable farmers, dairy farmers, hunters, and bakers. And the beer garden furniture comes from a local workshop in Gaißach — of course it does! Even the staff members’ shirts, vests, and dirndls come from local tailors.

How can you not feel good about eating and drinking at a place like this, especially after walking working up a thirst and appetite by walking here?

Getting To and From Kloster Reutberg

The brewery and gracefully faded monastery grounds make for a pleasant day trip from Munich or Bad Tölz. Wherever you start your day, you can also combine a morning jaunt to Kloster Reutberg with a stop in Tegernsee. Bus service from Munich via Holzkirchen is limited (5 per day; last departure to Munich at 5:11 p.m.), so your best bet is a short 5-kilometer hike via Sachsenkam from the well-serviced Schaftlach train station along the Munich-Bad Tölz line. The route is relatively well posted. Take the BOB (Bayrische Oberlandbahn) from Bad Tölz or Munich’s main station and transfer at Holzkirchen if you’re doing the bus option, or get out at Schaftlach (where it splits to Tegernsee) and then look for the signs to Kloster Reutberg.

Once you’re done with your food and drinks, you have several choices. You can return to Schaftlach the way you came and get the BOB back to Munich or Bad Tölz, or head over to Tegernsee for more beer explorations. Hiking options abound in the vicinity of Kloster Reutberg, as do cycling routes if you happen to have arrived on two wheels. Just check out the “Rund um den Kirchsee” map on the back of the menu for a 13-kilometer loop through woods and wetlands. Alternatively, you could find your way to Bad Tölz via forestry paths and the Landstrasse (warning: not sign-posted).

*The beer garden and terrace are irresistible on a fine day, but the rustic Klosterbräustüberl Reutberg is no slouch in the rustic antler-bedecked Bräustüberl department.

*Kloster Reutberg’s annual brewing output is a respectable 22,000 hectoliters per year.

Kloster Reutberg Sources

Klosterbrauerei Reutberg website: http://www.klosterbrauerei-reutberg.de/

Matthias Bieber, “Die Brauerei mit den 5200 Inhabern,” Oberbayrisches Volksblatt (13 August 2019).

Birgit Lotze, “Flüssige Dividende,” Mir San Bier (Munich: Süddeutsche Zeitung: 2013).

All images by Franz D. Hofer.

Related Articles

Kloster Andechs: And Blessed Be Thy Beer

The Art of the Beer Garden Food Feast

Munich’s Beer Gardens East and West of the Isar

The Fünf-Seidla-Steig: Beer Hiking in Bavaria’s Franconian Switzerland

Klosterbrauerei Weissenohe: Where Malty Beers Fit For Monks Meet Dry-Hopped Ales

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