New construction of the monastery brewery, 1972-1984

Since the end of the 1960s, the brewery again suffered from a worsening lack of space.

Father Daniel Gerritzen (cellerar 1968-1986; prior 1976-1982)

As the brewery was still directly on the Holy Mountain, the existential question had to be asked: Close down or rebuild?

Father Daniel Gerritzen managed the enterprises during these crucial years. He served the monastic community from 1968 to 1986 as commercial manager (cellerar) and was also the monastery’s prior from 1976 to 1982.

Under his auspices, the monastery with readiness to assume risk decided, after long and intensive deliberations, to proceed with the brewery’s complete new construction at the foot of the Holy Mountain.

This visionary decision gave the monastery brewery the space it urgently needed for further development through new construction in two stages.

1972-1984: New construction of the monastery brewery with the brewhouse, fermentation and storage cellar

Master brewer Erich Müller was responsible for the construction of the filling plant, which commenced operation in 1974.

Under the management of Dr Georg Orthuber, the brewhouse with fermentation and storage cellar finally began operating in 1984.

New construction not only solved the problem of the space shortage that had been ongoing for decades.

Many important jobs for employees in the region were also maintained or created by the new nonastery brewery.

What’s more, all technical brewing facilities were consistently constructed according to current insights of modern brewing science, so that the monastery brewery was among Bavaria’s most modern midsize breweries in the mid-1980s.

Andechs Monastery Emblem