Talschänke Wöllnitz
Jena – Wöllnitz
DEU

The brewpub Talschänke in the Jena city district Wöllnitz was opened as a tavern in 1991, immediately after the political changes; and in 1997 it began brewing its own beer. Located in a narrow street in a residential area, the building does not look specific; and on first glance, one would not think that the basement and the back of this house host an inn and a brewery. Only a small sign advertising the – alas commercial – beer Frankenbräu, attracts passing by people to walking around the building to the backyard. There, they can find a large beer garden and an old-fashioned, spacious bar-room.

Only one beer is brewed on the premises – a Berlin-style Weißbier with about 4.5% alcohol, made following a “traditional original recipe”. Once, Wöllnitz was famous for its Berlin-style Weißbiers, but when the last of the wheat beer brewers, Gerhard Barfuß, ceased brewing in 1983, Wöllnitz’s brewing tradition got extinct. Kay Hoppe, the owner of the Talschänke, has revived this tradition and is brewing on a self-designed brewing plant eight hectolitres per brew, a total of about 100 hectolitres per year. The beer is exclusively sold in the Talschänke, pure, or mixed with sweet woodruff or raspberry syrup; or, also following an old Berlin tradition, with a dash of caraway schnapps. It can also be taken home in bottles or KEGs.

Besides the home-brewed beer, there are some commercial beers on offer, too (including, of course, the advertised Frankenbräu); and a surprisingly large number of different wines, in particular from the Saale-Unstrut region, can be found.

On the menu, the visitor can find inexpensive, simple, and rustic dishes of varying quality – during our visit on 16^th April 2012, the pork steak with mushrooms in cream sauce with bacon and fried potatoes was quite excellent, whereas the goulash with red cabbage and a (superb!) Thuringian dumpling consisted to a large extent of lumps of fat and proved to be almost inedible.

Pictures

Talschänke Wöllnitz
Im Pennickental 44
07 749 Jena – Wöllnitz
Thüringen
Deutschland