Molchi Brew

It all started in early summer 2020, as is typical in Saarland, at the barbecue grill in Hanno's garden, with delicious grilled food and beer. As always, there was a lively discussion about which beer was the best and which one to drink next. Since there were always disagreements on this topic, the idea arose to simply brew our own beer. Of course, the ladies laughed at us again for this "crazy idea" that we certainly wouldn't actually implement. But the three of them hadn't reckoned with Patrik, who simply ordered a brewing system on the spot.

So, the very next week, the original recipe for our pilsner was written, the ingredients ordered, and the brewing began the following weekend in Hanno's barn. Everyone was enthusiastic and eager to see the result. The brew fermented for two weeks before the next "work session" took place: bottling the young beer. This was when we first experienced the downsides of brewing. Washing the bottles in the Hargarten heat required a great deal of time and hard work. Of course, at the end of this strenuous day, we were rewarded with cold drinks and a hearty barbecue.

After another four weeks had passed, the day we had all been eagerly anticipating finally arrived. Our first beer was ready. We stood in Hanno's garden, our brew in hand, full of excitement. Having read in various brewing forums that the first batch is usually discarded due to its undrinkability, we were a little worried that our hard work wouldn't be rewarded. But Florian made his position clear: "No matter how it tastes, we're not throwing any beer away!" With that in mind, we toasted and were pleasantly surprised. Our pilsner, whose recipe has only been minimally tweaked since, tasted delicious to all of us. We quickly sought a few more opinions from others, which, however, confirmed our seemingly biased impression.

Now there was only one question left to answer: What should the beer be called? While we were pondering this, our children came running out of the pond in the garden shouting "Molchi!" because they had found a newt there. Everyone present laughed at the situation, and we immediately knew that this unusual name would adorn our beer.

Later that year, the pilsner was brewed again to ensure it wasn't a fluke. A pale lager was also brewed, which proved very popular with all the testers, as well as a Christmas beer that brought the Christmas market right to people's homes during the pandemic.

Shortly after, we realized that a 30-liter brewing system wouldn't be enough in the long run, so we ordered a 50-liter system to be able to brew two different types of beer each brewing day. In the spring of 2021, we decided to expand the whole thing even further to share the "Molchi-Bräu" experience with other beer lovers…