Stiegl

The brewery's name is derived from the word for stairs ("Stiegen"), after the steps alongside the original building. It was first documented on 16 June 1492, when it operated under the name Das Bräuhaus an der Gstätten in Salzburg's Old Town. In 1863 Stiegl moved to the Maxglan district, and it says that by 1912 it had become the largest brewery in Salzburg.

Stiegl brews in accordance with the purity law of 1516 and malts its own grains, drawing on spring water from the Untersberg region. In 2005 a new brewhouse opened at the Salzburg site, which Stiegl says was the most modern brewhouse in Europe. In 2012 Stiegl opened a brew farm 30 miles north of Salzburg, and it says it was the first brewery in Austria to run its own organic farm. The site, known as Stiegl-Gut Wildshut, operates on a circular economy model and supplies ancient grain varieties to the brewery.

Stiegl is the most popular beer brand in Austria not owned by Brau Union. Its range includes a 0.0% alcohol-free line of lagers and radlers, suited to sober-curious drinkers. The alcohol-free lager is bottom-fermented and brewed with water, barley malt, wheat malt, hops, yeast, and fermentation carbonic acid; the alcohol is then removed by gentle evaporation, with no beer flavourings added afterwards. The brewery's Brauwelt beer museum on the outskirts of Salzburg is open daily.