Tours and Activities:

Kunstmann traditional beer brewing

A visit to the brewery entails tasting its different beer types and styles as well as delicious food, a very interesting museum and watching the brewing process.

A few minutes from Valdivia city centre, La Cervecería or Ale House is one of the typical places to find their hundred year old traditional specialties in the City of Rivers.

On reaching the huge building housing the brewery, we first entered a cozy, German architecture and decoration restaurant. Beer barrels, taps and snifter glasses decorated its ample rooms. A guide welcomed us and explained we could taste their products before visiting the museum and watching the brewing process.

We chose dishes whose flavor would match the different types of hand-crafted beer. We first tried bock or dark beer. Intensely dark, with a malty, toasty aroma, we immediately noticed its high level of alcohol, a perfect balance obtained by the high concentration of crude wort and a long aging period at low temperature.

We were then served Torobayo ale, high fermentation beer with a fruity flavor. Of British origin, popular in Victorian times, its characteristic pale amber color is due to the use of blonde and caramel malt.

Next came the unfiltered, blonde Kunstmann Lager. A rawer beer, direct to your glass from maturation, naturally turbid. Last but not least we tasted the Blonde Kunstmann, a low fermentation beer (at about 10°C) using only blonde malt and fermenting at this low temperature for over a month.

We then made our way to the museum and its collection of ancient brewing machines, jars, labels and pools used in olden days. The history of beer in Valdivia dates back to the XIX century when it was imported. It was in 1851, when Karl Anwandter, a German immigrant founded his brewery. It was active until the 1960 earthquake which completely destroyed it. Years later, Anwandter founded a new factory named Kunstmann which, over the years, has earned well deserved international acclaim.

‘Kunstmann, our beer, is made in strict accordance with the Reinheitsgebot Purity Law adopted in 1516 which requires the use of only first quality ingredients and, most importantly, fresh, pristine water,’ we were assured.

The same guide showed us around the area where brew masters combine several types of malt, hop, barley and yeast to make the different varieties. The pure groundwater is as irreplaceable as the original recipes.

For people who enjoy this non-distilled alcoholic beverage Cervecería Kunstmann is a mandatory stop in Valdivia City. Added to the quality and tradition of its beer is the opportunity of a casual, friendly get together at the restaurant with perfect food-beer pairing.

Fábrica de cerveza y cervecería Kunstmann
Ruta T-350 nro. 950 - Camino Niebla - Valdivia
Tel: +56 - 63 - 229 29 69
E-mail: contacto@lacerveceria.cl

Contact

Patagonia Adventure Center

Los Castellanos s/n, (5090000) , Valdivia, XIV Región de los Ríos
Tel: +56 63-2282154

See also: Hotels in Valdivia and other accommodation venues