Einbeck

Einbeck brewed on a commercial scale from the fourteenth century, with brewing rights attached to houses rather than to breweries: around seven hundred citizens held the right and brewed in turn using a communal kettle wheeled from house to house, which is why the old houses have wide arched doorways tall enough to take it. The beer was exported across northern Europe. When a Bavarian duke brought an Einbeck brewer to Munich in the seventeenth century, the local pronunciation of Ainpöckisch shortened to bock, which became the German word for a strong beer. Around four hundred timber-framed houses survive, many with carved and painted beams.

History

In the early Middle Ages several villages stood along the Ilme in the middle Leine valley before Einbeck was founded, and a stift of Saint Alexander, founded by a local count's grandson, grew into an important sanctuary. Beer was brewed in the larger houses that held brewing rights, still recognisable by their wide arched doors, made to take the brewing kettle; in Munich the name Einbeck was misheard as "oan bock", a billy goat, and when the ducal brewhouse copied the taste, Bock beer was born (Wikipedia, Einbeck).

What's there

• The wide doorways - arches built to admit the communal brewing kettle.
• The carved beams - painted and carved timber fronts across the old town.
• The bock origin - the name that became a beer style through Munich.
• The brewing museum - the town's trade and its export reach.

When to go

April to October; the town is quiet and rarely crowded. Museums close Mondays. A bicycle museum and a car museum also operate in the town.

What to expect

The town is small and quickly walked. Museums keep limited hours. The modern brewery is a commercial operation, not historic.

Nearby

Göttingen lies south; Hameln is northwest.

Key facts