The gold letters of the Radeberger Beer Factory gleamed against the Dresden frequently gray summer clouds and reminded us where we were. The GI has done a good job taking us to some pretty diverse spots in Dresden and schedules morning and afternoon tours. Unfortunately the interest has dwindled and we had only 12 students attending this tour. It surprised me, since there are so many young people in the program. Could there be a loss of interest in beer, even though our tour guide asserted that beer is healthy for you and won’t cause bier bauchs? (Contrary to common belief). I think she forgot to explain that you won’t get a beer belly if you don’t drink beer–it got lost in translation.

Anyway, the facility was, needless to say, spic and span. The scale and size of it was mind-boggling, not to mention the claim that a million liters are bottled here every day. About 80% is bottled and the rest is stored in kegs. The main ingredients of yeast, hops, malt and water from underground wells were shown to us, and then we were offered brot with a generous tasting of three glasses each of their Pilsner. We even got to keep the glasses at the end!

Photos, top to bottom:

1. Entrance to the Beer Factory.
2. The facility functions more like a high tech lab, with lots of technicians checking that everything is running smoothly.

3. There is almost an aesthetic to the amount of piping and mixing that goes on in the brewery.

4. Detail of the stainless steel piping–a beauty to behold

5. The production area that bottles the beer.