Paulaner Brauerei Gmbh & Co. Kg, the largest brewery in Munich and the eighth largest in Germany. The brewery is almost 4 centuries old and was founded as a monastery brewery in 1634. It has been making beer with only brief interruptions ever since. During its sometimes turbulent history, the brewery has changed hands several times, made its own innovative contributions to the world of beer, and generally reflected the development of Bavarian beer at large. See bavaria. Today, Paulaner, together with Hacker–Pschorr, the Anheuser-Busch InBev–owned Löwenbräu and Spaten, the State of Bavaria-owned Hofbräuhaus, and the independent Augustiner, is one of Munich’s traditional “big six” breweries. The brewery’s legal name is now Paulaner Brauerei GmbH & Co. KG. Together with the adjacent Hacker–Pschorr Bräu GmbH, it is part of the Munich-based Brau Holding International AG, which, in turn, is owned 49.9% by the Dutch Heineken N.V. and 50.1% by the Schörghuber Corporate Group, a diversified enterprise with businesses in hotels, aircraft leasing, beverages, real estate, and construction. Paulaner takes its name from the Paulaner monks, a branch of the Benedictines, so named after the Italian Saint Francis of Paola. The monks had come to Munich from Italy in 1627 at the invitation of the pious and austere Duke Maximilian I of Bavaria to do good works. Initially they only brewed for themselves, but they soon obtained a dispensing license for the Munich citizenry. In Benedictine fashion, their beers were strong and malty, a true “liquid bread.” The friars called their beer sankt-vater-bier (“Holy Father Beer”), a name that evolved into Salvator, the Latin word for “Savior.” During Lent, when, according to ecclesiastic doctrine, the monks were restricted to a liquid diet, these friars eventually used a recipe created in 1774 by one of their brewmasters, Valentin Stephan Still, who stirred the mash as Brother Barnabas. Barnabas’ recipe yielded a version of Salvator that was “double” strong (“doppel” in German) and thus invented the first doppelbock. See doppelbock. However, the Paulaner monks’ joy in their Salvator was short lived. Calamity soon came in the person of Napoleon Bonaparte, under whose policy of secularization of church property the Paulaner monastery and its brewery were forced to be shut down and become the property of the State of Bavaria in 1799. The brewery lay in disuse for 7 years until it was rented, in 1806, to Franz Xaver Zacherl, the owner of the Münchener Hellerbräu. Zacherl was able to purchase the old Paulaner Brewery outright in 1813, thus saving Salvator beer from extinction. The revived Paulaner Brewery prospered and in 1928 merged with the Gebrüder Thomas Bierbrauerei of Munich to form the company Paulaner Salvator Thomas Bräu. In 1998, the Hacker–Pschorr Brewery was closed and Paulaner took over the brewing of the Hacker–Pschorr brands. Paulaner is now by far the biggest brewery in Munich.

The Paulaner Group, which currently includes Hacker–Pschorr Brau GmbH Munchen and Auerbrau AG Rosenheim, introduced a light beer with 40% less alcohol in 1989, 3 years after releasing the first non-alcoholic wheat beer. Paulaner roggen, a dark wheat beer brewed with rye, debuted in 1998 but has since been discontinued.

Paulaner bottles five varieties of weissbier, six hellbiers or light lagers, an Oktoberfest (available July–October), and a pilsner brewed exclusively with Hallertau hops. Paulaner produces a portfolio of more than 25 beers, but the Paulaner Salvator doppelbock still takes a special place of honor in that portfolio, especially during an annual 2-week-long Lenten celebration in the hallowed halls of the Paulaner brewery beer hall—built in 1861 and completely renovated after a 1999 fire—at Hochstrasse in the Nockherberg district of Munich. There, the first cask of the new season’s Salvator doppelbock is the official opening act of Bavaria’s “strong beer season”—with blaring oompah bands, comedians, sausages and pretzels, a star-studded audience, and TV cameras in attendance.

In 2008 Paulaner sold more than 1.8 million barrels of beer, a growth of 1.8% over the previous year. Along with brewhouses in China, Hungary, Indonesia, Russia, South Africa, Singapore, and Thailand, Paulaner currently operates 14 beer gardens in and around Munich. Guided tours of the Munich brewery are offered year round.