The years 1040, 1050 and 1131 mark the founding of the oldest brewery, monastic brewery and private brewery respectively and therewith the beginning of the history of beer. Situated as they are in Freising-Weihenstephan, Weltenburg and Herrngiersdorf, they all have links with the Hallertau. Joining their ranks are the oldest weiss beer brewery, founded in Kelheim in 1607, and many other brewery towns such as Hohenthann, Pfeffenhausen or Neuhausen.

No wonder – the end product is largely manufactured beside the raw material.

Even the oldest food law in the world still in force today – the beer purity regulation enacted in Ingolstadt in 1516 – had its precursor in the Hallertau when, back in 1493, the Duke of Landshut, Georg der Reiche, pronounced the beer statute for the Duchy of Bavaria-Landshut which became law for the whole of Old Bavaria 23 years later.

641 of the more than 1,200 German breweries are situated in Bavaria, many of them in the Hallertau. Even today the art of brewing retains a measure of innovation. On the pallets of most beer manufacturers traditional beers rub shoulders with a wide range of specialities, including non-alcoholic beers, guaranteed to cater for all tastes.