Zoiglbier: Preserving a Communal Brewing Tradition

This article originally appeared in the March/April 2025 issue of Zymurgy Magazine

By Eric and Janet Heukeshoven

It began in Pilsen. After visiting the original Pilsen brewery in 2009, our then-14-year-old son Max said, “I think we should learn how to brew beer.” His birthday is a few days before Christmas. So we decided a starter homebrewing kit would be a fun present. After brewing a couple of extract recipes, Max said, “no, this isn’t the way they did it. We need to do it the ‘real’ way.” And so began our family’s journey into the amazing world of beer. What began as a hobby has turned into more of an obsession—moving from bottling to five taps in a keezer (four kegs on CO₂, one on nitro), barrel-aging, and better equipment. Our fascination with different brewing traditions has taken us on beer adventures in Poland, Iceland, Belgium, and this year to the Oberpfalz region of Bavaria, Germany, where the unique beer culture known as Zoigl has thrived for 600 years.

Access the full article in the March/April 2025 Zymurgy magazine.

This article includes the following:

• HOMEBREW RECIPE: Zoigl
• Zoigl Traditions
• Zoigl Families
• Brewing Zoigl
• Continuing Traditions with Homebrewing
• Tasting Zoigl
• Oberpfalz: Not Just About Zoigl