Brauerei Fischerstube – Craft-Brewing in the Heart of Basel

Anyone who drinks Ueli Beer immediately realizes that this beer has to be drunk with the heart too. This is not simply because it has been very lovingly brewed. Being duty-bound to genuine craft brewing, we use whole hop cones, so-called fresh hops, and let the young beer ferment in open vats. Ueli Beers are not heated, the naturally cloudy beers are not filtered. This helps retain valuable flavor carriers and minerals.

Although the master brewer only works with hops, malt, water and yeast, he repeatedly manages to come up with new, surprising and above all tasty types of beer. This calls for not only the finest ingredients and great skill but also a joy of trying out something new.

The discerning use of unprocessed whole hop cones and the wide range of Ueli Beers are proof that the master brewer is not easily satisfied: apart from the regular types of beer that are always available, the microbrewery also offers changing and seasonal specialty beers. For example the bock beer that is brewed every year to a new recipe for the traditional Kleinbasel festival ‘Vogel Gryff’, or the Mac Ueli Ale, which is only available in summer. In the pre-Christmas period, the brewery surprises beer lovers with a specially created ‘Festbier’ (festive beer). The range is rounded off in winter by the ‘Winterbogg’.

Tours through the Brauerei Fischerstube

We will be happy to guide you through our small, fine brewery, where you can get your very own glimpse of how Ueli Beer is produced and learn about the founding of the brewery over 41 years ago. The tour also includes a stop in the medieval Antonian cellar, which was originally built as a hospice in the 15th century. The tour lasts about 30 minutes. After taking in the sights you will have the opportunity of enjoying a snack or aperitif in either of the restaurants, in the Antonian cellar or in the beer garden.

If you choose to eat in one of the two restaurants, we kindly request that you make a reservation in due time.

Ueli Bier Team

Iconic

The courage to try out something new – this has been typical for the Brauerei Fischerstube since its foundation and has led to not only the normal range of beers but also some iconic Ueli brews that have been and are still inspired by cultural events in Ueli’s home city of Basel.

19./20. Century: Basel – Once a Beer City

After a temporary boom in the second half of the 19th century, the number of Basel breweries gradually decreased. Most succumbed in the struggle for size – the microbrewery Fischerstube has indeed caused a stir over the past 41 years.

Hops and malt were once not entirely forgotten but in very high demand: in the year 1845, only eleven breweries produced beer locally. Around thirty years later that number had already risen to nineteen. But by the turn of the twentieth century only seven remained, and together produced 270,000 hectoliters. Unfortunately, these breweries also disappeared in the course of the next decade. The Warteck brewery survived the longest and produced its beer in Basel until 1988, when the company was taken over by Feldschlösschen and moved to Rheinfelden. However, downsizing in the brewing industry had been detected somewhat earlier, and in the 1970s cartel agreements between the breweries were quite common. It was at this time that the history of the Brauerei Fischerstube and its Ueli Beer began.

1974: David against Goliath

In 1974, Hans Jakob Nidecker, a radiologist from Kleinbasel, acquired the property in the Rheingasse 45, which had been a local restaurant for a few years, to save it from extinction. Being a Kleinbasler, Nidecker wanted to offer Warteck Beer, which at the time was brewed just around the corner, after reopening the Restaurant Fischerstube. However the beer cartel demanded that the new owner sell what had been sold there beforehand: Anker Beer from Frenkendorf. It was impossible to get round the aggressive regulations of the beer cartel and submitting to the will of the big breweries was not really an option for Nidecker. So he decided to brew his own beer. The first, but by no means the last, of many decisions that were criticized by the beer cartel. On November 13, 1974 the first Ueli Beer was tapped!

A Name with Tradition and History

Hans Jakob Nidecker grew up on the Rebgasse and he was firmly rooted in Kleinbasel. As a longstanding member of the Kleinbasel Honor Society (Ehrengesellschaft) at the Rebhaus, he did not have to search long for a catchy name for a beer: the beloved figure of the jester (Ueli), who on the Vogel Gryff collected money for a good cause, was known even to children.

Meanwhile, the foundations of a fort appeared during the renovation work in the brewery, foundations which were believed to be the remnants of the Roman fortress ‘Robur’. The dark malt Ueli uses in its ‘Robur’ brew is reminiscent of the historic ground on which it was brewed.

Beer with Heart and Spirit

Hans Jakob Nidecker pursued a social aim with Ueli Beer: he wanted to create good will for the Restaurant Fischerstube and, since the rent for the restaurant was fixed, keep the rent for the houses low and reasonable for their tenants. The restaurant flourished from the very outset, guaranteeing the lease payments and thus creating the basis for just and social rent. In 1992 the Brauerei Feldschlösschen offered Brauerei Fischerstube the house in Rheingasse 43, right next to the Restaurant Fischerstube. The existing Restaurant Linde there provided an opportunity for Ueli to offer another location for its beers. At the same time, they were able to expand their production facilities. Meanwhile, the rebuilding work revealed a large, medieval arched cellar from the late Antonian hospices. This cozy cellar with a floor plastered with Rhine pebbles today serves the brewery and the two restaurants for special occasions.

In 1998, after many years of operation, the brewery had to replace the brewing kettle. Furthermore, the central heating in the houses in Rheingasse 43 was in need of renovation. It was decided to combine the two previously separate heating systems for the flats and the brewery and use the waste heat from the brewing process for heating purposes with a heat recovery system. This was the opposite of a conventional heating system, and was initially more expensive, but also more sustainable.

Praise for the Microbrewery

Microbreweries such as the Brauerei Fischerstube instill the Swiss beer market with quality beers and wide variety. They also create jobs for experts in the food and drink industry, while the large breweries destroy jobs through mergers. A microbrewery refines agricultural products in a traditional and natural way for a social drink and avoids unnecessary transport for an ecological economy. Because they produce for local consumption.