Kölsch and Cologne go together with wheat beer and white sausage. The top-fermented Cologne beer specialty is closely interwoven with the city's history and is now not only an attraction for countless tourists but also a piece of German cultural heritage that we would not want to miss.
In 1894 Heinrich Reissdorf founded his brewery in Cologne's Severinsviertel. He came from a respected farming family in Cologne who earned their living by forging and building wagons. After his death, his widow Gertrud Reissdorf took over the management of the brewery until she passed it on to her sons. As in many other places, women also had to work here during the First World War. After Gertrud Reissdorf, Katharina Reissdorf, one of her daughters-in-law, was the second woman to head the Heinrich Reissdorf private brewery. The Second World War hit the brewery hard and destroyed large parts of the facilities. The Reissdorfs mastered this difficult crisis with a lot of courage and passion for good craftsmanship. They resumed production in mid-1948 and have been brewing their excellent Kölsch ever since. Today the fourth generation of the Reissdorf family owns the brewery and continues the rich tradition with pride and skill.
In order to stay up to date and to meet the growing demand, the brewery enlarged its production facilities in 1996 and moved to a suburb of Cologne. This was taken as an opportunity to bring the brewing system up to date with the latest technology so that it was possible to brew using the latest brewery technology. With tireless ambition and modesty, the Reissdorf family made it to the top of Cologne's Kölsch producers. Your own Kölsch is produced with the finest raw materials in a brewing process that is based on well-known principles and traditions, but is constantly being further developed and refined. For the Reissdorf family, having a rich brewing tradition does not mean resting on the laurels of days gone by. In order to create an excellent product that meets the constantly growing demands of modern beer connoisseurs, they are open to new ideas and have a positive attitude towards progress. As the only beer of all, the Kölsch not only has a centuries-old tradition, but also a convention. The original Kölsch Kölsch was protected with the Kölsch Convention of 1986. 24 breweries are officially allowed to brew Kölsch and the private brewery Heinrich Reissdorf is rightly one of them.