BEER & WINE
Red wine, white wine, rosé – the wineries of the West Palatinate offer varieties for every taste. It’s the same with beer – in addition to pilsner and wheat beer, craft beers are also becoming increasingly popular.
Unlike in the Vorderpfalz and South Palatinate, the West Palatinate is not necessarily the first to think of viticulture. Nevertheless, we also have small but fine areas in which fine drops thrive. For example, there would be the Zellertal east of the Donnersberg – the “Tuscany of the West Palatinate” – with about 100 hectares of vineyards. And also on the northernmost tip of the Palatinate, on the steep slopes in the Alsenztal, Moscheltal and Appeltal, around 60 hectares are used for viticulture.
Where no wine grows, the West Palatinate has always remembered the art of brewing. A real brewing culture developed especially in Pirmasens, around the Barbarossa city of Kaiserslautern and to Winnweiler: In the middle of the 19th century there was a brewery in Kaiserslautern for around 350 inhabitants! The Lauterer barley juice was even delivered to Paris. The basis for this boom was the good water and the abundance of wood for lighting the brewing facilities. The beer was stored in Kaiserslautern in the ice cellars below the city.
Of the many traditional breweries in the West Palatinate, only “Park” from Pirmasens and “Bischoff” from Winnweiler have remained. Recently, however, these have been supplemented by new small breweries from the craft beer scene: So is “Schnorres – das Bier der Pfalz” brewed in a former butcher’s shop in Mehlingen and stored in a natural ice cellar of the former Gienanth works near Winnweiler. Near the Karlstal, the wildly romantic rock gorge near Trippstadt, “Unterhammer” has been developing regional, natural beers under the name “Unterhammer Bräu” since 2013 and serving them to thirsty guests in the associated café.