Henninger and Dreher
Own well
Aosta and 1992
Special brewing process
I
Ao sta I Bright future for new Dreher brewery
The village is called Pollein and it lies close to Aosta in the
North West of Italy. On a site of 80,000 square metres stands
the brewery which has borne the Dreher name for the past
few months but which the locals have known as the Hen
ninger brewery for the past twenty-three years. Since the
merger between Birra Dreher and SIB/NBM, the breweries
in Aosta and in Messina (Sicily) have formed part of the Dre
her chain of breweries. A glance at the new arrival in the
Dreher family.
HEINEKEN INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE NO. 19 PAGE 4
Beautiful brewery in Aosta
nestles between mountain peaks
Just like the brewery in Popoli, Aosta has its own well which amply
meets its own water requirements. In the high mountains surrounding
Aosta there are many water sources. The brewery has the right to make
use of a spring situated 2,000 metres up in the mountains. On the left of
the photo you can see a small house. The water is pumped from there to
the brewery. The quality of the water is so good that it can be used
straight away for brewing purposes.
It was 1837 when Anton Zim-
mermann first built a brewery on
Via Xavier de Maistre in the centre
of Aosta and named it Brasserie
Zimmermann. For almost forty
years he ran that brewery and
brewed the beer known as Birra
Zimmermann until his nephew
Anton Thedy took over from him
in 1873. More than fifty years later
Brasserie Zimmermann was
changed into a private limited
company and a board of directors
was appointed, headed by Corrado
Vincent, a brother-in-law of Anton
Thedy.
For many decades Birra Zim
mermann was brewed in Aosta
town centre. Annual output was
small by present-day standards: in
1931 some 2,600 hectolitres of
Birra Zimmermann were brewed.
In 1936 Roberto Vincent, then
aged 20, took over the manage
ment of the brewery from his
father. One of his achievements
was to increase the production ca
pacity to 7,000 hectolitres by
1955.
The death of Roberto Zimmer
mann meant a complete new situa
tion for the brewery personnel,
since none of the family members
wanted to go into the business. It
was decided to sell the brewery to
Gruppo Faranda and on 7
November 1966 the Socièta Inter-
nazionale Birraria was estab
lished.
The first thing that the new busi
ness did was to buy 40,000 square
metres of land in the village of Pol
lein as a site for a new brewery.
The complex in the centre of the
town was very outdated, its capac
ity could no longer be increased
and transport to and from the brew
ery was causing more and more
problems.
In view of the changes due after 1992 (when there will be one internal
European market) the brewery in Aosta should be able to play a major
role. The brewery's location is ideal for it to serve, say, the French mar
ket. If there is a possible reallocation of production, a major task may lie
in store for Aosta. It is therefore not surprising that big investments are
being made in the brewery to boost the production capacity (currently
650.000 hectolitres) to about one million hectolitres a year. Work cur
rently under way includes the installation of four new storage tanks.
At the moment Dreher and Hen
ninger beers are brewed at the
Aosta brewery. The Henninger
brand (a West German beer brew
ed under licence) is sold in three
different types: Pilsner, Meister
and Export. Until the beginning of
the 'eighties Birra Zimmermann
was still being brewed. Last year a
start was made on the brewing of
Dreher and plans are to increase
this quantity this year. Whether
Heineken beer will be brewed in
Aosta is not yet known at the pre
sent time. It is certain that the
brewery will still require a few
modifications before permission is
given to brew Heineken there.
The most remarkable feature of
the Aosta brewery is the brewing
process. Normally, the wort is
boiled in every brew, after which
the hops are added. In Aosta a dif
ferent process is used: the wort is
heated to 132 degrees Celsius at a
pressure of 2.5 atmospheres. This
high temperature and pressure are
maintained for 150 seconds. The
steam vapour that is given off is
collected and used to heat other
kettles. In this way a 30% energy
saving is achieved.
The brewhouse in Aosta was in
stalled in 1982 and is very modern
with its high level of automation.
