Visiting Germany's smallest brewery

The city of Halle, birthplace of Handel, is somewhat overshadowed by it's larger neighbour, Leipzig but has plenty to offer from Germany's oldest chocolate maker to what is perhaps the smallest commercial brewery in Germany.

The IBIS Styles Hotel, conveniently situated by the main railway station features this magnificent mural of historic Halle in their car park.

Statue of George Frideric Handel in Halle City Centre

Halle Haupbahnhof or central station

Hidden away in a granite cobblestone street, next to a Deutsche Bahn marshaling yard and behind Saxony's largest brothel, in a former Deutsche Bahn kitchen canteen sits the Spund Brewery at Am Güterbahnhof 13, 06112

Spund Brewery is on the right, past the white building

The view from the brewery

So what is a Spund? It translates as a "bung" but can also mean an airlock as is shown on their logo

The brewery was founded in 2022 by Sebastian Duckstein and Philip Häusler and must rate as the smallest commercial brewery in Germany, with mashing and boiling the wort being done in 60 litre cooking pots as shown below:

Spund maybe small but in the 4 years they have been brewing, they have produced over 100 different types of beer, all bottled in .33 ltr bottles. Brewed with water from the Harz Mountains and malt from Bamberg and other maltings, Spund is not afraid to experiment with different yeast strains to brew their extensive beer range.

Filling the mash tun with grist for another brew

The range of beer styles brewed here also differ from your usual German brews, no standard pils, no usual helles, no normal dunkles, instead Seb and Philip have looked to the wider world for inspiration with black IPA, Bocks with pink peppercorns, Quads and even a brew with Norwegian Farmhouse yeast.

 A black IPA

A bock brewed with pink peppercorns and liquorice, giving a slight aniseed flavour

SBØ, Brewed with Norwegian farmers yeast, slightly funky, dry, fruity grapes flavour

100% Weisse a refreshing wheat beer

Brass, their 5.5% golden ale, brewed with Nelson Sauvin and El Dorado hops

Wit, a ginger-dominated wheat beer

Another Cascadian/Black IPA

















So where are these beers available from? Well only at the brewery which is open every Thursday 1630-1830! Occasionally Spund open at weekends, best check their Facebook site for that and then, once a year, the brewery is home to Spundfest a strong beer and strong music festival

In 2026, Spundfest is on Saturday 5th November and features 16 of their beers

Brains returns to Old Brewery Site

 Welsh brewers SA Brain have returned to the site their brewery operated in until 1999. The aptly named Old Brewery pub is situated in what was the brewery yard and what the author remembers as being the copper house and/or the boiler room of the old brewery?

Press release below:

Based in the city’s historic Brewery Quarter and aptly named The Old Brewery, the venue is a collaboration between Brains Brewery, global brewing giant Heineken and Breaking Brands’ director Steve Lewis.
The venue marks a return to the site where Brains Brewery was based on St Mary’s Street from 1882 until 1999, before the site was redeveloped into a leisure complex in the early 2000s.
The Old Brewery brings sport to life beyond the pitch, with sports simulation bays covering rugby, football, cricket, golf, and more across more than 3,500 real-world venues, powered by smart-net and motion-tracking technology.Inspired by some of Cardiff’s greatest sporting moments, customers can test their kicking skills and attempt to land a match-winning penalty or all-important conversion, recreating the anticipation and exhilaration of match day.
As well as this, The Old Brewery is home to Bayside Flavour Fusion, a first-of-its-kind triple-beer font which allows customers to enjoy three distinctive Bayside lagers – Original, Cherry and Grapefruit – from a single three-tap font.
The Old Brewery champions the best of Wales, with Brains cask ales and beers, Welsh spirits, and a Welsh BBQ menu, all under one roof.
Nick Payne, CEO of Brains, said: “The Old Brewery is a fantastic celebration of everything that makes Cardiff and Wales special, bringing together our proud brewing heritage with a fresh and exciting vision for the future.
“It’s brilliant to see the doors open and people enjoying the space, and there’s something particularly special about being back home on the site where Brains brewed beer for more than a century. We can’t wait to welcome people through the doors and see The Old Brewery become part of the fabric of Cardiff once again.”
He added: "It’s also great that The Old Brewery is home to the first Bayside triple-serve system of its kind. The new serving system represents the latest innovation from Bayside, combining our award-winning lager with a fresh approach to how it can be served and enjoyed.
"We wanted to give lager lovers more choice and create something that would really bring Bayside to life in a new way. With Original, Cherry and Grapefruit all available from the same bar, customers can discover the different flavours and find their favourite.”
Steve Lewis, Director at Breaking Brands Management, said: "Opening a venue like this is hard graft, and it takes a proper team to pull it off. The Old Brewery has been a labour of love, taking a site with this much history and giving it a reason to matter to Cardiff all over again."
He added: "We wanted to build somewhere that felt like it belonged to the city, where you can feel the history in the walls but everything around you is built for now.
“Whether that's watching the rugby with a pint in hand, having a go on the sports simulators with your mates, or just finding somewhere decent to eat after work, we wanted it to work for all of it. That balance was the whole challenge, and I think we've nailed it.
“Seeing the doors open and the place full last night, that's the whole reason we do this. Big thanks to the whole team who's worked to get us here. This is just the start for us in this space.”