Zoiglbier

One lager brewery at a time, a homemade zoigl star is making its way around the United States. At each brewery, the star signals participation in an evolving collaboration inspired partly by the Oberpfalz tradition. Tom Beckmann, cofounder and brewer at Goldfinger in Chicago, explains.

You can’t capture the essence of zoigl by brewing the beer. Franz D. Hofer, longtime zoigl enthusiast and author of the Tempest in a Tankard blog, shares insights into what makes the family-run zoiglstuben so special.

“There is no recipe for the real zoigl,” says brewer Reinhard Fütterer of the Schafferhof-Zoigl pub in Neuhaus. “Everyone has their own—that’s one of the things that make it so special.”

From shared breweries to shared tables, the zoigl tradition of northeast Bavaria is unlike anything else in modern brewing or hospitality.