1516 ... and all that
Visiting Vienna will make Munich beer lovers eat out their hearts. How come Munich sports only three brewpubs whereas Austria's capital, which at 1.7 million inhabitants is hardly bigger than Munich, has so many brewpubs? By Conrad Seidl's count "about ten" – depending on who's actively brewing or just using the brewing kit for decor. Conrad is the man to know because the Viennese beer writer and man-about-town publishes an annual beer guide of Austria's best pubs and bars.
I am not sure why people go to brewpubs. That means I have never actively conducted an impromptu poll outside a brewpub. Still, I frequently wonder: do people go there because they like the restaurant concept? Or do they specifically seek out the beers?
When visiting the 1516 recently I was forced to reconsider my either-or-classification. It was a mid-week evening and the place was heaving. Oh yes, and English was the lingua franca.
The 1516, like all successful brewpubs, is probably a bit of both. It is a place of pilgrimage for beer aficionados who enjoy its American-style beers. And it is the home away from home for homesick tourists and the new class of about 10,000 itinerant professionals who work at Vienna's many international agencies – the United Nations and OPEC, to name but two. Above all, it's a very affordable place to eat and drink, which may be the reason why lots of people come there as soon as its doors open at 10 in the morning.
It also helps that 1516 is very centrally located, just a few hundred steps away from Vienna's main drag, the pedestrianised Kärntner Strasse, and that Austria has not yet introduced a ban on smoking in bars and restaurants. The 1516 has two bars on two floors, one for smokers and one for non-smokers, which is a good thing as it keeps the militant non-smokers at a safe distance. I will not deal with the smoking/non-smoking issue here at length. Suffice to say that Austria's bars and restaurants will take a massive cut in business and that even highly profitable ones, like the 1516 with a total staff of about 50, will suffer should any future Austrian government bring in anti-smoking legislation.
The name – 1516 – will ring a bell with brewers. 1516 was the year when the Bavarian Reinheitsgebot was forced upon unsuspecting brewers. I don't think that the regulars at the 1516 get the reference or, if they do, that they care. To them, the 1516 is an American-style brewpub, where they are addressed in English by the friendly staff (number one reason for visiting)... and where they serve different beers with distinct hoppy notes (not sure most punters would notice). The beers at the 1516 may be Reinheitsgebot, like the unfiltered 1516 lager, or not, as in the case of Eejit's oatmeal stout, but I firmly believe that to the majority of visitors the whole issue is really beside the point.
Like many Vienna brewpubs, the 1516 has been going for quite a while. Since 1999, to be precise. It's owned by Horst Asanger, a former ice hockey player. Horst is a very nice and quiet person and prefers to run things unobtrusively and efficiently from behind the bar. He is not one for the limelight or for giving interviews to journalists. That's what he got Conrad for, who has been involved with the 1516 right from the start. Which is probably a good thing as Conrad would make a good brewer and an even better beer marketer if he did not already have a day-job as a political editor for Der Standard.
The other thing about the 1516 is that, thanks to Conrad's outgoing nature and Hans' generosity, it has become part of a network of microbrewers from around the world, who always seem to end up in the 1516 when in town. The way to honour these friendships is to brew each others' beers, it seems. 1516 brews several special beers whose recipes have been developed by others, like, for example, the Victory Hop Devil IPA which they brew under licence (I am not sure if this is the term among friends) from the American micro Victory Brewing Company in Downingtown near Philadelphia.
Whether you are interested in tasting very flavoursome Austrian beers or just need a rest from the wife's power shopping – if in Vienna, make sure to visit the 1516. It will be time well-worth wasted.
