Top 10 Breweries in Austria
Austria is a country where brewing tradition runs deep but rarely makes international headlines. Overshadowed by its German and Czech neighbors, Austrian beer is too often summarized as "similar to Bavaria" — which misses significant regional distinctions. The Salzburg school of pale lager, the Styrian hop tradition, Vorarlberg's mountain brewery culture, and Vienna's once-defining amber lager style each represent genuine brewing heritage worth exploring.
1. Stiegl, Salzburg
Stiegl is Austria's largest privately owned brewery and one of Europe's oldest — documentation of its existence dates to 1492, making it a contemporary of Columbus's voyage. Based in Salzburg, it produces the Stiegl Goldbräu, a pale golden lager, as its most widely sold product, but the full range demonstrates considerably more ambition: Stiegl Paracelsus Zwickl is an unfiltered lager of genuine depth; the seasonal Stieglkeller is brewed for the biergarten season. The brewery operates a dedicated beer world visitor experience (Stiegl-Brauwelt) with a museum, restaurant, and tasting rooms that has become one of Salzburg's significant attractions. Stiegl's resistance to acquisition despite its size and profile is itself notable in an era of global consolidation.
2. Schremser Brauerei, Schremser
Schremser, based in the Lower Austrian town of Schrems near the Czech border, has built a national reputation on a commitment to regional ingredients — specifically the use of Waldviertel rye and regionally grown hops — that distinguishes it from the mainstream Austrian lager category. The Schremser Roggen (rye beer) is the brewery's signature and a genuine rarity in Central European brewing: a rye-forward beer with distinctive grain character that reads as authentically local rather than gimmicky. Schremser has also been a leader in organic certification among Austrian breweries.
3. Trumer Privatbrauerei, Obertrum bei Salzburg
Trumer's Pilsner of Salzburg is the brewery's defining achievement — a German-style pilsner of exceptional clarity and delicacy, brewed with Saaz hops and particularly pure local water. Founded in 1601 and still family-owned, Trumer expanded to a Berkeley, California facility in 2004 to supply the American craft beer market with a genuine German-process pilsner, an unusual move that demonstrated confidence in the product's appeal beyond Austrian borders. The pilsner's reputation for technical precision has won it placement in restaurants and bars that rarely stock Central European imports.
4. Ottakringer, Vienna
Ottakringer is Vienna's last brewery of significant scale operating within the city limits, founded in 1837 in the 16th district. The name comes from the former village of Ottakring, absorbed into Vienna during its nineteenth-century expansion. The flagship Ottakringer Helles and Gold Fassl Pils are reliable everyday lagers; the Ottakringer Wiener Original is a deliberate reference to the Vienna lager style developed by Anton Dreher in the 1840s — amber, malt-forward, moderately bitter. The brewery's location in Vienna's working-class western districts gives it an authenticity that a suburban or industrial relocation would have cost.
5. Egger Bräu, Unterradlberg
Egger, based in Lower Austria, is a family-owned regional brewery that has maintained consistent quality and regional loyalty across four generations without the national or international profile of Stiegl. The Egger Helles and Märzen are clean, technically well-made representatives of the Central European lager tradition. Egger's longevity without acquisition is a demonstration of viable regional brewing independence.
6. Brauerei Murau, Murau, Styria
The Murau brewery in Styrian Murau is one of Austria's most atmospheric brewery locations — a small mountain city in a river valley with a production facility that has brewed continuously since 1495. The Murauer Gold and Murauer Märzen are regional standards; the annual Fastenbier (Lenten beer) maintains the seasonal tradition. Murau's emphasis on Styrian hops — grown in the region surrounding the brewery — gives the beers a specific character that imports cannot replicate.
7. Mohrenbräu, Dornbirn, Vorarlberg
Mohrenbräu in Dornbirn has served the Vorarlberg market since 1834 and remains the westernmost significant Austrian brewery, operating in a cultural zone more influenced by Switzerland and the Allgäu than by Vienna or Salzburg. The core lager range is clean and well-made; the Mohrenbräu Kaiser is a standard pale lager of the style appropriate to its alpine market. The brewery's survival as a Vorarlberg institution in the face of national consolidation reflects the region's economic and cultural independence.
8. Schwechater Brauerei, Schwechat
Schwechater, based in the town of Schwechat outside Vienna, has an extraordinary historical claim: it was here that Anton Dreher perfected the lager fermentation process in the 1840s, producing the amber Vienna lager style that became one of the three founding lager styles (alongside Munich Helles and Czech Pilsner). The brewery is now owned by Heineken and produces industrial-scale lager, but its historical significance to global brewing history — as the place where Vienna lager was invented — is not diminished by subsequent ownership changes.
9. Brauerei Hirt, Hirt, Carinthia
Brauerei Hirt is one of Austria's lesser-known but historically significant breweries, based in Carinthia and dating to the thirteenth century in documented form. The Hirter Privat Pils and Hirter Morchl (dark lager) are regional specialties of genuine quality. Hirt has maintained independence in a competitive market by focusing on Carinthian regional loyalty and consistent quality rather than national expansion.
10. Augustiner Bräu Kloster Mülln, Salzburg
Not to be confused with Munich's Augustiner, the Salzburg Augustiner brewery was established by Augustinian monks in 1621 and operates the Müllner Bräu beer hall — one of the great traditional beer venue experiences in Austria. The unfiltered Märzen, served in ceramic jugs that patrons collect from a dipping tank of cold water, is the house beer and one of the most characterful examples of Austrian traditional lager. The indoor and outdoor biergarten spaces in the Augustinian monastery buildings accommodate thousands of drinkers, making it Salzburg's most visited drinking establishment.
Explore on the map
Austrian breweries from Vienna to Vorarlberg are all represented on the interactive map. Open the map to find the breweries in whichever Austrian region you plan to visit and build a brewery itinerary alongside the country's other cultural attractions.