Various events you might attend in Vienna take place at the Ottakringer Brauerei. And the name is not marketing. The venue is indeed Vienna’s big brewery.
- Founded in 1837
- Family-owned
- Products include craft beers
- Popular indoor & open-air event location, too
- See also:
The Ottakringer Brauerei
(Part of the brewery complex)
Just a couple of months after a teenage Queen Victoria ascended to the British throne, a master miller named Heinrich Plank got permission to build a brewery in the small suburb of Ottakring just outside Vienna.
Fast forward to today, and the Ottakringer Brauerei is still family-owned, still at its original site, and a fixture in the Austrian brewing and Viennese event world.
The suburb has since grown, of course. And become part of the city as the 16th district with over 100,000 inhabitants. You won’t find the name plastered across tourism brochures, though; sadly, the Habsburgs failed to build any nice palaces in Ottakring.
(A postcard view of Ottakringerstraße and the brewery from around 1898, produced by Carl (Karl) Ledermann jun.; Wien Museum Inv.-Nr. 17788/660; excerpt reproduced with permission under the terms of the CC0 licence)
The brewery, however, remains one of the more notable locations in the district. And not just for the beer, but we’ll come to that later.
The brews
Ottakringer might be best described as the regional beer of Vienna, even if it has an export arm.
When I first arrived in town many years ago, it felt like Ottakringer beer was a solid dependable. The kind of beer you might pull out after completing a tiring bit of DIY.
In the many intervening years, the spectrum of beers has expanded and the brewery become representative of a more modern Vienna: tradition coupled with transition. Although you might say that was always in their DNA: back in the late 1800s, the owners were ahead of their time when it came to working conditions and similar.
(As seen in my fridge and, incidentally, the classic movie, Before Sunrise)
Some of that image change is due to the addition of the Ottakringer BrauWerk microbrewery in 2014, adding porters, IPAs and more to a product palette that also includes, for example organic options.
Event location
I’ll admit to a strong soft spot for the brewery and not just because I lived in the district for many years and still reside nearby.
Part of that admiration comes from the sense of tradition and continuity: a family business thriving in a world of conglomerates.
A lot comes from enjoying the events there, though.
Ottakringer has repurposed some of the brewery buildings as an indoor venue and uses the large open-air forecourt for the same purpose. The old industrial architecture creates a unique atmosphere, and makes a perfect fit for music and independent design events, for example.
Notable such events include:
Ottakringer’s own festivals
(The Bierfest; press photo © ALBA Communications)
Perhaps the headline event is the summer-long Bierfest, which combines street food, music and more with the opportunity to taste the products produced on site. It’s an event infused with local charm away from tourist areas.
Ottakringer has smaller similar events at other times, too, so look out for those. For example, the advent period has the Weihnachtszauber Christmas market.
Vinyl & Music
A festival that is neither a fair, nor expo, nor music festival and yet all three at the same time. I’m a regular now.
Fesch’markt
A design market that throughly impressed my wife and I on our first visit in 2023. Full of quality and that connection that comes with browsing or buying products from the very people who conceived, designed and created them.
So, should you wish to sample local Vienna, visit the official brewery website linked above and see if something’s on. Consider a tour, too: they typically have one in English in the summer at least.
Or simply try one of the Ottakringer beers (available in supermarkets and many bars and restaurants across Vienna).
How to get there
Fortunately for those staying in the centre, Ottakring and the brewery is easily reached via subway and tram.
Subway: the final station on the U3 line from the centre is Ottakring. Get out and walk down to the brewery or jump on the 44 tram to Johann-Nepomuk-Berger-Platz.
Tram: from the centre, catch the 44 from Schottentor or the 2 from anywhere between Schwedenplatz and Parlament on the southeast and southwest side of the big Ringstrasse that marks the border of the old town. Then get off at Johann-Nepomuk-Berger-Platz.
Address: Ottakringer Platz 1, 1160 Vienna