Germany: Paulaner agrees to sell its Wei�bierbrauerei Hopf brewery

The Paulaner Brauerei Gruppe will sell its Miesbach-based Weißbierbrauerei Hopf to the Herzoglich Bayerische Brauhaus Tegernsee, with closing scheduled for 1 January 2026, Inside.Beer reported on November 16.

The site in Miesbach will remain fully operational and the existing management remains in place as Tilo Ruttmann will continue to lead the brewery, and all jobs are secure.

Paulaner’s CEO Jörg Biebernick emphasized that Hopf’s long-term development prospects were stronger under Tegernsee’s ownership, describing the move as being “in the best interest of all parties.”

Hopf became part of the Paulaner Group in 2006 through the acquisition by HackerPschorr Bräu. In recent years, Paulaner increasingly concentrated on its core brand Paulaner, while reducing peripheral activities, including streamlining the portfolio of Hopf’s wheat beer range. The brand Chiemseer of Paulaner’s subsidiary Auer-Bräu also received greater strategic focus during this period. Hopf’s annual output had been scaled back to only around 35,000 hl, underlining the brand’s reduced commercial priority.

For Tegernsee, whose managing director Christian Wagner highlighted the cultural and regional alignment between both breweries, the acquisition strengthens its wheat beer offering and deepens an existing cooperation with Miesbach’s gastronomy sector. Also present at the signing were Anna Herzogin in Bayern (representing the Tegernsee brewery and the House of Wittelsbach), Reinhard Kastl (CMSCO, Paulaner Brauerei Gruppe) and Sebastian Strobl (CFO, Paulaner Brauerei Gruppe).

Tegernsee currently collaborates with wheat-beer specialists Erdinger and Schneider, and the addition of Hopf is seen as a logical extension of its Bavarian beer portfolio.