---
title: Brewing and Baking in the Quellenviertel
url: "https://www.quellenviertel.at/en/culinary-delights-beer-culture/beer/baking-and-brewing.html"
image: "https://www.quellenviertel.at/fileadmin/user_upload/quellenviertel.at/Logos/animated_quellenviertel_logos_typo3_css.svg"
date: 2026-07-27
modified: 2026-07-27
---

# Brewing and Baking in the Quellenviertel

![Detailaufnahme von Ähren, Bierweckerl und Hopfenblüten; im Vordergrund verschwommen ein gefülltest Glas Bier](https://www.quellenviertel.at/fileadmin/_processed_/8/3/csm_StilllebenUtensilien_3_QuellenviertelWolfgangGrilz_82bcb7b0c2.jpg "Foto Quellenviertel/Wolfgang Grilz Detailaufnahme von Ähren, Bierweckerl und Hopfenblüten; im Vordergrund verschwommen ein gefülltes Glas Bier")

   ![Detailaufnahme von Ähren, Bierweckerl und Hopfenblüten; im Vordergrund verschwommen ein gefülltest Glas Bier](https://www.quellenviertel.at/fileadmin/_processed_/8/3/csm_StilllebenUtensilien_3_QuellenviertelWolfgangGrilz_837dbb5a35.jpg "Foto Quellenviertel/Wolfgang Grilz Detailaufnahme von Ähren, Bierweckerl und Hopfenblüten; im Vordergrund verschwommen ein gefülltes Glas Bier")

   Open copyright  © Foto Quellenviertel/Wolfgang Grilz Detailaufnahme von Ähren, Bierweckerl und Hopfenblüten; im Vordergrund verschwommen ein gefülltes Glas Bier Close copyright

On Brewing & Baking
=======================

It’s a bit like the chicken and the egg when it comes to beer and bread...
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**It is impossible to say which of the two first delighted our palates. One might think that beer has always been around, just like bread, especially in a region such as the Innviertel, where enjoyment is something of a human right.**

A few years ago, the German evolutionary biologist Josef Reicholf caused a stir with his theory: His theory was that humans only became settled in the first place so that they could grow enough grain to brew beer. Was it perhaps not bread, but beer, that transformed them from nomadic hunters and gatherers into settled farmers and townspeople? Who knows? Yet there is further evidence to support this theory, such as the ‘Monument Bleu’, a series of clay tablets dating back thousands of years to the Sumerian period. They can be admired at the Louvre in Paris and show how emmer grains are hulled, baked into flatbreads and processed into beer.

Bread and beer clearly go hand in hand. Which brings us to another fact – one that may come as a surprise to some: not only was bread-baking, but also beer-brewing once firmly in the hands of women. Women ran the household and the kitchen; it was only a small step from baking bread to brewing beer. Consequently, a brewing kettle was often part of a bride’s dowry. Science has an interesting theory to offer here too: if men had brewed the beer, it would have tasted different. This is because during the brewing process, not only did yeast from the air enter the beer, but also yeast present on the skin. In the case of women brewers, therefore, these were female yeasts. Even in fairy tales, bread and beer form an inseparable pair.

‘Today I bake, tomorrow I brew, the day after tomorrow I’ll fetch the Queen’s child,’ sang Rumpelstiltskin, for example, as he leapt around the fire. The Brothers Grimm made no mention of a wife, which is why the mischievous little fellow probably became a brewer and baker himself. Over the centuries, it was increasingly men who excelled in the disciplines of ‘bread and liquid bread’. In the Innviertel, for example, brewing is reserved entirely for men, although the gentlemen – united in the ‘Innviertel Beer Region’ – are led by a woman in this association.

 [      ![Junger Bäcker mit Brille und Haarnetz hält zwei aufgeschnittene Brotstücke in den Händen und betrachtet die Krume aufmerksam.](https://www.quellenviertel.at/fileadmin/_processed_/a/a/csm_MichaelZagler_Quellenviertel_media.dot_5_f56fe819d9.jpg "Quellenviertel/media.dot Bäcker mit Haarnetz und Brille prüft frisch gebackenes Brot in einer Backstube. Die Szene zeigt handwerkliche Brotproduktion und Qualitätskontrolle. Wir sind Brot Michael Zagler aus der Bäckerei Zagler")

We are bread

 ](https://www.quellenviertel.at/en/culinary-delights-beer-culture/bread/we-are-bread.html)   Open copyright  © Quellenviertel/media.dot Bäcker mit Haarnetz und Brille prüft frisch gebackenes Brot in einer Backstube. Die Szene zeigt handwerkliche Brotproduktion und Qualitätskontrolle. Wir sind Brot Michael Zagler aus der Bäckerei Zagler Close copyright

 Bread is made from grain. Beer is made from hops. Craftsmanship leads to enjoyment.

 [     ![Mitglieder der Bierregion Innviertel](data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAABAAAAAJCAQAAACRI2S5AAAAEElEQVR42mNkIAAYRxWAAQAG9gAKqv6+AwAAAABJRU5ErkJggg== "© Copyright: Bierregion Innviertel/Matthias Klugsberger")

The Innviertel Beer Region

 ](https://www.quellenviertel.at/en/culinary-delights-beer-culture/beer/baking-and-brewing/oesterreich-poi/detail/430004492/beer-region-innviertel.html)   Open copyright  © Copyright: Bierregion Innviertel/Matthias Klugsberger Close copyright

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