Experience a VR Brewery Tour at Andechs Monastery in Bavaria

(eap) Starting next Friday (July 7), visitors to the Andechs Monastery Brewery in Bavaria will be able to experience a new, virtual reality-supported brewery tour through the tradition-steeped monastery brewery with “TimeRide GO! Kloster Andechs 360”. At a total of six stations, guests can choose between a 45- or 90-minute tour that illustrates the entire production process of Andechs monastery beer. Using mobile VR glasses, guests gain previously hidden insights into the monastery brewery and the art of brewing beer.

First, guests are introduced to the history of Andechs Monastery and its monastery brewery, with virtual 360-degree views offering impressive past-present comparisons as they look out over the monastery grounds. In the brewery itself, the focus is then on the brewing process itself, from the selection of raw materials to an elaborate brewing process, a gentle fermentation process, storage and maturation, and finally filtration and bottling of the beer. The journey of taste is rounded off by a beer tasting, during which the four different types of beer in summer and winter variation as well as a non-alcoholic variant can be tasted. The 90-minute tour (regular price: EUR 16.90 per person) includes the beer tasting, the 45-minute tour (regular price: EUR 11.90 per person) only includes the VR tour of the brewery.

The new experience was implemented by Klosterbrauerei Andechs in cooperation with TimeRide GmbH. “The successful cooperation with the Andechs Monastery perfectly demonstrates the potential of using virtual reality to illustrate the work and history of a traditional company like the Andechs Monastery Brewery in a visually powerful way”, explains Jonas Rothe, founder and CEO of TimeRide GmbH. For abbot Johannes Eckert, the new brewery tour adds another facet to a visit to Andechs Monastery: “This tour builds a bridge from the historical origins of our brewing tradition to the ultra-modern technology of the monastery brewery today at the foot of the Holy Mountain. It’s fascinating how directly you can follow the brewing process.”

Today, the Andechs monastery brewery is the largest of only a few authentic monastery breweries left in Germany that is run by an existing religious community independently of a group. It belongs to the Benedictines of St. Boniface in Munich and Andechs. It is brewed and bottled only on site in Andechs at the foot of the Holy Mountain.

Read also our detailed interview with TimeRide CEO Jonas Rothe in EAP issue 5/2021. ■