A beer conquers Chemnitz

Nicolle & René Schwabe

If you had to guess the beer capital of Germany, it is widely believed that cities in the south of the country or in Bavaria would be the favourites. But far from it: the capital of beer is in eastern Germany. More precisely in Chemnitz. More beer is drunk here than anywhere else in the country: around 132 litres per person per year. Domestic barley juice in particular is back in demand. The latest addition to the Chemnitz beer tradition is MARX beer. The pilsner has been successfully conquering our city since the beginning of March. The "inventor" Nicolle Schwabe and her husband René Schwabe did not expect such rapid success, as they both reveal in the Maker of the Week interview.

Are you yourselves surprised by the success of the Marx beer?
René Schwabe: We are surprised.
NicolleSchwabe: We had hoped that it would work. But we didn't expect it to work after such a short time. People are embracing it and know what it's all about.

And what do you want to achieve with the beer?
Nicolle: We wanted to offer the people of Chemnitz a local beer whose value chain is almost exclusively regional. True to the motto: "Beer needs a home"!

What else do you want to achieve with your product?
René: Territorially, we want to be the brand or the local beer for the people of Chemnitz. At the moment, the focus is on the city and the Chemnitz suburbs.

Do you also have enquiries from other cities?
Nicolle: We have had enquiries from the coast who would like to buy our beer. We've also had enquiries from Berlin and Trier.
René:...and from Leipzig.

Over the centuries, brewing has played a more important role in Chemnitz than in almost any other Saxon city. With its once three, now two active breweries - Reichenbrand and Einsiedel - and a few pub breweries, the city has a strong sense of local patriotism. And the people of Chemnitz seem to like it.

How do you explain the phenomenon of locals increasingly dominating the market?
René: There are 350 private breweries in Bavaria. Every village has its own brewery. People drink the beer locally, regardless of whether there is any speciality beer in the shop. We lost that a bit after reunification. People drank national brands. The old West Germans don't care at all, they drink their own brand of beer.
In the meantime, we're thinking more locally again. Beer drinkers are already thinking about where their beer comes from. You can feel this pride and this attachment to the homeland. And we want to build on this with MARX beer.
People are living more consciously again. They are paying attention to what they eat and drink. They no longer just want it to be cheap, they want to know where it comes from. And whether there is a large corporation behind the product that has nothing to do with the home country. People are interested in whether it is made here, whether there are jobs attached to it, whether there is a certain culture behind it.

How did you come up with the idea of brewing your own beer?
Nicolle: We wanted and still want to fill the gap left by the Braustolz brand when it left Chemnitz. When the brewery publicly announced that it was leaving the Am Feldschlößchen site and would therefore no longer be brewing beer on site, consumers and restaurateurs said that they no longer wanted to drink Braustolz or stock it in their establishments as it was no longer a local beer. That was the point at which we asked ourselves, would our own beer work on the market? That's how this whole story started. That was about a year ago now.
René:And so a new, untainted brand for the region was launched on the market to preserve the tradition of beer brewing in Chemnitz.

We backed the right horse, in this case a tasty beer. Sales are now around 30 per cent higher than planned. Numerous beverage markets, supermarkets, drinks retailers and caterers have included the beer in their range. Demand is increasing. MARX Chemnitzer Bier GmbH, with its Managing Director Nicolle Schwabe, has found its home at Waldenburger Straße 63a in Chemnitz. Here, in the old Karl-Marx-Stadt equipment factory, orders are taken, the beer is repacked by hand into the MARX Städter wooden crates and deliveries are made.

Where is the Marx beer brewed? You don't seem to have a brewery here?
René: It's brewed in Einsiedel.

Is Chemnitz a beer city?
Both in chorus: Yes!

How did you come up with the name MARX Bier?
Nicolle: You should be able to recognise where the beer comes from at first glance. "MARX Städter" is local and appeals to everyone. Anyone born before 1990 associates it with the city of Karl-Marx-Stadt. The very old hands associate it with Karl Marx and the young ones simply say MARX - a young beer that comes from Chemnitz. Everyone has the opportunity to discover for themselves who or what MARX is for them and in which direction they want to interpret it for themselves.

How much Chemnitz is actually in your beer?
René: Everything, actually.

You get everything from the city?
René: Almost. No hops are grown in Chemnitz (yet). But very importantly, the main ingredient comes from the city! Around 93 per cent of a beer is water. And everyone knows that we have damn good water in Chemnitz.
Nicolle: It's certainly not possible to source everything completely from Chemnitz. But we do try to source everything we can regionally. We have had our wooden crates made by Chemnitzer Lebenshilfe e.V. since the beginning. However, we now need so many crates that we have commissioned two other social projects to produce them.

What does a typical Chemnitz MARX beer taste like?
Renè:Delicious! It should be mass-market compatible and appeal to as many people as possible.
Nicolle: Exactly, not too bitter, but not too light either. The fascinating thing is that when you talk to people, there is a very wide range of opinions. One person says it's almost too tart for me, many say it's perfect, for the next it could be a bit more tart. Women or non-beer drinkers also come to us and say that the beer is nice and light. I can drink that, it tastes good, even though it's beer - we wanted a quality beer. We don't want people to get a headache. We have three types of hops in the beer, which are perceived differently. They all start from scratch. There are no preconceived ideas about the beer.

How long did you test it for?
Nicolle: We spent around six months testing with master brewers, beer sommeliers and beer drinkers to get the recipe right.

Beer is also a cultural asset - we want to be the Capital of Culture in seven years' time. How can MARX beer contribute to this?
René: In my eyes, that's an important factor. When you're such a big city, you need a variety of beers and local brands. From that point of view, we are a good piece of the puzzle.

What else would you like to see for Chemnitz, for the city, in the next seven years?
René: I hope that more people come to the city, that we have a broader base and that people have a more positive perception of the city. We are a very critical city, including of ourselves, and we need to take a more positive view. The people of Chemnitz love their city, but are reluctant to show this to the outside world. That's the Chemnitz modesty. We don't talk, we do!!!
Nicolle: If people continue to think regionally or even strengthen it, that would be great. That way they support their region. The awareness of thinking regionally has been a good approach in recent years and should be maintained. There are many positive things and events that have become established in Chemnitz in recent months and years and that we can be proud of. For example, the Hut Festival, the Chemnitz Brewery Market or the Kosmonaut Festival. This promotes the quality of life for all age groups, and we must continue to do so.