Auf Rome 1468

This Cologne brewery is a real piece of city history and tells of the enthusiasm and dedication of the people of Cologne when it comes to their beer.

Today I bake, tomorrow I brew!

The name of the brewery comes from a house called Auf Rome, which is the subject of numerous legends and stories. The building no longer exists today, but people lived, baked and brewed there until it was demolished in 1872. Auf Rome was built around 1180 and was part of the Cologne city wall. A city gate and several buildings were part of the complex that would be named after it around a hundred years later. A certain Hilpericus Roemer bought the building and set up a bakery in it. Since there were no house numbers at the time, many houses and shops had names so that people could find them and recommend them to friends and relatives. If you went to Roemer's bakery to buy bread or pastries, you went "Auf Rome" in Cologne's vernacular. The popular term caught on and the people of Cologne christened the house Auf Rome. The second part of the name refers to the first year in which beer was brewed in the house on Rome: in 1468 the first brewery opened its doors there and became the first in a long line of breweries on this site.

Beer instead of books

In the almost 700 years of its history, the Auf Rome brewery and distillery has changed hands countless times. Brewers, noblemen, citizens and families ran the brewery until the building was sold to the city of Cologne in 1872 and demolished shortly afterwards. The story of Auf Rome ends until it is taken up again in 2019 by Caroline Hamacher-Linnenberg and her husband Ulrich Linnenberg. After a career in a completely different field, the two wanted to spend their retirement quietly and with a whole lot of books, but life got in the way. Ulrich always dreamed of brewing his own beer and is now using his retirement to make that dream come true. The name of the project was quickly found, now the two just had to get their beer on the chain. Cologne is the capital of Kölsch, but Ulrich and Caroline had no desire to feed the oversaturated market with another variant of the popular beer. Instead, they developed the Düxer Bock . The powerful strong beer is a welcome change from the light-footed Kölsch and complements the Cologne beer scene with its full-bodied malt character, creamy honey and caramel notes, hints of dried fruit and roasted bitterness.