Germany: Carlsberg inaugurates new 1 million hl brewery

After more than three years of planning and two years of construction, Carlsberg Germany has today inaugurated a new 1 million hectoliter brewery for its subsidiary Holsten in Hausbruch in Hamburg’s southern suburb of Harburg.

"Six years ago, we asked ourselves the question of a new location," explained Sebastian Holtz, head of Carlsberg Germany. "To stay in the hanseatic city [Hamburg] was never a question for us. Since Holsten has been brewing beer in Hamburg since 1879, it was very important for us as well as for the city to continue the production and the associated tradition here.”

The old site in Altona, where Holsten was located for the last 140 years was not suited any more for industrial production because the area around the brewery has been transformed in the last decades from a traditional working-class area to one of the most prominent districts in the city. In October 2017, a groundbreaking ceremony at the new site marked the beginning of the construction works and the soon end of the old brewing site (inside.beer, 9.10.2017).

In the last weeks, the beer production was already relocated to the new site in the south of Hamburg and the first beer was filled last week. All of the well-known brands like Holsten, Astra and Duckstein will be brewed here. Only administration and offices of the brewery will remain for the time being in Altona but it is planned that also these functions will be concentrated in Hausbruch in the future.

The old site with a size of about 180.000 square meters will be converted into a residential housing area with 1.400 city apartments to be completed by 2026. In addition, the investor SSN Group plans to build a hotel and three child care facilities. The old brewhouse, which will be preserved, will be part of a new 4.100 square meter Community Center which will house a “digital, multifunctional bookshop of the future." A small part of the area will also be needed for the construction of a sports hall of a neighboring school.

The new production site has been downsized from 1.5 million hl in Altona to 1 million hl in Hausbruch. The smaller and more efficient plant makes about 70 of the 450 employees redundant.  The job cuts will be done “in a socially responsible manner”, as Holtz emphasizes.

Some key figures of the new site are:

  • Bottling line: 60,000 bottles per hour
  • Keg filling line: 180 barrels per hour
  • Packaging plant: 14,000 bottles per hour
  • Storage capacity: 50,000 pallets empty and full

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