CREW Republic

CREW Republic

In the spring of 2011, founders Mario Hanel and Timm Schnigula traded their suits and ties for overalls and rubber boots, setting up their first home brewing kit in a Munich backyard flat in the Glockenbachviertel, determined to revolutionise the stale German beer world – despite scepticism from local brewers, pushback from their landlord and the bewilderment of family and friends. After months of refining recipes and countless test brews, their first beer emerged, the Pale Ale now known as Foundation 11, and it quickly became clear that CREW Republic stood for honest, handcrafted and flavourfully extraordinary beers, brewed strictly according to the German Reinheitsgebot – a conviction that transformed two management consultants into two of the most influential craft beer pioneers in Germany.

Since May 2015, CREW Republic has been brewing at its own brewery in Unterschleissheim in the north of Munich, where a passionate team continuously expands the range with innovative recipes, international hop varieties and an unshakeable belief in outstanding beer. The global breakthrough came in 2020, when the Drunken Sailor IPA was named the world's best IPA at the prestigious World Beer Awards – a historic title that impressively confirmed the Munich brewery's place among the international elite.

At the end of March 2024, CREW Republic closed its own brewing site in Unterschleissheim, and the beer has since been produced under the founders' supervision at the experimental brewery of the Bitburger Braugruppe, with whom a strategic partnership has existed since 2021. The uncompromising commitment to quality, the signature of Mario and Timm and the unmistakable character of every single CREW Republic beer remain fully intact – because a true republic cannot simply be switched off.