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The “Uerige” brewery in Düsseldorf's old town is a complex of buildings with many additions and a labyrinthine twist.

In normal, i.e. non-pandemic times, young and old, locals, newcomers and well-traveled people from Asia or the USA, for example, visit a trade fair during the day and in the evening to deepen their knowledge, meet in this microcosm of nine dining rooms and a total of 76 rooms Use over Altbier.

Founded in 1862, the "Uerige", which is an institution in Düsseldorf, has survived a lot, including two world wars. “Has it been closed for six months in a row?” I ask Michael Schnitzler, the boss, officially called “Baas”. He is sitting in his office on the first floor of the “Uerige”, behind his back is a large painted map of the world, and looks at me seriously (we are having a video call): “We asked ourselves that too,” he replies. “We rummaged in the history. Even when it was destroyed in the war, somehow it continued. Six months in a row - that has not happened in the last 100 years. "

What do you do with a traditional meeting place when nobody can meet there anymore?

What if the lockdown sees a second spring and the end of the pandemic seems to crumble into a vague future?

“You can fix a few things.

But four to six weeks are enough.

Six months are a bit lavishly made up, ”says Schnitzler.

I ask him if he sometimes strolls nostalgically through the empty "Uerige" rooms.

He laughs briefly: “Every day.

I can't get to my office otherwise! "

Fortuna Düsseldorf starts solidarity campaign

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After all, the brewing process continues, he says. For deliveries to supermarkets and out-of-home sales. An order from Australia was received for the first time in January. At the end of February the second division soccer team Fortuna Düsseldorf started a solidarity campaign with the restaurateurs. Other professional clubs are crying because they can no longer pay their players' salaries in the millions. Fortuna Düsseldorf helps those who are struggling for their livelihood and produced a benefit jersey with the name "Köbes" printed on it - that's the name of the waiters in the Rhineland. “That loosens up everyday life in a positive way,” says the “Baas”. Fortuna wore the jersey at the away game in Sandhausen, final score: zero to zero. No catering business, no gates.

The "Uerige" is unique. The last Düsseldorf house brewery where the entire brewing process takes place under one roof, including bottling. Friends of the house include the Düsseldorf punk rockers “Die Toten Hosen”, who like to give a spontaneous concert here on Rose Mondays (Rose Monday, ah - what was that again?). An early photograph by the world-famous Düsseldorf photo artist Andreas Gursky hangs on the wall of a guest room. And who was born in this building in 1880? Peter Wilhelm Millowitsch, father of the Cologne folk actor legend Willy Millowitsch.

There are usually several hundred guests a day in the “Uerige”.

90 employees ensure that the store is running.

But now: zero guests in the guest rooms.

The number of employees remaining in the offices and in the brewery?

“Around 15,” says Schnitzler.

Most of them are on short-time work and are working to prevent the long dry spell from bothering them too much.

"With us every day is a day of beer"

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"You still don't seem to have lost your sense of humor," I say. “The day before April 1st, you posted a photo on Facebook of a coffee machine in which you can put 'Uerige' capsules to squeeze an old man.” Schnitzler: “We never lose our sense of humor. That's why you're an entrepreneur. "I:" April 23rd was Beer Day because the Purity Law was announced on April 23rd, 1516 - since then, German beer has only been allowed to contain water, malt, hops and yeast. Have you ever experienced such a dreary day of beer? ”Then he dryly:“ With us every day is a day of beer. ”

In the history of the “Uerige”, the pandemic is “among the top three events that one has to survive,” he says towards the end of the conversation. "We're doing everything so that one day we'll have it behind us." Schnitzler pauses, then he finishes with a smile: "Let's hop the best."