The Brothers Grimm and the art of goldsmithing are the most important trademarks of the city of Hanau.

Now another attribute could cause a sensation, because Hanau is well on the way to becoming the capital of the Hessian national drink, apple wine.

After all, the Bundesäppelwoi Festival has been taking place in the Steinheim district in August for decades, where the Bundesäppelwoi Queen and her king are elected, and Hanau is also the starting point of the Hessian Apple Wine Route.

Luise Glaser-Lotz

Correspondent for the Rhein-Main-Zeitung for the Main-Kinzig district.

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That alone could outperform Frankfurt-Sachsenhausen, the stronghold of Ebbelwei.

But it gets even better: For a few days now, Hanau's Heumarkt has been the location of what is possibly the only apple wine museum in the world.

It is still only about 50 square meters in size and part of wine press Jörg Stier's "Main-Genuss-Shop".

But the "Ribbed Museum - Room for Apple Wine Culture" offers everything a museum needs: lots of exhibits and exciting information.

If you look at the display boards and objects, you will learn a lot about the cultivation of apples, the production of cider, economics, history, the seemingly endless number of varieties and, above all, about the long tradition of drinking cider and the associated utensils.

There are also plans for events and readings all about cider, as well as tastings that will deepen knowledge and enjoyment.

Important enrichment of regional tourism

It is also planned to illuminate the cider tradition from different perspectives with changing exhibitions.

The plan to expand the museum by one room fits in with this.

According to Stier, once the available 50 square meters have been prepared, there should also be a digital processing of the topic.

The museum was originally supposed to open in 2018.

But financing was difficult, and then Corona came with all its restrictions.

But now the time has finally come.

The sponsor of the museum is the non-profit association Apfelwein Centrum Hessen (Ach), whose chairman is Jörg Stier.

In addition to the Main-Kinzig district, the city of Hanau as well as the regional association Frankfurt/RheinMain and the association “Hessian apple wine and orchard route regional loop Main-Kinzig” helped the association with the financing.

For them, the new offer is an important enrichment of regional tourism, especially Asians and Americans are very interested in German traditions.

Many of the hundreds of exhibits come from the Stiers collection on the subject of cider, other collectors gave some good pieces.

If you love cider, you won't be able to get enough of the variety of accessories.

What catches the eye, as mentioned before, is the largest cider bottle in the world.

It holds around 670 liters and weighs more than 300 kilograms.

This impressive size truly deserves an entry in the "Guinness Book of Records".

Appropriately, what is probably the largest "ripped" in the world is presented.

A stately 80 liters of apple wine fit into this apple wine glass.

Clear up the mistakes

According to Stier, the first exhibition “Bembel – Lid – Gerippte” is intended to give a comprehensive overview of the cultural heritage of cider and the Bembel.

It should stay permanent.

Further facets will be highlighted in future special exhibitions.

As the operator of an apple wine press, Jörg Stier knows many stories about apple wine and can therefore clear up some misconceptions.

The individually designed lids on the ribbed glasses not only served to protect the drink, but above all as a status symbol for cider connoisseurs.

For example, the assumption that the ribbed ones are ribbed so that they don't slip out of the hand so easily is also wrong.

Rather, the diamonds are intended to reflect the golden liquid.

The opening of the museum coincides with an event that the association can claim to be proud of.

In March, the German Unesco Commission included the "Handwerkliche Apfelweinkultur" in the nationwide register of intangible cultural heritage.

Hessian clubs and organizations that are committed to apple wine submitted the application.

According to Stier, the agenda group for landscape protection and landscape maintenance in Friedrichsdorf and the association Apfelwein-Centrum Hessen were in charge.

Admission to the museum is free, events are chargeable.

It is open Tuesday to Friday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.