He is an original of the scene. The man who sleeps in the barrel, who lovingly named his partner Robusta after a labelling machine, who has so many labels that you can hardly count them. Georg Lechner has a brewery museum, is a master brewer and book author, and recently turned 70 years young. He celebrated in style at the Kundmüller brewery in Weiher - and as befits a collector and beerlover, with plenty of beer and beer talk. Only the beer gifts were missing this time. Lechner had asked only for donations, the proceeds of which will go entirely to the Bamberg children's hospice. A total of 1085 euros was collected.
Around 80 guests came to the idyllic village near Viereth, including Minister of State Melanie Huml, Lisa Badum, Member of the German Bundestag and Chairwoman of the Parliamentary Group for Brewing Culture, Carsten Joneitis, Mayor of Oberhaid, Thomas Söder, Mayor of Hallstadt, Georg Rittmeyer, President of Private Brauereien Bayern, Luisa Zametzer, Forchheim Beer Queen and Konrad Göller, Chairman of the Hospizverein Bamberg.
From his earliest childhood, Georg Lechner could be found every day at Lechner Bräu, his father's brewery. When the lorries returning from the customers were unloaded, the bottles with the various beer labels were sorted out and then removed in the bathtub. Since Georg could not yet read, these labels were neatly removed and collected according to pictures or memorable brands - the beginning of a passion.
After business school, Lechner began his apprenticeship as a brewer at Berg Bräu in Fürth - a formative time, as he recounts: "I really blossomed there compared to my school days. Before he was to move on to other breweries after successfully completing his apprenticeship, he had to do his military service in Roth. But even there his favourite drink played a role and so he supplied his "comrades" with the Rauchbier from the local brewery.
This was followed by stations in Frechen near Cologne, where he met his first wife, further training as a master brewer at Doemens and work in his parents' brewery before it had to close. Lechner was now on the road every day in terms of beer and collecting. He could use everything. His flat in Leverkusen resembled a beer museum, so the idea of officially making it one was obvious. On 1 May 1997, the Felsenkeller Brewery Museum was opened in the disused Felsenkeller Brewery in Monschau in the Eifel, and from 2003 it was housed in the Potts Brewery in Oelde as the Georg Lechner Beer Museum.
In the meantime, Lechner has returned to his old home in Franconia and continues to enjoy his love of beer. This was again clearly evident at his birthday party, which was enjoyed with music from the Maintaler Blaskapelle Trosdorf, Franconian home-made food and, of course, a great variety of beer.
