Rheder Castle Brewery

On July 2, 1686, the owner of the Rheder manor, Christian Falcko Freiherr v. Mengersen, was granted the brewing license by the Prince-Bishop of Paderborn. In 1716, his son, Burchardus Bruno Freiherr v. Mengersen, minister to the Prince-Bishop in Paderborn, commissioned the then-young Baroque architect to build the Church of St. Catherine in Rheder and the horseshoe-shaped outer bailey, which housed the brewery's individual departments from the very beginning. The next generation built the castle in 1750.

In 1830, the brewery was expanded for the first time and converted into a steam brewery based on the Bavarian model. This made it possible to brew bottom-fermented beer, which was easier to store and transport. In the first half of the 19th century, ice ponds were created where the  Weidenpalais now  stands to produce ice for cooling beer in winter. The mill from 1710 was converted into a wheat mill. The construction of the storage cellar at the foot of the Sieseberg nature reserve also took place during this period.

After a temporary lease of the estate and brewery around 1850, the von Spiegel family took over the farm and brewery again in 1902. The brewery was further expanded and modernized. At this time, wooden vats and storage barrels were already being replaced with aluminum tanks.