Braunschweig Mumme

Advertisement from the company H. Nettelbeck in: "Braunschweigsches address book for the year 1879"

Mumme-Brauerei Steger, advertisement from 1899

The Braunschweiger Mumme ( Latin Mumma Brunsvicensium or Mumia ), mostly just called Mumme , was originally a low to high alcohol beer from Braunschweig, depending on the type of brewing . Its history goes back to the late Middle Ages . Due to its unusual composition and the resulting long shelf life , the “Mumme” quickly developed into the city's most important export item and was shipped to India and the Caribbean in the early modern period . After more than 600 years, the drink is still being sold in Braunschweig. Since autumn 2008 it has been available again in an alcoholic version for around 200 years.

Fiction and reality

Contrary to popular belief, the name "Mumme" cannot be traced back to a Braunschweig citizen Christian Mumme. Aided by the work De Mumia Brunsvicensium by the Wolfenbüttel doctor Franz Ernst Brückmann , published in 1736 , numerous legends arose about this old drink, some of which are still rumored. According to Brückmann, said Christian Mumme, allegedly a brewer in Braunschweig, is said to have improved the recipe of the drink either around 1492 or 1498. At that time, the effect of this strong beer , to which numerous spices were added, is said to have been "stunning" in the truest sense of the word.

Legends

Brückmann's publication promoted the stories and legends about the Braunschweiger Mumme, which had existed for centuries, whose level of awareness went far beyond the city limits and whose importance was great for the economy of Braunschweig in the early modern era, consequently these stories primarily replaced the facts. And Brückmann's book contributed to the folkloric glorification of the Braunschweig mummy . He was supported by the copperplate engraver A. Beck, who from 1742 contributed appropriate images to the illustration. Brückmann's Mumme stories and Beck's pictures subsequently found their way into the collective consciousness of the population and were ultimately regarded as historical facts by subsequent generations. It was not until 1911 that the Brunswick historian and director of the municipal museum, Heinrich Mack , succeeded in his work on the story of the Mumme. To prove in particular of the mumming trade in the 17th century that a large part of the traditional stories were actually legends, such as regarding the person of Christian Mumme, the stories about his house, about the Mumme child and the Mumme rehearsal.

House of Christian Mumme

Alleged brewery of Christian Mumme

According to Brückmann, Christian Mumme is said to have brewed his beer in the half-timbered house at Alter Petritore 2, which was dated 1463 and actually existed until it was destroyed in World War II . An illustration such as the still existing carved wooden figure of a man with a passport glass attached to the house served as proof of authenticity . Using historical documents, Mack was able to prove beyond doubt that not even the family name Mumme has been documented for this house.

Christian Mumme was never mentioned in a document in Braunschweig. The fact that he is said to have been the inventor of the drink named after him seems surprising, given that this drink was the export hit of medieval Braunschweig. Had this Christian Mumme really existed and invented the drink, he would most likely have been recorded in the city's annals. Another indication of the existence of beer before 1492 comes from the year 1425, when the Hessian landgrave is said to have consumed two barrels of Mumme during a visit to Braunschweig.

Mummy child

Another example of a fiction is the so-called "Mumme-Kind". An engraving by Beck depicts the child as an extremely overweight young man who is said to have died of his predilection for Mumme. He would have drunk himself to death in the truest sense of the word. The caption reads: “Picture of a Maltz-Kärner in Braunschweig, who the mummy tasted so incredibly well that he drunk himself in it so fat, yes, even to death, his age 30 years, the weight he weighed three and a half Centner. "()

Mumme rehearsal

The Mumme sample, which also exists as a legend for other beers, is more of an anecdote. The sweetness and viscosity of the Braunschweiger Mumme were its quality mark, which is why it should be the benchmark for the quality of the Mumme and thus for its recipe. The procedure was as follows: A little mumme was poured onto a chair or stool and spread. Then someone had to sit on it and get up again immediately. If the seat was glued to his buttocks, the Mumme quality was perfect.

Bill from 1390

While researching the origin of the drink, Mack came across an invoice from the city of Braunschweig for the festival of its patron saint St. Au (c) tor from 1390. This invoice was made out for "mumm". So it is more than doubtful that “Mumme” was really derived from the name of Christian Mumme, because the calculation was made 102 years before his alleged recipe improvement. In addition, an “improvement” indicates that “something” of inferior quality must have been present beforehand. The years 1492 and 1498 are also more likely to have been based on historical events such as the discovery of America (1492) or the discovery of the sea route to India (1498) and thus also contributed to the formation of legends.

Mumme as a generic name

Mack also demonstrated that the term “Mumme” in Braunschweig was initially a kind of general term for “dark beer”, in contrast to the term “wheat beer” for a beer of a lighter color. Five different types of Mumme were brewed early on in Braunschweig, all of which had in common their dark brown color due to the high malt content and the thick liquid. In an edict of 1571, “Mumme” is used synonymously with red beer and is expressly differentiated from light beer.

Recipe

Due to their many centuries of history, the different types of brewing and preparation as well as the different brewers, it is impossible to give a general recipe or composition. In any case , the basic ingredients were barley , hops and wheat in varying quantities, although more precise details are not possible.

In 1773, Krünitz's Oeconomic Encyclopedia, with reference to other sources and depending on the preparation phase, such as fermentation or boiling, lists the following alleged components: beans , bark , tops of firs and birches , Cardobenedictenkraut, flowers of sundew , elder and thyme , Pimpinelle , betonias , marjoram , polei , cardamom , rose hips , elephant , cloves , cinnamon and even eggs . Cherry juice is also said to have been added to achieve the dark red to brown color .

The truthfulness of this information must, however, be questioned, as some components were also spread as rumors in order to damage the reputation of the Braunschweig Mumme and thus its sales.

Export hit of the late Middle Ages

From the Braunschweigischer Bierbuch of 1723: “… the Mumme, which is a pleasant, fragrant and tasting barley juice, cooked in the city of Braunschweig, and because of its excellence, passes the line that is leveling day and night and is carried to both India What it does before all other beers… ”() Thanks to its high alcohol and sugar content, Mumme was one of the few foods in the early modern era that remained edible for a long time and thus survived long journeys. Due to its composition, it was particularly suitable as provisions for the long sea voyages and expeditions of the 15th and 16th centuries.

In order to extend the shelf life of the drink further, the alcohol content was doubled and the result was the “ship mumme” or “sailing ship mumme”, in contrast to the “bad” simple “city mumme”. The consistency of the Schiff-Mumme is said to have resembled that of oil rather than that of (today's) beer. Even in the tropics - Mumme was exported in specially made barrels "to both India" (i.e. West Indies and East India ) - the beer did not spoil and thus contributed to preventing the dreaded deficiency diseases from long earlier voyages - such as scurvy . The trademark still used on the beverage containers (bottles up to the 1970s, since then cans) dates from this time : an oval seal with a white sailing ship (three-master) on a blue background.

In this way, the drink enjoyed a boom for many decades and became a major export hit for the city of Braunschweig in the pre-industrial era. First the Mumme was brought overland to Celle , from there it was transported on the Aller , and finally via ports such as Hamburg (evidently from 1531), Lübeck and Bremen all over the world (for example to Denmark , Great Britain , the Netherlands , Sweden or the Baltic States ) was exported, which called Neider on the scene. The Hanseatic City of Bremen reacted in 1603: In order to benefit from the popularity of the Mumme on the one hand and to protect their own beers on the other hand, the people of Bremen imposed an exorbitant toll on the drink. The charges for transit across the Weser were around 8 schillings per barrel before 1600, and even 16 schillings thereafter. In 1608 the Bremen brewers complained that the export of their beers to East Friesland had collapsed by 90% because Mumme was now being drunk at weddings and christenings, which was completely unusual years ago. The city of Braunschweig did not want to put up with this (around 5000 barrels were delivered to Bremen in 1613). So it came about that in 1614 they agreed on a lower tariff and on the transfer of the Mumme sales right to the people of Bremen. In 1649, Bremen finally lifted its transit ban and Braunschweig was able to sell its product itself again.

The Mumme, however, had one “disadvantage” - her taste. At that time, maltose was still an essential part of the recipe. This made the drink durable, but also extremely sweet, sticky and viscous. At the beginning of the 17th century there was no (durable) alternative, so the advantage of durability outweighed the disadvantage in terms of taste.

Decline

Advertisement from H. Nettelbeck in: "Braunschweigisches Address Book for the year 1893"

Advertisement for the Nettelbeck brewery from 1910

Protectionism and industrial espionage

The envious came up with all sorts of things to do with their own beers or copycat products . In Meissen an attempt was made to re-brew Mumme and even barley and hops were specially imported from Braunschweig - the attempt failed. Import and thus trade bans were increasingly imposed abroad . In an early case of industrial espionage , the Mumme recipe finally came into English hands in the mid-17th century . George Monck , a general of Oliver Cromwell , claimed to have received the recipe from a "noble person in Braunschweig". The Mumme was copied on the island and sold under her well-known name. Around 1670 the British even succeeded in banning the import of the real Mumme into England for a few years.

However, Braunschweig beer continued to enjoy great popularity, and exports rose towards the end of the 17th century. In 1681, the town's brewers wrote a protest note to the town council, which pointed to a problem: an early form of quality control was introduced in order to defend against the defamation that the mummy had all sorts of unhealthy additives - the so-called "trial masters". They had to taste each Mummenfass before it was released for export and left the city . With up to 40 barrels a day, this had the consequence that the tasters "crept in from the intoxication and are disfigured so that their heads and feet forget their office."

Loss of quality and image

Gradually, however, times changed. Other cities and brewers also managed to use improved food preservation techniques to produce long-life beers that also tasted even better. As a result, sales of the drink collapsed , and the Mumme soon lost its market-leading position.

In addition, numerous bad Mumme copies from other cities and countries led to a gradual loss of image of the original; The poor quality of the imitation products also contributed to the decline in sales of Braunschweiger Mumme. In the city itself, imported beers as well as pale beers brewed there since the end of the 17th century ensured that Mumme was gradually pushed into a niche existence. Nevertheless, Mumme was still included in 1744 in a list of the 35 best-known German types of beer at the time, which the geographer Johann Gottfried Gregorii alias Melissantes published in a description of the brewer's profession. Towards the end of the 19th century, there were only two Mumme breweries in town, compared to ten breweries that produced light beer. One of the Mumme breweries, the Nettelbeck Mummebrauerei, registered the Doppelte Schiff-Mumme trademark in 1907 .

Mummies of other cities and countries

As described, the Braunschweiger Mumme was the victim of numerous plagiarists in the course of its long history . Their reputation has led breweries in other cities and countries to benefit from the good name "Mumme" by "borrowing" it to market their own products. Three examples are the “ Rigaer Mumme”, the Mumme from the Danish brewery Tuborg , which was produced between March 1951 and 1957, and the “ Wismarer Mumme”, which is still brewed. Wismar beer was an export hit during the Hanseatic League. The so-called "Wismar Mumme" was delivered to all of Europe. At that time, at least 182 merchants in Wismar had the right to brew brew, and they helped the Hanseatic city not only to gain fame and honor, but also wealth. Today the brewery on Lohberg is still there and continues Wismar's brewing tradition.

Ancestor of malt beer

Mumme advertisement from the USA (around 1900)

The decline of the former export hit finally culminated in the 18th century with the decision to turn the former strong beer into a non-alcoholic malt drink . It stayed with this decision. It remained unknown who met this at the time. It must have been made after 1736 because the recipe from that year still contained barley and hops.

From then on Mumme was only consumed in Braunschweig and in the immediate vicinity. It was advertised that it was an invigorating drink for " women who have recently given birth (mother beer), weak people, people with lung disease and convalescents ". At times, Mumme also contained iron , manganese , quinine and the like.

The mummy in music and literature

The Mumme Song

Advertisement for the Steger brewery from 1914

In the course of time numerous literary works were created that praised and mentioned the Braunschweiger Mumme. One example is a poem written by Johann Albert Gebhardi, Rector of the Martino-Katharineum in 1708 on the occasion of the wedding of Princess Elisabeth Christine von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel to the later Emperor Karl VI. composed. A second, better-known example is the “Mumme-Lied” from the opera “ Heinrich der Vogler ” , which premiered in the summer of 1718 in Braunschweig . Its verses are by Johann Ulrich König , the setting by the ducal Kapellmeister Georg Caspar Schürmann (1672 / 73–1751). The spelling can vary greatly depending on the source, in the following the first two verses:

Original version	Standard German
Brunswyk, you leiwe city, in front of vel dusent cities, which has a beautiful mum , dar ik Worst can fret. Mumme smekkt again sau fin, as Tokay un Mosler wyn, Slakkworst fills the stomach ...	Braunschweig, you dear city, among thousands of cities. the so beautiful Mumme has [and] where I can eat [Braunschweig] sausage. Mumme tastes even better than Tokaj and Moselle wine, slag sausage fills the stomach ...

A Mumme poem

When the rumor was spread at the beginning of the 18th century that the Braunschweiger Mumme was "adulterated" with all kinds of spices and other obscure ingredients and colored with cherry juice, the aforementioned Wolfenbüttel physician Brückmann wrote the following poem on the Mumme in 1723 in her defense The poem of the mummy:

The mummy is not afraid,
she does not want to hide,
she stands right in front of the face of the world without a masque
who wants to look through the magnifying glass, examine her spots
first
before he speaks the judgment

On the occasion of the "1000th anniversary of the city of Braunschweig" in August 1861, Carl Schultes (* 1822; † 1904) wrote the historical drama Brunswick’s Leu, strong and loyal , in which the Mumme was honored again.

The Steger Mumme House

Mumme Brewery Steger around 1897

The best-known address for good mums in pre-war Braunschweig was the parent house of the Steger brewery, the so-called "Mumme-Haus", at Bäckerklint 4 , right across from the still existing Eulenspiegel fountain . The half-timbered house, built around 1588, was badly damaged in one of the numerous air raids on February 10, 1944, like so many others during World War II , and had to be demolished. Only parts of the portal are still in the Braunschweig Municipal Museum.

After the Second World War

After the end of the Second World War , there were two Mumme breweries in Braunschweig: Nettelbeck and Steger, the latter ceasing to operate in 1954. The Nettelbeck family sold the age-old recipe, according to which the drink is still made, together with still usable equipment in 1949 to the lottery collector Leo Basilius. He resumed production on a small scale. The old brewery building on the Bäckerklint, the original location, was destroyed, so he moved to a suburb for production.

In 1990 there was another moment of shock in the 600-year history of the traditional drink. A state investigation office confirmed that the mummy had too high an iron content, probably caused by an old, iron brewing kettle. A new building did not make economic sense for the owner, so the production of 30,000 cans per year was stopped. The 600 year old Mumme tradition seemed to come to an end. In 1996, however, production was resumed and the tradition has been retained in the present. However, Mumme is made in Mülheim an der Ruhr and comes to Braunschweig in barrels. It is filled into the familiar cans and sold on site. Mumme is driven out by the "H. Nettelbeck Commandit-Gesellschaft ”, which since 1998 has again protected the double sailing ship mumme under trademark law.

Mumme up to date

Mumme in a can - no alcohol
The alcoholic version of the Mumme, which has been available again since 2008
Alcohol-free version

Until 2008, the Braunschweiger Mumme only existed in cans in the alcohol-free version. The "non-alcoholic mummy" contains mainly maltose , plus other sugars such as glucose , sucrose and fructose . Because of the sweetness and viscosity mentioned, only a few customers enjoy the drink neat. For a number of years, especially through the " Braunschweiger Mumme-Meile ", which has been taking place every year since 2006 , and increasingly used as an additive for food and drinks, sales and awareness have increased. Depending on personal taste, a shot is mixed into light beer. Mumme is used to refine sauces, cakes and other pastries. Last but not least, there are now numerous cookbooks on how to use the Mumme.

For many decades, the result of the self-imposed alcohol-free status was noticeable: Braunschweiger Mumme had developed from a former export item of the city into a bizarre souvenir for exiled Braunschweig residents and tourists. Only since the "1. Braunschweiger Mumme-Meile “in autumn 2006, the drink stepped out of its niche existence and gained strength as a specialty.