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High-quality & organic natural vinegar

Theo's Essigmeisterei - Balema

Valuable natural vinegar, produced in an ecologically sensible way.

What's in the vinegar? The purpose of "Theo, the vinegar brewer" and his team is to explain the differences between industrial vinegar and valuable natural vinegar. The raw materials for his vinegar come directly from the winemaker or farmer. The combination of real sustainability, uncompromising purity, and his own bacterial cultivation guarantees a unique quality. The gentle ageing in wooden barrels and omission of filtration and heating ensure an unmistakable taste, while preserving the ferments and plant substances that improve health.

Theo's Essigmeisterei - Balema

Kehl-Marlen, Germany

Theo F. Berl

"Theo the vinegar brewer" – Vinegar in perfection from tradition.

The history of the vinegar factory in Kehl-Marlen stretches back over five generations to the year 1868. Originally, Friedrich Berl, the great-grandfather of today's owner Theo F. Berl, founded a farm with an attached restaurant on the way to the Rhine. In addition to tobacco, pickled vegetables, fruit, jams, elderflower and berry syrups, an apple plantation was also operated to cultivate their own cider. In wooden vats and barrels from the well-cared-for "mother of the vinegar", apple cider became artisanal natural fruit vinegar. The inn used these kinds of natural vinegar and balsamic vinegar for pickling and seasoning as well as for cooking. Balema GmbH, founded by Theo F. Berl, has been producing vinegar and balsamic vinegar since 2002 using its own patented process. He still does this at the same location, where everything began in 1868, where barrique wooden barrels are stored.

Advanced production

The benchmark for quality with tradition Organic plant matter is slowly and gently produced in a wooden barrel storage facility in the vinegar master's workshop for vinegar and balsamic vinegar. The company uses a craft process that is unique in Germany and its own brewery standard, called "Acetum 1868 germanitus".  Employees are emphasized for their knowledge and their responsibility. Each and every member of the team around Theo Berl is committed to the traditional art of producing vinegar, to natural, sustainably produced foods, and to maintaining their quality. In the artisan production of vinegar, every detail counts – from raw materials to vinification, preservation, fermentation, bacterial cultivation, quality assurance, customer service, and administration. The result of consistently honest, sustainable and responsible artisan production methods is natural, clean vinegar with a taste spectrum that is second to none.

The world's oldest natural remedy

Real purity, real honesty, real sustainability Initially, there was the question: How can I get as many plant substances, natural nutrients, and enzymes as possible for the added value and benefit of humans? Vinegars from Essigmeister are made exclusively from fresh, sustainably produced raw materials from German and regional winegrowers and fruit growers.  The raw vinegars are matured and developed in huge, 100-year-old oak barrels that have a capacity of 3500 liters. Without dye, without potassium bisulfite, without antioxidants, without sulfur dioxide, free of additives. This results in a natural food that retains the healthy, natural fermented substances, while also having a heavenly, single-variety taste and health benefits.

Contact

Where to find

Theo`s Essigmeisterei - Balema GmbH Schlossergasse 28 77694 Kehl-Marlen Germany

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