The Crown of Polish Holes - Sobótka Brewery

Diving into a brewery! Sounds like one of the games at Oktoberfest. A less sophisticated, but much cheaper version of the champagne bath enjoyed by Russian billionaires known for their refined taste.

-- Advertisement --

No wonder we were in a good mood when we set off straight from Marie Agnes to the Brewery. The first challenge was to find the famous place, but since there was one woman in our infernal team, we could ask for the way without risking our honour.

– We are looking for a brewery. Do you know where it is?
– But it’s closed…

What a disappointment! No bath in the golden drink? Despite everything, we decide to continue our journey and thanks to the tips of a slightly surprised Sobótka resident, we find the place. Without engaging more resources, one could shoot here a quite sensible horror film about a haunted brewery, in which the ghost of a brewmaster drowned in a vat is haunted. He went to heaven and found out that they do not serve beer there, but only mass wine, so he decided to return to earthly hell and haunt his workplace for eternity…

Now that you’ve probably felt the vibe, it’s time to get back to diving. As in the case of Marie Agnes, most of our infernal team, the composition of which you got to know in the previous episode, decided to stay with the side-mouth, one Demon went back to the twine. I definitely appreciated the comfort and lightness offered by two neat four-litre bottles at all times and crossed the Brewery threshold in such a tasteful set.

The spirit of the brewer played a trick on us, as the visibility was not the best. We were delighted, because for real cave divers (like us!) good visibility is only disgusting. We were now able to use the skills we had learnt and practiced so hard to move and communicate without visibility, thus touching on the essence of diving under the ceiling.

The tour, although not very long, was quite enjoyable, although the pretty decent, unbroken water in the well spoiled the atmosphere somewhat. Passing red brick walls, corners and more rooms along the way made us decide to come back when conditions were a little better, necessarily with a camera and take the obligatory selfie.

There is a malicious rule in diving which says that it is always easier to get into the water than to get out. I must admit, with some shame, that when it comes to getting out, I have the grace of an uncoordinated seal. From ribs, on which after a dive the skipper often pulls me by my leg, to sea coasts, where I fight for life and dignity with waves, rocks and shortness of breath, to that cursed exit from the brewery, on which, despite a light side-mount, I put on a real cabaret, requiring the intervention of a seasoned fireman and cave instructor in one!

Despite the efforts of the specialist, I survived and avoided more serious injuries, I crawled out and looked with a certain superiority at the demon laden with twinset, who did not even try to exorcise himself from the water without taking off his equipment.

You would probably like to know the history of the Sobótka brewery. How could it have failed since the demand for beer in our beautiful country never wanes? The golden beverage began to be produced here as early as 1817, using the Bavarian method under the watchful eye of master brewer Schmidt.

The owner and founder was Ernest von Luttwitz, who passed his business on to his son, Wilhelm in 1858. The beer produced in Sobótka was sold in a nearby tavern and in Wrocław, in one of the pubs located in the cellar. A year after taking over the company, it became a limited partnership, which decided to modernise the brewery.

Problems arose somewhat later and were due to the quality of the water used to make the beer. Drawn from a nearby pond, it meant that the beer, although tasty, was very perishable. Replacement of the specialists working there did not help, sales fell and the brewery began to decline.

Wilhelm, the founder’s son, tried to rescue the business by looking for investors and between 1864 and 1870 further attempts were made to save the company. Adits were dug in the granite blocks behind the brewery to collect filtered water in huge cisterns located in the basement. The enormous costs covered by the company meant that, despite ever-increasing production and sales, the company once again had problems.

In 1887, it was decided to transform it into a joint stock company. From then on, the Sobótka brewery specialised in lagered and matured beers (the so-called “koźlak”), produced using the bottom fermentation method.

The decision proved to be such a success that already in 1921 new company branches were established in Wałbrzych and Nowa Ruda. After World War II, the brewery regained its shape and developed dynamically, systematically increasing its production to almost 94 thousand hectolitres of beer a year.

So what happened that today in Sobótka we see only remnants of its former glory? A building that has been systematically destroyed and stolen, and is now only a horror? The story is sad. It could not withstand the competition from western concerns, which the Poles were greedy about.

In 1997, the decision was made to close the brewery and sell all remaining beer stocks to Piast. Thus, after more than a century, the history of the brewery came to an end. The building continues to deteriorate, attracting lovers of extreme tourism and so-called “urban explorers”, divers who enjoy diving under the ceiling, adventurers, but also looters and scrapers…

The most diabolical diving team of all time, consisting of:
Sebastian Dobrowolski, or the instructor in hell
Maciej “Demon” Kolasinski
Daria “Awaria” Boruta

The project is being developed with the support and cooperation of the Speleodiving Cave Diving Academy.