The August box comes from the canton of Aargau — and it holds two breweries at once.
Two brands, one brewhouse
If the bottles in this box look like they came from two different breweries, in a sense they did. Hansruedi Schädeli and Otto Sorg were both born in 1969 and met at the Bezirksschule in Wohlen in 1980. Sorg went on to brewing school, and there, in 1994, he met Ralf Paul — seven years older, and already set on beer of his own.
In 2000, once Sorg had his brewing diploma, the two school friends opened their brewery in Villmergen under the name Erusbacher Bräu. Two years later Ralf Paul launched his own line, bier paul — brewed, for the time being, on his friends’ kit in Villmergen. It stayed that way until 2005, when the two brands stopped being neighbours and became one company: Brauerei Erusbacher & Paul AG, owned by the founders and around a hundred shareholders from the region.
It worked. The brewery passed 3,000 hectolitres a year by 2010 and was nearing 5,000 by 2015 — enough that the old building ran out of room. Ground was broken on a new brewery in October 2017 and production moved in a year later. Today they brew more than a dozen varieties at Mattenweg 1, and brought two awards home from the Swiss Beer Award in April 2026.
One coincidence we enjoyed: on the register of Swiss breweries kept at bov.ch — compiled from the customs administration’s published list — Erusbacher & Paul are number 116. Bier Factory is number 114. Both registered in the same year, two numbers apart, and it has taken twenty-six years for one of us to send the other out in a box.
In the box
Six bottles from Villmergen, both brands represented, and a range that runs from 0.5% to 5.2%:
- Erusbacher AG · 5.1% · two in the box
The “100% Region” on the label is meant literally: brewing barley grown in the canton of Aargau and malted in Möriken-Wildegg, Orion hops from the Fricktal, water from Villmergen. A filtered lager, and their Aargau beer in every sense. Swiss Beer Award: Anthrazit. - Erusbacher Urtyp · 4.9%
The traditional one — pale barley malt with a share of caramel malt, fine aroma hops, and the golden colour the brewery is quietly proud of. Fresh, with the hops just forward of the malt. - Erusbacher das ohni · 0.5%
The most interesting bottle in the box. It is not de-alcoholised: it is fermented with a special yeast that can only process certain sugars, so barely any alcohol forms in the first place and the beer flavour stays put. Lightly fruity, with a moderate residual sweetness. “Ohni” is Swiss German for “without”. Swiss Beer Award: Silber — the best-decorated beer in this box. - bier paul 01 · 5.2%
A pale, filtered Spezialbier: pale barley malt, fine aroma hops, soft brewing water. A deliberate bitterness gives it a fresh, dry edge. The house beer of the bier paul side. Swiss Beer Award: Anthrazit. - bier paul 04 · 4.3%
The Sommerbier, and well timed. Unfiltered and naturally cloudy, brewed with pale barley malt and a little wheat malt. The citrus note is not added — it develops during fermentation and lagering. Lower in alcohol, a touch sweeter, built for a warm evening.
All 33cl. If you are opening them in one sitting, that range is also the order: das ohni (0.5%), 04 (4.3%), Urtyp (4.9%), AG (5.1%), 01 (5.2%). Prost!
Your box ships around 10 August. Track it with the link in your shipping email. Prost — your local craft brewery, Bier Factory Rapperswil.
