The September box comes from Allschwil, on the edge of Basel — and it arrives in the brewery’s tenth year, carrying the two beers that started it.
Ten years since the kitchen
In 2012, after half a year travelling the United States on the trail of the North American craft beer world, Fabian Ehinger came back to Basel and started brewing. Not in a brewery — in a vacant kitchen in the middle of town, on a plant that held 25 litres. The name has been literal ever since. Switzerland’s brewery register lists KITCHEN BREW from 2013.
Then came several years of the thing small brewers do before they can afford walls: guest-brewing on other people’s kit, at breweries near and far around Basel. In 2016 KITCHEN BREW got a home of its own, at Binningerstrasse 101 in Allschwil — a former printing works with the industrial character of the 1950s still in the walls. The 25-litre pot became a 10-hectolitre brewhouse.
That brewery turns ten this year, and they have marked it in the most direct way available to a brewer: a beer. 4123 — the postcode of Allschwil — is a special bottling of their Everyday Blond, released in June 2026, and the choice is not random. Everyday Blond was the first recipe they created once they had the building.
Ten years on, the kitchen is well behind them. The old printworks now runs open-door evenings with Pizza Napoletana coming out of the oven and steamed dumplings alongside, brewery tours and tastings, and a hall that seats a couple of hundred. What has not moved is the line they put on everything: mit Herzblut statt Hektoliter — with heart’s blood rather than hectolitres. At the Swiss Beer Award in April 2026 they came home with five, including Gold for their Alice NEIPA.
In the box
Six bottles from Allschwil, and between them they bracket the whole ten years — the first beer Fabian ever brewed, and the first he brewed in this building:
- Cascade Amber Ale · 5.8% ABV
The first beer Kitchen Brew ever made. Fabian created it over the winter of 2012/13, back on the small kit, and it has been on sale since May 2013 — still the house classic. An amber ale in the American style: Cascade and Mosaic hops over Pilsner, Münchner and caramel malt, dark amber with a red cast, a little roast, and drier than the caramel leads you to expect. Unfiltered. - Everyday Blond · 5.2% ABV
The first recipe created in the Allschwil brewery, in September 2016 — which is why the brewery chose this one, and no other, to carry its anniversary bottling. What is in your box is the everyday version, which is rather the point of it: pale wheat malt for finesse, Mandarina Bavaria hops for a fine fruitiness, filtered, with no bitterness pushed forward. Named for how often you would reach for it. A Swiss Beer Award winner. - Session IPA · 4.5% ABV
Released on 19 December 2014 — and the date is the point. Instead of the rich Christmas beer that week invites, the brewery put out a light one. Single-hopped with Citra, golden, with a maltier body than 4.5% has any right to carry. - India Dark Ale · 6.5% ABV
Eight days older than the Session IPA, and its opposite. An IPA read dark: Citra, Cascade and Amarillo over Vienna, Münchner, caramel and roasted malts. The dark malt is used deliberately sparingly, which is why it lands dark brown rather than black. The most decorated bottle in this box — Platinum at the Meininger International Craft Beer Award 2017, and Anthrazit at the Swiss Beer Award 2026. - Hefeweizen Hell · 4.8% ABV
The newest beer in the house, out since 4 December 2024. Classic Bavarian and pale, unfiltered, with the banana note kept deliberately quiet. Pilsner and Münchner malt with pale wheat. - Tripel · 8.7% ABV
The strongest bottle here by some way, and the Belgian tradition behind it is the one that makes a strong beer far too easy to drink. Golden, brewed with white candi sugar, with a marked residual sweetness. It was a limited edition in 2022/23 and only became a year-round beer in September 2025.
All 33cl. If you are opening them in one sitting, work upwards by ABV: Session IPA (4.5%), Hefeweizen Hell (4.8%), Everyday Blond (5.2%), Cascade Amber Ale (5.8%), India Dark Ale (6.5%), Tripel (8.7%). Prost!
Your box ships around 10 September. Track it with the link in your shipping email. Prost — your local craft brewery, Bier Factory Rapperswil.
