| Location: | Jausenstation Kölnbreinstüberl |
| Website: | https://berghotelmalta.at/de/mein-maltatal/malta-hochalmstrasse?pimcore_preview=true&_dc=1751708564719 |
| Address: | Brandstatt 38, 9854 Brandstatt |
| Status: | Open (last checked on 12 July 2025) |
| Eaten: | "Brettljause vom Maltaler," two beers (Hirter) |
The Kölnbrein Dam and its water reservoir at the end of the Malta Valley are stunningly beautiful. They are also unbelievably huge, of the scale that one does not expect in a small country like Austria. When I started my hike and realized I had to walk for two hours to reach a hut at the other end of the reservoir, for a few minutes I had a feeling that was the exact opposite to claustrophobia. Unfortunately, the hut of my ultimate destination, Osnabrücker Hütte, despite looking very inviting, did not have a Brettljause, so I decided to walk back to almost the starting point of my hike, and try the Brettljause of Jausenstation Kölnbreinstüberl instead.
After all the Brettljausen I have eaten, I believe I have sufficient experience to determine the Austrian state a Brettljause came from simply by looking at it. The one of Kölnbreinstüberl looked distinctly Carinthian. The Glundner cheese was an obvious giveaway, though to Kölnbreinstüberl’s credit, it was not that wobbly and much tastier than at most other huts of Carinthia I had visited. The second hint was the abundance of meat of all sorts. It seems Carinthians are ashamed to serve only a few slices of salami or Speck; they want to give you a pile of them, to make sure that you leave very full.
The small bowl of goat cheese was a nice extra, though it did not have a strong taste as I had expected. The “Almkäse”, on the other hand, was very intense, similar to mountain cheeses of Vorarlberg. As you can see from the picture, fresh vegetables were not the Jausenstation’s specialty, but the bread was the main disappointment. It was not only stale, but showed some signs of mold.
At the end, Kölnbreinstüberl’s Brettljause was something of a letdown. At the price of almost 18 euros, it could have been more special or at least nicer presented. The hut’s closeness to the dam ensures that every visitor can easily reach it, and probably that made the hut’s managers a bit sluggish. In retrospective, my advice would be to hike for two hours to Osnabrücker Hütte and try Schweinsbraten there. I caught a sight of it when ordering beer, and it looked very good.