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CAMRA - North Hampshire Branch This Page:           Berlin and its Beer Published: April 2007   BERLIN AND ITS BEER ..written by Ken Brewster for the LONDON DRINKER Travel Pages   Note: Click on any picture to see a larger version and use your browser's BACK button to return to this page.   Berlin was the 2006 target for the research team from CAMAL, the Campaign for Authentic Lager. Things are much different from the last visit in 1990, just after the Wall was torn down. It is now difficult to tell the old west and east areas apart and both have a much more affluent look to them. The centre has moved east and the now extensive rail transport system, with a good spread of U-Bahn lines, and S-Bahn lines enabled us to get round the brewpubs and examine the character of some of Berlin's better pubs in the new integrated area.   Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis Church   Potzdamer Platz There is some impressive modern architecture in Potzdamer Platz, provided by a range of world famous architects, but the main attraction is the Sony Centre, because in this impressive shopping centre they have incorporated the brewpub Lindenbräu, Bellevuestrasse 3-5, underneath the soaring glass roof. The pub is quite modern in its styling and is said to have silver plating on its copper brewing vessels, making them look like stainless steel! There is unfiltered Helles and Weiss to sample.   Lindenbräu   River Spree For another modern showpiece, there is the recently completed Hauptbahnhof station, Europe's largest, providing several levels of movement within a large glass parcel. From here you can get a boat trip on the river Spree whiling away the morning having a beer and gazing at a range of impressive government and commercial buildings while looking out for the brewpub Georgbräu overlooking the river. Brauhaus Georgbräu, Spreeufer 4, is in a pedestrianised square with a riverside area where one can watch the tour boats go by. The brewing, from the copper vessels providing a showpiece in the bar, started in 1992 and it brews 1,500 hl of beer a year for the pub. It has several traditional rooms inside and plenty of room for more drinkers in the square. My Helles was very unfiltered and had a rather dry taste but was quite acceptable.   Brauhaus Georgbräu   Around Alexanderplatz Not far from the Georgbräu, at Rathausstrasse 23, is Mutter Hoppe in a very pleasant square facing the outside drinking area. The cellar bars provide a comfortable drinking atmosphere although the Radeberger Pilsner was not exciting.   Mutter Hoppe   If you want to visit a church try the Nickolai church with its distinctive double tower because down below it is the picturesque Zum Nußbaum, Am Nußbaum 3. It is a small cosy pub with black wood panelled rooms and an attractive beer garden in a calm setting. The pub was rebuilt in the 1980s to the original design. and has good range of beers but the Rex Pils I had was rather gassy and lacking in character.   Zum Nußbaum   In the Carré shopping centre, nearer the Alexanderplatz station, is Brauhaus Mitte, Karl Liebknecht Strasse 13. Its styling suits the modern shopping centre, with its sweeping stairway up to the high level pub. They brew a range of beers with the Pils having a nice clean taste and the Dunkel having a few hops in the aftertaste.   Brauhaus Mitte   Mitte Brewery   Nearby is Zur Letzten Instanz (the last resort), Waisenstrasse 14. A nice olde traditional place with black wood panelling, claiming to be the oldest pub in Berlin having been there since 1621. Even Napoleon, it is said, called in on his way to Russia. The Berliner Burgerbräu Rotkehlchen went down quite well.   On the other side of Alexanderplatz station is a tiny 150 hecto-litre brew pub, Gasthausbrauerei Barkowsky, Munzstrasse 1-3. It is a proper pub and serves its own beer as Marcus-Bräu, doing Pils, both filtered and unfiltered, and a Dunkel, in a range of glass sizes from 0.3l to a 5l tower. It also produce other beers in a wide range of styles.   Heading from here towards the Hackescher Markt station, there is buried, in the railway arches, another brewpub, Lemkes Spezialitätenbrauerei at S-Bahnbogen 143, Dircksenstrasse. A tidy place, with modern industrial ducting providing the styling, it normally has about four house beers that may include a quite different style of beer to Berlin's usual pils, dunkel and weisse range. Of the ones tried, I preferred the unfiltered Pils that had a touch of lemon in the taste. The Original, a dark beer had some burnt malt in the flavour and went down well but I found the Kupfer, a clear beer, to be rather metallic.   Lemkes Spezialitätenbrauerei   A smoother bar nearby is the Sophie'n Eck, Grosse Hamburgerstrasse 37. A smart modern restaurant and bar, fitted with low lighting where Jever Pils and several other major beers are available.   Also worth a call while passing is Bierstube Alt Berlin, Münszstrasse 23, a small wood panelled stand-up bar with a 'black' room to the rear. This has Krombacher Pils that was a bit on the gassy and harsh side.   Charlottenburg A trip to Haus der 100 Biere, Das Mommsen Eck at Mommsenstrasse 45 near S-Bahn Charlottenburg, enables you to sample from about 15 draught beers. The beers are generally of the better-known varieties, rather than from interesting smaller breweries, but there is a nice atmosphere in a well laid out large bar and plenty of space outside.   For devotees of way-out pubs, a visit to Klo (the loo), Leibnizstrasse 57 between S-Bahn stations Charlottenburg and Savignyplatz, is essential. The Eber Pils there goes down reasonably well in the party atmosphere but it is the crazy scene that is the attraction. The beer is drunk out of hospital plastic male urine bottles while the Sausages with Sauerkraut is served in a bedpan! On entering you may get sprinkled with water (I believe) while the ladies might find gusts of hot air blowing up their skirts. Barstools rise and fall or rotate beneath you while above the ceiling is likely to release an avalanche of papier mâché rocks.   Klo   Suburban Brewpubs If you like brew-pubs in railway arches, Brewbaker, at S-Bahnbogen 415, Flensburger Strasse, near S-Bahn station Bellevue provides a worthwhile call. It is a tidy place with a small stainless steel brewery. I found its unfiltered Pils had a touch of orange peel with a few hops and was a little on the dry side; a nice change from the commercial brews.   A U-Bahn trip to Südstern takes you to Brauhaus Südstern, Hasenheide 69; a trendy modern styled brewpub where the Stern Heller was unfiltered and provided a touch of lemon in the taste.   Brauhaus Südstern   For a more picturesque brewpub the U-Bahn takes you to Altstadt Spandau for Brauhaus Spandau, Neuendorfer Strasse 1. In this large pub, previously part of Spandau Barracks, the big copper vessels provide an interesting prospect while sampling their wares. They had on their regular Havelbräu Hell, a tasty unfiltered Hell, and Spezialbier, a pleasant Dunkel.   Spandau Brewery   Brauhaus Spandau   Out of the centre, not far from the U/S-Bahn station Hemannstrasse, is another brewpub, Rixdorfer Brauhaus, Glasower Strasse 27. It is an attractive old mansion in its own grounds with the brewery in the bar. The art-nouveau décor provides a well-worn highly decorated background for sampling the Hell, Dunkel and Weissbier with their distinctive flavours.   Rixdorfer Brauhaus   Rixdorfer Brauhaus   Leipzig During our week in Berlin we had a train trip to Leipzig, about an hour and a quarter away. It has an attractive old-style town centre with much of it rebuilt in its original style. There are many associations with classical music composers, particularly Bach and Goethe, in the old town and a walking tour provides plenty of excuses to call in a few of the neighbouring pubs.   However, the main beer attraction is just outside the old town in the former main station, 'Bavarian Station' at Bayerischer Platz 1, the Bayerischer Bahnhof. It is accessible by tram from the huge new main station. The old entrance with its impressive frontage remains, visible behind the current civil engineering works needed to run a new line under the old station. The bar/restaurant, using several rooms in the old station buildings, provides an ornate setting for the impressive copper brewing vessels. Here they do a re-creation of the old style Gose beer for which Leipzig was once famous. An obscure beer style brewed only in Leipzig, it is a pale top-fermented wheat beer with coriander flavouring and has a sour lactic taste, similar to the traditional Belgian beers. Here, the Original Leipziger Gose provides the old fashioned taste and it is also available with a light fruit flavouring, such as mit Himbeersirup (raspberry). The Schnaffner-Bayerischer Naturtrübes is an unfiltered Pils.   Bayerischer Bahnhof   Bayerischer Bahnhof   Bayerischer Bahnhof Brewery   Going into the town centre we had to miss the Ratskeller in the cellars of the New Town Hall at Lotterstrasse 1 as it was closed for a party but the place looked worth a visit with its large wood-panelled room featuring a vaulted ceiling.   Nearby, the Thüringer Hof, Burgstrasse 19, is a large rambling building with a smart vaulted restaurant. Here they have the Würzburger Pilsner, with a grainy flavour that appealed to some but not to others   Thüringer Hof   Continuing along the street there is a brewpub overlooking the church green, Brauerei an der Thomaskirche, Thomaskirchhof 3-5. With traditional restaurant rooms, it has a small brewery in the kneipe bar (traditional stand-up bar) at the front of the building. They do a Pils Naturtrübe (cloudy), a Spezial and also a Rauch bier (smoked). While the beers are not at the top of my list they are interesting to try.   Brauerei an der Thomaskirche   Thomaskirche Brewery   At Klostergasse 3-5 is Paulaner Restaurants serving a good range of Paulaner beers from Munich with the Helles having plenty of flavour. There are several rooms and the establishment is designed to provide a look and feel of the Munich beer hall on a small scale.   More Information Essential references for planning a visit are the Good Beer Guide – Germany by Steve Thomas and Ron Pattinson’s website   Ken Brewster   << BACK TO ARTICLES ^ BACK TO TOP ^

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