Second day in Berlin

Today would be mostly visiting places I’d been to before, only one totally new place on the list.

I started off at Kaschk, a coffee shop that also has 12 taps of beer.  Previous visits about half of the beers were Nordic or local collaborations with Nordic breweries. But that seemed to have change as this time the beers were mostly German.

I decided to try the House Hazy Pale ale, brewed at Strassenbräu. It was a good start to the day.

Next I caught the U-Bahn towards Hausvogteiplatz.  There was a place their earlier, Das Meisterstück that had a decent beer list and pretty good sausages grilled over a wood fire. They had been taken over by BraufactuM, the “craft” brewing venture of the large brewery group Radeberger. I wanted to see what changed.

The outside was pretty much the same with the new name in place of the old. The inside as well — the wood fired grill was there, just the beer taps had changed (they added about 6) Most were BraufactuM along with Schultheiss Pilsner and a Berliner Kindl Zwickel. I chose the Marzus Märzen and a grilled Thuringer sausage.

I would have like the Märzen more if it had more malt — it was a little to carmelly. The sausage was great.

Next up was a visit to a total new place for me. I had to change from U-Bahn to bus at Platz der Luftbrücke, a memorial to the Berlin Airlift. Turns out there was a festival on Sunday (which I’ll miss) but they had cool posters on the sidewalks...

Soon I was at Bier Laden  a relatively new (couple of years) bottle shop and bar. They have six taps for drinking and a huge number of bottles chilled and ready to drink or take away.

Lots of interesting beers on tap...

And lots of fridges filled with beer (this is about one quarter of the selection)

Trying to drink local, I had the Heidenpeters Session IPA (though in the wrong glass)

Staying local, I ordered the Rollberg Helles and I was having such a good conversation with the owners that I wasn’t paying attention.

When I got back to my table I said “boy this is dark for a Helles” and she said “Oops, I gave you the Streck Bräu Märzen by mistake. So she poured me a sample of the Helles.

Both were good.  By now it was past time for me to leave to make my 5pm appointment so I finished my beers and headed off.

So here is where Google Maps failed me. In theory a bus from here would take me to where I was going next. Not the most direct route but the simplest. For some reason Google had me take the bus in the wrong direction one stop, get off and take the next bus back in the direction I came. I though maybe some busses took different routes, but no, when the bus finally came — after it started to rain — it went right back the way I just came. And I lost 15 minutes, which was about my margin of error.

The bus line — 248 — I guess has two legs because my bus said the destination was Sudkreuz, which was about half way there. Google told me to remain on the bus as it would now become “Bus 248 destination xxxxx.” Nope. The driver said everybody off, bus ends. I asked were I could get the bus to my stop and he looked confused (could be my German) and then said go back up to the big street we just passed.

At this point I no longer trust Google, so I fire up the local transit authority — BVG — app. It is not as easy as Google Maps but it is their app, it should be correct, no? No. I guess the bus stop had moved and they hadn’t updated the app and I ended up walking a couple blocks the wrong way. And it wasn’t me reading the map wrong — they showed me standing on a bus stop that wasn’t there :(

So I walked a couple of blocks in the other direction and there was my bus stop, with my bus pulling away. Luckily another one was soon along and I ended up being only 40 minutes late to Foersters Feine Biere What I missed was the ceremonial tapping of the first barrel of the opening of their Biergarten.  But luckily there was still beer :)

They had three barrels of Franconian beer and six more on keg taps. The big wooden one in the middle of the above picture was my first choice, Schlenkerla Fastenbier.

Technically out of season as it is a Lenten beer, but I’m not Catholic so I guess it ok.  It was delicious.  Next up was a Keller Pils from Friedel’s Brauhaus am Kruezberg, the fairly new brewery on top of the big hill near Hallerndorf.  Also very tasty.

And finishing up I had the Helles from Brauerei Sonne in Bischberg, just north of Bamberg.

I was very temped to stay and try the others, but it was getting late and it was a long trip back to my hotel. The easiest route was take the S1 Nordbahnhof and switch to a tram that stops around the corner from the hotel. The danger is, the Castle Pub is right at the tram stop. The board said I had 11 minutes to my tram. In theory that would be enough time for a quick beer but as I’m an old (and still a bit jet lagged) fart I passed.

First Full Day in Berlin

One of the problems with traveling to Europe from the US is because of the time change one is up a ready to drink beer when it is “too early” for the locals. That is why I am always happy to find a place serving interesting beer that is open early.

One such place on my “To Do List” in Berlin was R/D Coffee and Craft Beer. It sounded like a coffee shop that installed some beer taps. So I went to check it out.

But when I got inside their board said “No draft beer today.” Oh noes, what’s up? Turns out their draft system is “broken” and they hope to get it fixed in a week or so. Oh well, maybe next time.

Next on my list was the Zollpackhof, a restaurant and Biergarten near the Hauptbahnhof.

The weather was trying to be nice, warm but overcast and it looked like it was trying to rain.  I decided to try the Biergarten anyway. Very Bavarian with a self serve window. They are an Augustiner München house and had both the Hell and Edelstoff on draft. I order a “small” Hell — small being .5L instead of the normal 1L Mass and Brez’n to go with it.

It was pleasant sitting beside the river and the weather was holding so I decided to have an Edelstoff and when I went up to get it I saw they had Weisswurst as well so in the spirit of Bavaria I ordered a pair.

The Augustiner Edelstoff has reached the level of “cult beer” in some circles. Me, I never thought so. It is a fine beer but in truth I prefer the Hell and this just re-enforced that opinion. Let the flame wars begin.

On the way out I notice this...

At 6pm I gather they tap a gravity barrel of the Hell. It looks like you have to buy a token first, then exchange the token for a beer. That way the server doesn’t have to slow down to deal with money and can dispense the beer non-stop.  They usually means they serve a lot of beer!

Well, there were beer to be drunk and they don’t drink themselves so it was off to Friedrichshain to check out the new Castle Pub there. Well, I had bad information on the opening times — I had they open by 10am but it turns out they open at 4pm. But I saw it on the internet, it has to be true. Oh, well.

So back on the U-Bahn and tram to Prenzlauer Berg to visit a new brewpub, Bräugier. They were open, so the internet is sometimes correct.

They had a good selection of beers on tap,  mostly their own but a few guests.

I started with their Pils

Perfectly fine, a little hoppy and clean. It turns out they are still transitioning to in house brewed beers, the Pils (and the Schwarzbier I had next) were brewed at another brewery, under their supervision.

I asked if which of the beers had been brewed in-house and was told the Rotbier was, so I had that next.

Maybe a tad cloudy but it tasted fine. So I guess they have their new brew system pretty well dialed in. I was told the next beer up would be a Helles but they were waiting for it to clear. Did I want a taste?  Oh yeah.

This beer I really liked, would gladly have paid for a full glass. It was getting time to move on but I thought I would try the Flügge Sour they had on. I’ve heard good things about Flügge (based in Frankfurt) but this was my first chance to try one. This one was a Passion Fruit sour it was very nice.

A couple blocks away was my next stop, Bryggeri Helsinki, a tap room of the Finnish brewery of the same name. I was actually uncertain if it was open because there had unrest over it. It turns out the Finnish owner reputedly had links to a neo-Nazi organization in Finland and that wasn’t going over that well (understandably) with some locals.

It looked like nearly every window in the place had been broken. They were open for business and while a little hesitant, I decided to try a beer. I chose the Pils...

...and the beer was about as clean as the glass. It was drinkable and I hesitate to draw a conclusion based on one beer but it won’t be high on my list for a return visit.

By now it was 6pm and I was not far from Birra, which specializes in Italian beers.

One of the original partners (I gather he may no longer be directly involved) is big fan of Franconian beers and every time I’d been their before they had a tap dedicated to them, usually from Brauerei Knoblach. No joy this time, but there were some kegs in the corner.

I went with the Eastside Brewing (yes, it is Italian) Bimbamia Hoppy Saison.

I got the next to the last glass before the keg kicked, so there was way to much yeast. But it was tasty. I was going to have another but jet lag was starting to kick in and there were still places to visit.

Around the corner from Birra is Monterey Bar which always has something interesting to drink.

The Keesmann Herron Pils was tempting but I went with the more local Postdam Dunkel 

It was a little light for dunkel in my opinion— not enough toasty dark malts. And since it was low in bitterness there wasn’t enough going on to make me want another.  I decided to call it a night.

But wait — while changing trams I noticed

BraufactuM is the “craft beer” arm of the Radelberger Group. They had quite a selection of beers.

I chose the Hoppy Kellerpils

It was a perfectly drinkable beer. They have also taken over the former Das Meisterstück in Hauvogteiplatz so I may stop in there if I have time.

Then I did call it a night.

Arrived in Berlin

OK, this blog has been dormant forever, since I started using Twitter. Going to make an attempt to update it. We’ll see...

So after a long an uncomfortable flight we landed a half hour early in Berlin.  They opened a new window at passport control just as I walked up and soon I was on the airport bus. Luckily when I got to my hotel my room was available so I checked in, plugged in my devices to charge, and being an old fart, promptly took a nap.

Being suitable refreshed I headed out for a beer. Luckily, around the corner from the hotel is Taproom Berlin.

They mostly have Bavarian beers but they’ve always had at least one from Berliner Berg and this time it was their flagship Pale Ale. So I had one.

I hopped on tram and headed for Pankow to visit a new brewery tap.  I realized I would pass right by the Stone Tap Room in Prenzlauer Berg so I hopped off to stop in for a beer.

The had the Berliner Berg Smoke on the Water Smoke Porter on tap so decided to stay on the theme and had one.

I was feeling a bit puckish, so I ordered a Strammer Max — and open faced ham and cheese sandwich with a fried egg on top. It hit the spot.

Suitable fortified, I hopped back on the tram and was soon at the new tap room for Two Fellas Brewing.

They used to be based in the old Castle Pub in Gesundbrunnen and were homeless for a while until they opened this tap room last year. They had two of their beers on tap, I went with the Lake Michigan IPA (one of the owners is from Milwaukee) Nicely hoppy but not overboard. I could have stayed for another but the jet lag was kicking in so I decided to head back towards my hotel.

Not far from my hotel is the Mikkeller Bar Berlin so I headed over to see what was on tap there.

They had two beers from Schönram, the Hell and the Pils. I really like the Hell but after the IPA and with the jet lag I went for the Pils. It was excellent.

I thought about having a second but passed and went back to my hotel.

Posting this, I realized why I stopped updating this blog. The Blogger interface on an iPad is terrible, very painful to use. We’ll see if I can keep this up.

Arrived in Copenhagen

Note: I am recreated posts from a trip I did in February 2019.

An uneventful trip, connecting in Amsterdam for the short hop to Copenhagen.

Walking thru the terminal, it turns out Mikkeller now has an airport bar. Even more important, I'm told they sell bottles. Since they are past security it mights you can take them on the plane. That is good if you don't have another security to transit on your trip. Normally I would have stopped for a beer but I gate checked my bag in Amsterdam and don't want it sitting not he belt, so I didn't. Turned out to be a mistake as it was 45 minutes before the bags came out. KLM, you owe me at least one beer.



There used to be a nice transit pass that was just good for Zones 1 & 2, which is the core of Copenhagen. I would get one of those and then a supplement to take me from the airport (Zone 4) to where the pass was valid. The drawback is you have to buy that at a ticket window (from like, an actual person) -- it is not available from the ticket machines. But they have closed the ticket window at the airport so you have to use the machines so I was out of luck. I had to buy the more expensive pass good for Zones 1-4. Not a big deal but I could have bought a (small) beer with the difference.

After checking in to the hotel I went in search of beer. First stop is a place called Fox 'N' Friends. I get snide looks from American friends as that is the name of the morning show on Fox News Channel. Sane people don't watch it.



The have 15 beers on tap, with a good mix of local and quality imports. The one you can't see in Primator Weizen.

I wend with the Amager Bryghus Greed Pilsner. Clean and crisp.




A short walk away is Skaal, another new place since I was last in town.This is run by and old friend who used to work at Taphouse.



One of the cool things about there tap list is an indicator that shows (roughly) how full the keg is. Helpful if deciding between two beers -- get the one that might run out.



I went with the Ølnsedkeren  Haverfrås Session IPA. It is supposed to be that cloudy (I asked). It also was very dark so I had to use a flash, making the beer seem more opaque that it really was.

Next was Åben Lupulin IAP. Very hoppy and very nice.




Jet lag was kicking in so I decided to walk down to Dorf's Gastrobar

They are sort of an unofficial taproom for the contract brewery Kissmeyer. The tap setup was kind of cool -- the picture below is about half, with the other half around the corner.

They have 30 taps, though a lot seem to be industrial beers.

I was interested in trying one the Kissmeyer beers but there appeared to be nobody there. I shouted for about 10 minutes then left. Since the taps were in the open I thought about pouring myself one but with my luck somebody would come and I didn't want to spend the night in a Danish jail. So I took it as a sign and went back to my hotel.