Fourth Day in Berlin

First stop was Hackbarth’s a corner neighborhood pub.

They have four taps, all beers not normally found in Berlin (well, except for Pilsner Urquell).

I started with a Tegernseer Hell, from Herzogliches Bräustüberl Tegernsee in Bavaria, south of Munich. Nice and soft, a good start to the day.

They serve food until 6pm, mostly sandwiches, meat and cheese plates and tomato soup. A ham and cheese sandwich and tomato soup hit the spot.

I needed another beer, so I had the Burgerherren Pils from Steck Bräu in Ostheim vor der Rhön in Northern Franconia (though historically it was part of Thuringer)

It was soon time to move on. The next couple of places didn’t open until 4pm so I headed to Kreuzberg and Birgit & Bier — a Biergarten serving Pilsner Urquell tankovna.  It is near where the Landwehr canal meets the Spree River though it doesn’t have a view of either.

The interior has a very funky, almost junk yard vibe. They also serve some Spaten beers and an IPA from BRLO.

The tanks are visible behind the bar.

The beer was €4.50 and a 50 cent deposit on the mug. That seemed a bit strange usually the deposit is a euro or two (or more).  These seemed like it might be a tip generation scheme, hoping people will just not bother or just say “keep it.”

The beer looked pretty — better than it tasted. Either the lines needed cleaning or this was the first beer of the day and they didn’t drain the tap before serving. It was drinkable, just not as good as the beer usually is.

I nursed the beer for a bit and took the empty back for my 50 cents. 

Next stop was Hopfenreich, one of the better multi tap pubs in Berlin.

They had 22 beers on tap and while you can’t really see it in the picture below, they flag those that are brewed in Berlin.

I had heard about Motel Beer, a fairly new brewery in Berlin. They got there start doing cold brew coffee and then started brewing beer. This is their Jena Paradies and attempt at a style of sour, slightly smoked wheat beers called “Lictenhainer” that used to be brewed in that area. I have no idea if it tastes like those did, but it was a tasty beer.



Next up I thought I’d try the other Motel beer on the list, their Kellerbier.

I’m not sure what their model was — the beer tasted fine but not much like any kellerbier I’ve had before. Way to clear for a starts. It was more like a golden ale. But it tasted good and I enjoyed it.

Next stop was the new-ish (November last year) Castle Pub in Friedrichshain  The original Castle Pub was in Gesundbrunnen and a few years ago they move to Mitte, right across from Nordbahnhof station. They became a “Beer and Coffee” place, opening early, which is great for the beer tourist. Originally the new pub had similar hours (still on their menus) but now are open from 4pm.

They have 50 beers on tap — and 50 different gins if that is your thing. I thought their video board a bit bland. Most of the ones I’ve seen add some color coding to indicate country of origin, beer style, beer strength, etc. etc. 

The had a Saison from Parasite Produktions, brewed by a couple I met in Antwerp years ago and re-met up with last Saturday. So I tried it, it would have been rude not to have.

A very nice beer, spicy and a bit tart.

Right underneath the Parasite beer was Schneeeule Marlene — they only recently started doing a draft version and I have never had it so it was a logical next choice.

There were a couple of disappointments here — first that they didn’t have a proper glass for it. Most of the other beers are fine in a “shaker pint” style glass but Berliner Weisse has its own traditional style of glass. And you can’t really see it here (because I turned it) but the glass wasn’t perfectly clean. I have had beer served in dirtier glasses than this but it it doesn’t reflect well on the pub.

I was going to make stop on my way back to my hotel but there was some disruption with the trams and by the time I was close, I didn’t feel like another beer so I punted and went back to my hotel.

Third Day in Berlin

Sunday, a day of rest? Not when there is beer to drunk. But it was a less hectic day than some.

So I headed off to the district of Wedding to visit Vagabund Brauerei  a small brewpub founded by exPat Americans.  On the way there I saw a sign for business that was worth a picture...

When I first saw such a sign 3-4 years ago from a distance I only saw the words. German has lots of compound words — when they need a new one they just stick 2 (or 3 or sometimes more) together. Sometimes that makes for patterns that are humorous for English speakers.  And “-ing” is a common word ending in German, so I figured this was the case. Then I got close enough to see the logo. OK.

Anyway, I soon was at Vagabund on a quiet, mostly residential street.

The inside is fairly small and the outside tables have a curfew because it is a residential area so it can be quiet crowded. But at 1pm on a Sunday I was the only customer.

The Animal Style 1 Porter was the result of their first experiment with partigyle brewing, a technique where you can get multiple beers from one mash. I like porters so I though I’d try it.

The tables outside are on an angle so it makes for interesting photography. It was a very nice brown porter, a good start to the day.

I decide to try the American Pale Ale next. Higher in alcohol and happier a fairly classic APA.

It was getting along time for me to leave to make my next appointment. The bartender kindly offered me a sample of their Berliner Weisse and I accepted.

The Brett character was noticeable but not too strong. It made the beer interesting, much more than the typical one dimensional “kettle sours” that most breweries do. On any other day I would have stayed for a full pour.

My next stop, and “undisclosed location” home the Schneeeule Brewery — though it is more of a “fermentarium” as the wort is actually brewed elsewhere. But the magic here is in the fermentation so this is where the action is.

I started off with their flagship beer, Marlene.  This one was aged a bit, about 18 months since bottled — and 6 months past the “best by” date but that can be ignored with these beers.

To me, Marlene is the Gold Standard to which all Berliner Weisse should be compared. This one did not disappoint. It was not quite as “funky” as a fresh one but nicely tart — enough to let you know “this is no ordinary beer” but not so much you feel compelled to adulterate with a sweet fruity syrup. Yum.

Next up was a three year old Yasmin, a Berliner Weisse brewed with Jasmin. Again, a bit mellower than a fresh one but nicely complex

Next up was a new beer for me, Mr Paul — a Bretted Porter. This was was just bottled (by hand — and hand labeled — as are all their beers).

Very nice. I imagine this was a porter was like in the old days when they blended a sour porter with fresh. The wort is made from the same grain bill as the Bruno just with different “critters.”

The last beer was an experimental beer, not publicly available— an extra ginger version of Irmgard ginger Berliner Weisse with habanero peppers. Oh boy. You got one kind of burn from the ginger, another from habaneros plus the acidity of the base beer.  Ten years ago I would have loved this beer. I loved it today, but I could hear my gut saying “You want this beer, go ahead but I will make you pay tonight” — one of the many downsides of being an Old Fart™️. I drank about a third and pined for my youth and its iron clad stomach.

I accepted a kindly offered ride back to civilization, where I ended up at Eschenbräu, my favorite “Traditonal Style” brewpub in Berlin. The brewery and pub is in the basement of a student residence (a/k/a “dorm”). I am sure I would have flunked out if I’d had this brewery in my building while at University.

I started off with my favorite, the Panke Gold

Wonderfully drinkable, it is my favorite Berlin beer for “mass consumption” — I could (and have) drink it all afternoon or evening. But to me fair to my readers, I felt obligated to try the other beers on tap.

This is their Pils. A bit hazy (not as bad in real life as in the picture) but that is expected since all their beers are unfiltered. Nicely bitter and easy drinking — a good all around beer but I like the Panke Gold more.

In the warmer half year they brew a Hefeweizen — which I remember as being good but I wasn’t in the mood for that. In the cooler months they brew “Roter Wedding” a nice red lager. The other year round beer is their Alt Berliner Dunkel, so I had one.

It is a tasty well made Dunkel but it doesn’t excite me that much. I’d much rather drink the other two beers.

They don’t have much food, but they do make a “Flammkuchen” — basically a flatbread pizza originally from Alsace.

I was getting ready to leave when I heard the waiter say “Maibock” to the couple at the other end of the table. He must have seen my interest and brought over a table card with the details. Strength of about 6.5% — right in that deadly range where it can drink like a normal beer but hits you after you’ve had a few. I ordered one.

It was delicious. It was good that I was tired because I really wanted another but it was a long trek back to my hotel and wisdom prevailed.

With two days left and I down the the triage point — deciding which places I won’t have time to visit. It is complicated by many places being closed on Monday and with a morning train on Wednesday I don’t want to be out too late on Tuesday.

BTW, if you haven’t checked it out yet, take a look at BeerGuideBER.com were all of these places (and more) are listed along with transportation connections. Also available as IOS and Android apps.

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.