Whilst Berlin doesn't have a massive beer scene, we still managed to get our hands on a few beers from up and coming craft brewers, a few quaffers from traditional ones and most importantly, some Berliner Weisse.
Berliner Weisse
We sat down one night and had three Berliner Kindl Weisse side by side by side. The unsweetened was OK, probably not enough sour for our liking, but the two syruped versions, raspberry and woodruff, were way too sweet. This is Nana beer at its worst! And at the supermarket you can buy your unsweetened stubbies and a packet of syrup pods that come in all sorts of naff flavours to DIY.
Berlin's saving (beer) grace though was the Potsdamer Weisse by Braumanufactur. With just enough sour to it and a really dry finish, you could easily drink an s load of this on a 40 degree day. We found two bottles in an organic supermarket on the outskirts of Berlin and carried them around with us for a full day only to have some bastard at our hostel decide to pinch one of the bottles!
Unfortunately though, and unlike Cologne and Düsseldorf, the production of Berlin's regional beer speciality seems to be a dying art and it is hard to see it being rekindled. These Berliner Weisse don't hold a candle to Feral's Watermelon Warhead.
Craft Beer Journey
We devoted one day and about 15 kilometres of walking to searching out a few of Berlin's apparent beer hotspots.
First of all we hit up Das Meisterstück for Maisel & Friends' Chocolate Bock and Jeff's Bavarian Ale, and red cheese sausage with potato salad. While the beers, sausage, concept and place itself were all great, that's where the good news stopped. The waitress pretty much didn't want to know us, leaving us waiting for at least 15 minutes before there was any sort of recognition, and then as we were leaving gave us a token "I hope you enjoyed it here, have a great day" in a last ditch attempt for a tip (which in protest we didn't give - that will show them!). And then to cap it all off, the bar owner cracked the shits when we didn't want to pay 10 Euros for one takeaway, sorry buddy, that's a nights accommodation in SE Asia.
So we left there and whinged all the way to the Berlin Bier Shop where we were met with an equally cold reception. We picked up a couple of beers (one of which smelled like lanolin/dags/sheep's p*ss - yum!) but may have left with a couple more if the owner had showed just a slight bit more enthusiasm for his country's craft beer scene.
After that we headed through what seemed to be the Centrelink section of this city (too un-PC?) to the most random restaurant come brewery tap, Zunftwirtschaft, to try beer by Brewcraft. We felt like we were sitting in one of our Nanas' living rooms drinking beer. It was quite surreal really - roses on tables with faded yellow tablecloths, a chef out the back in his full chef's whites, quite innovative beer on tap in a pretty random section of Berlin with nothing else similar near it at all in what seemed like an old house. The Brewbaker IPA was very interesting though and had almost a Saison like character to it - v enjoyable.
On the way home we dropped into Hops & Barley for a few to finish the day. We had the Wiezen, Dunkel, Amber and their Cider whilst all around us seats near the television became very hot property as the bar filled up and everyone settled in for "a very famous German show" which was to begin at 8.15. It turned out to be a German cop drama that people can't seem to get enough of. We had to whisper to pay as we quickly shuffled out to give up our seat for someone else who clearly wanted it much more than us.
In terms of the beers, they do what it says on the label but it would be nice to see them push the boundaries a bit more.
So our craft beer experience around Berlin gave us a bit of a mix bag.
Honourable Mention
Quickly running around the corner to pick up four more Erdinger Weisse for less than 5 Euros is absolutely brilliant and so convenient. Oh, I'm out of beer, be back in a few minutes as I just head to the corner store to pick up a few more, get 8 cents back for each previously emptied bottle and then open one at the counter to drink on the way back as two minutes is too long to wait. Brilliant!
Dishonourable Mention
The Weihenstephan Bar in central Berlin is a tourist trap abomination.
The Beers
Erdinger Wiessbier, Dunkel
Weihenstephan Hefeweissbier , Vitus
Hops & Barley Amber, Wiezen, Dunkel, (Cider)
Gessner Dunkler Bock
BrauKunstKeller Pale Ale
Hopfenstopfer Incredible Pale Ale
Rathaus Pils
Kindl Unsweetened, Raspberry, Woodruff
Andechs Wiessbier
Braumanufactur Potsdamer Weisse, Stanger
Maisel & Friends Chocolate Bock, Jeff's Bavarian Ale
Brewbaker IPA
Lausitzer Kirsch Porter
