Aufsturz

4thoseabout2bock

Illinois

4.14/5  rDev +4.3%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | $$

This is definitely the place to go for their bottle selection.

Conveniently located in Mitte, just north of the Bode Museum complex which houses the Pergamon Collection and a couple other Museums, Aufsturz is an easy walk from Fredrichstrasse and Hackescher Markt Sbahn stops, or right above Orangienstrasse stop. This is a beer bar up front and music venue in back, set in a basement on a main street. Some picnic tables out front are used for smoking (probably year round) and for seating more generally in fine weather. I think their motto is "Come drink where Humboldt lived". Inside is pretty basic street level pub -- art on walls, plenty of tables, long bar lining the front wall.

We did not try the food but we enjoyed the impressive bottle list, and decent service. There is also free WLAN, a real bonus and not as common in Berlin as we had hoped.

Extensive bottle list is categorized by style plus a special section with specialty beers that included Altenmunster, Andechs Dunkelbock, Barbar, Brigand, Duvel, Engel Hell und Dunkel, Gordons Scotch, Hovels Bitter, Jenlain, Kasteel, Kwak, Export Guinness, Samiclaus, Rothaus and Bryggmastarueus from Sweden.

Because I prefer dark beer I only have the dark beer offerings written down -- they included schwarzes from Bernauer, Eibauer, Kostrizer, Krusovice, Kindl (Markischer Landmann), Neuzeller, Lausitzer, Staropramen and Torgauer.

Of course there were plenty in the weizen and dunkel categories among others that I just didn't write down.

Aufsturz is a great way to take a beer tour of Brandenberg and Sachen while sitting in Berlin. A recommended stop for beer lovers and tourists.

Other closeby recommended and somewhat cozier destinations include Schwarzwald (just up Tuholskystrasse, which has Rothaus on tap) and Sophieneck at the corner of Gros Hamburger and Sophienstrasse which has an Alt and Kolsch on tap.

Although they are both located in this part of town, it kills me that Max Beer and Gros Hamburger Strasse don't meet. That would be a great pub location.

In general, this is the best bottle list in town.
For fresh and adventurous beers, Brewbaker is the best brauhaus in town. Between the two, you will have had a great experience.

11-09-2008 08:51:58 | More by 4thoseabout2bock

Dennoman

Belgium

3.35/5  rDev -15.6%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3 | service: 4 | selection: 3 | food: 3.5 | $$

Located in the Oranienburgerstrasse, supposedly one of the trendiest neighborhoods of Berlin, Aufsturz is quite obviously catering to a younger audience. Though I admit not having checked the interior, the outside feels very “picknicky” due to an arrangement of oversized park benches. Being Belgian myself, I very much dislike going through the trouble of travelling abroad to visit a beer bar, only to find that more than 50% of the list consists of commercial and easily available Belgian brews. This mostly isn’t the case for the Aufsturz beer list, as it mostly does consist of German brews. The menu however just doesn’t seem like a very interesting read: I’ve had much more fun browsing through the menu in bars that had less than half of Aufsturz’s bottle selection. Food is reasonably priced and, although a bit poncy, definitely not overcomplicated. The only thing where this place really stands out, is that none of the waitresses are a day over 25 and I’m fairly sure there are also employee standards for cup sizes. Can I get a PHWOARRR?

09-03-2011 18:48:15 | More by Dennoman

BlackHaddock

United Kingdom (England)

4.14/5  rDev +4.3%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | $$

The 'happening street' in Berlin currently, the whole area is a mass of bars, clubs and eating places. We missed this bar initially, because of scaffolding that was covering the front, plus the street is numbered strangely. We were on the wrong side of the road, no problems once we realised.

Don't know what it'll look like outside, but inside it is very basic, with wooden floors and loads of seating/tables. Some interesting paintings, lite very well, to highlight each ones striking points (like a spot light onto a nightscenes moon). We all liked the vibe of the place (two 50+ year olds and two 29 year olds). Lots of American English being spoken around us, as well as German.

The bottled beer selection is very interesting, the only tap being Heineken of all things. I didn't really look past the German beers, but there were plenty of others and as has been mentioned most appeared to be Belgian.

Service was fine on both occasions my little party of four drank here in mid April 2011. Bottles brought to the table, pour your own.

04-27-2011 08:15:25 | More by BlackHaddock

seanyfo

United Kingdom (Scotland)

3.46/5  rDev -12.8%
vibe: 3 | quality: 4 | service: 2 | selection: 4.5 | $$

5 min walk from Oranienburger Tor, we visited on the 28/09/2010, walking back from Schwarzwaldstuben along Auguststrasse toward the U Bahn.

Was certainly busy enough, but still easy enough to get a seat about about 7pm. Has a very basement feel about the place - with exposed vents and heating above, lots of art deco abstract art on the walls, and lots of wooden tables of 4.

Taking our seats, we had a look at the extensive beer menu, 100 bottled beer and about 40 whiskies. We plumped for the Tegernsee Helles, which was served chilled in appropriate glassware. Menu was made up of mainly Belgian and German offerings.

Service was sllooowwww. Sat for about 10 mins before getting our order in, beer came fast enough but it was no way busy enough to have to wait that long, and the waitress wasnt exactly all smiles. Getting the bill was the same, it was a nightmare to find anyone.

Didnt sample food but saw some folks eatin the pizzas and they looked plenty huge and pretty tasty.

Overall, this was place is great for their variety of beer but i just didnt like the atmosphere or surroundings. Maybe i was biased from coming out of Schwarzwaldstuben, but this place just seemed cold and uncomfortable. Definitely a one beer place for me, would only really stop by to sample something new.

10-16-2010 22:06:53 | More by seanyfo

akenethon

Germany

3.6/5  rDev -9.3%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 4 | food: 3 | $$

This place is probably the only place in Berlin where you can get a large selection of international beer (hence the crowd). I hate the fact that it has an almost monopoly on belgian beer, because this is not the kind of place I would go often.

The atmosphere is OK, I would have rather had it more restaurant-like.

Qualitywise, like any other good place with lots of beer, decent folks come here. Nevertheless, the rooms are too big.

Service is slow on busy days, and not always kind.

Selection is about 110 beers, which is impressive for Germany, a country of conservative drinkers. Nevertheless, I would have wished to have more belgian beers. Strange because EU's internal market makes it super easy to import that kind of stuff. I tried some of the austrian and scandinavian beers and so far they were all very good. Plus they serve each beer with its original glas, most of the time.

Food is the average drunken bar food, nachos, wurst, bouletten etc. It's not the kind of place where you would have a dinner. I don't understand why they have this bar food stuff instead of proper german or belgian or whatever food.

The prices are OK. Food is cheap, beer may be somewhat expensive sometimes.

Recommended for its beer and quality, don't expect much from food and service.

05-12-2010 21:35:05 | More by akenethon

ScoPi

Germany

3.65/5  rDev -8.1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 2 | $$

This was another stop of mine when we hit Berlin a few days ago, and it was indeed the most enjoyable of the beer-related stops we managed to make. For one thing, it was fantastic to sit down at a place in Germany and be able to order something other than a traditional German beer. Indeed, this place really does attempt to offer something beer connoiseurs such as the Beeradvocate readership would enjoy. As mentioned by others, you can get an impressive array of Belgians here as well as a few English ales and, of course, several good German beers. But the fact that their selection of beers was capped at less than 100 and concentrated so heavily on a few countries did nothing but remind me how good we have it in the States. While I am not attempting to say that Aufsturz's beer selection was small by any standard, it was amazing that the biggest city in Germany and the second largest city in western Europe didn't offer an establishment with even more. When I think of places I've been to in the States--even "rinky-dink" places near where I used to live--it reminded me that their selection was often twice as large and included 20+ draught selections.

The point of this rant is to say that I'm amazed by Germany's staunchly traditional view of beer, so traditional that even great places like Aufsturz still seem muffled in some way.

01-24-2010 10:01:45 | More by ScoPi

lstokes

Illinois

4.3/5  rDev +8.3%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | $$

This is *the* bottle destination in Berlin. Best Belgian selection I've seen even including a Geuze, two different Rauchbiers, Aventinus, all the pilsners you can imagine, even a beer or two from Sweden and Denmark. Everything is served in appropriate glassware, and nothing is over four euros. More common beers are available in half liter sizes for 2.80.

The service is perfectly fine, but can be a little slow on crowded nights. I've really only been there when it's been crowded, so it gets a little bit cozy, but still, mostly a nice friendly vibe. High quality place and my standard bar in Berlin.

01-20-2010 21:05:38 | More by lstokes

dasenebler

Maine

4.22/5  rDev +6.3%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 3.5 | $$

When you're in Germany, it shouldn't be hard to find good beer. But sometimes it can be difficult in Berlin to find a bar or restaurant that offers more than just lagers and weiss biers. Not the case with Aufsturz, a bar and restaurant in Mitte. It's funny because they only had one beer on tap (Heineken), but I wouldn't be surprised if their bottled beer menu had 100 varieties.

Beers I've had at this bar include: Andechser Doppelbock, Aventinus, Schlenkerla Rauchbier Weizen, La Trappe Dubbel, Leffe Blonde, St Bernardus Prior 8 etc. They have a great selection of German beers and a good Belgian selection as well. One of the few places in Berlin where I've been able to find rauchbier. All of the beer tasted fresh and was served in or accompanied with the proper glassware. My only complaint is that a few of the brews seemed too cold, and I had to let them sit and warm so I could taste all of the subtleties (not a big deal really). The food was decent and not expensive, the beers were appropriately priced--depending on serving size, between €2 and €5. They have a good whiskey list as well. They even had Sam Adams Boston Lager and Black Lager! In Germany!

Aufsturz is definitely one of the must-visit bars for beer aficionados in Berlin. It's in a cool part of town as well. I'll probably become a regular during my time here.

08-22-2008 18:56:07 | More by dasenebler

swizzlenuts

Wisconsin

4.45/5  rDev +12.1%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4 | $$

When walking into this place, it's darkly lit with candles all over the place. It's nice and cozy. They have a fairly good selection of beers at the bar, but it's mainly continental beers and most of them are from Germany. The prices seemed to be in line with most Berlin places, and the food was pretty tasty.

The service was really good, the waitress was helpful and fast. They didn't seem very knowledgeable, but that could be because of the language barrier.

I'd highly recommend this place because of it's atmosphere and selection of German beers.

04-04-2008 21:07:22 | More by swizzlenuts

ballewblake

New Jersey

4.33/5  rDev +9.1%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4 | $$

One of the few beer bars I found in Berlin, a city and country that seem near impossible to find a good selection of beers, and one of the only, if not few that carry a nice amount of Belgians (50+!). The German selection was better than most bars, with maybe 15 offerings (A LOT for bars here.) Once I found this place I pretty much hibernated there and became a regular really quick. Beers were served in proper glassware, even the brewery glasses. Food was a little above bar fare.

Ran into a number of tourist in this place, though there were plenty of locals. The atmosphere was upper yuppish, even though this is east Berlin (and on the prostitute stretch of road.) The crew for the most part didn't have problems understanding me and I got around pretty well here (not knowing much German at all.) Was hooked up with a 750 of Duvel at my last session there (for a good journey home.) Fun place to meet people and have some good brews, and a selection of them to boot.

02-11-2008 21:26:33 | More by ballewblake