berlin trip

Discussion in 'Germany' started by gavinbrooksbank, Mar 2, 2015.

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  1. gavinbrooksbank

    gavinbrooksbank Initiate (0) May 24, 2011 England

    hi all

    im just back from a beer centred berlin trip and wondered if anyones interested in reading my trip report, dont know whether you guys put stuff like that up or if anyones actually interested so just thought id check before posting!
     
  2. Gutes_Bier

    Gutes_Bier Maven (1,339) Jul 31, 2011 Germany

    Go for it! We all like to live vicariously through the Trip Report posts.
     
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  3. pthread1981

    pthread1981 Initiate (0) Mar 23, 2007 Germany

    Always useful - the offerings are changing constantly.
     
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  4. gavinbrooksbank

    gavinbrooksbank Initiate (0) May 24, 2011 England

    ok, here goes, sorry its long on text and short on pictures but hope it is useful to someone. Just to say before i post it, i'm a fan of beers from all over the world but do have a deep love for german beers, i travel all over germany but regularly visit berlin, i understand some beer people arent keen on berlin and see it as a bit of a beer desert, its true that its no bamberg or even munich but i think if you delve deep enough there are two types of beer culture there, there are a lot of exciting new "craft" style breweries emerging that brew some new interpretations of old german styles and also some of the more american styles. There is also the traditional pub culture, which i must confess i love and have focused more on on this particular trip, theres something that draws me in to an old fashioned eck kneipe, even though the beer choice is usually limited. anyway, here you are

    Day One
    Arrival in schoenefeld was uneventful, the usual walk into the airport, then back out of the airport, then back into the airport, the five year old adverts for the berliner morgenpost still there, I wonder if I’ll be flying back into this airport again, the new berlin Brandenburg airport will surely open sometime in the next four years, maybe. A small victory on coming through arrivals into the main foyer, a hidden deutsche bahn ticket machine with no queue! Quickly across the outdoor walkway and down into the s bahn station to see the usual queues of tourists at the ticket machines there, feeling smug, up to the platform for a ten minute wait for the regional bahn.
    The monstrosity that is the alexa centre is still standing, reminds me of a fibreglass kids playground that stinks of piss, off at alexanderplatz and down into left luggage where there’s a man sorting his underpants on the floor. Then, the moment we’ve all been waiting for, a first pint in bierbar alkopole, as usual, all life is here, middle class English couple, young german punks, bemused elderly gents on their fifth beer of the day, a lovely pint of duckstein, still not sure why this is marketed as a premium beer with a premium price in Germany but I do like it, an alt bier of sorts I guess you’d call it, copper coloured and with a roasted malt flavour, nothing like a dusseldorf alt though.
    Over to potsdamer platz, lovely weather, crisp and clear, just right for a trip up to panorama punkt, I’m still amazed by the lift which takes us up 28 floors in around 7 seconds, witchcraft it is. Bit windy up there so after a while head back down in search of food and liquid refreshment. Into Lindenbrau the brauhuas in the sony centre, typical faux Bavarian brauhuas décor in a modern glass building, busy with tourists from all over the world and a particularly rowdy table of drunk german teens, probably from Stuttgart. I go for their unfiltered helles, pretty sure its not brewed here (I think they just brew the weizen) but contract brewed somewhere else, a totally opaque orange coloured brew, not bad actually, the half chicken was also spot on.
    Next, a short walk down to see the remains of the anhalter bahnhof, bit of a people desert round here, office blocks and tourist hotels but no real life, also round the corner to see the only remaining type two border watch tower on erner berger strasse and a quick detour to see haus huth which at one point was the only building left standing around these parts when it became no man’s land after the war, it’s looking good but a little squashed in by the big new buildings surrounding it.
    Quick check in and freshen up at the hotel and then onto charlottenburg, not really investigated round here that much in recent years so thought we’d take a big circular-ish walk starting at bismarckstrasse u bahn station, first off, up to Wilhelm hoeck 1892, a lovely old kneipe, its walls filled with hundreds of bottles of spirits, most of which look like they haven’t moved for about 50 years, very brown in here, beer takes an age to pour (always better than it being rushed I guess) Berliner kindl pils, it’ll do as a thirst quencher. Out of here and left down a side street and a 5 minute walk through a collection of tower blocks to find rumpelkiste on the corner, a traditional eck kneipe, not very busy when we venture in, four mulleted gents playing pool and chain smoking and the landlady who I wouldn’t want to get in a fight with, schultheiss in here, does a job, less smooth than the kindl, a bit grainy, if that makes any sense, perfectly drinkable. Out of here and underneath an office block, across the main road and past the lovely looking theatre to schillerklause, again, not very busy in here but a lovely place, the walls covered with pictures of actors who I’m guessing have graced the stage across the road over the years, after half an hour I realise there’s a small dog under the table next to us, a shih tzu, its owner who clocks that ive just noticed it tells me to be careful as its a very fierce and dangerous dog ! memminger pils in here from, yep, memmingen in bavaria, lovely, lighter on the grain and heavier on the hops than schultheiss. So, out of here and down some very dimly lit residential streets to the much more lively savigny platz, called into Zwiebelfisch first, very busy in here with quite a middle class, middle aged crowd, has a nice vibe about it though, staff are nice and chatty and the food looks decent aswell, another schultheiss pub so a quick molle it is! Just across the square is dicke wirtin which is packed, standing room only in the front section, and all tables filled with diners in the back. good beer choice but a bit hot and uncomfortable to hang around too long, lovely pint of andechser hell. Over on another corner of the square and under the railway bridge is diener tattersall, a pub which I believe is over a hundred years old. Its busy again in here but there is one table free, unfortunately it’s the stammtisch which happens to have a picture of a snarling pitbull on the sign, presumably to warn off tourists from taking this precious seat, undaunted I ask the waitress if we’re ok to sit there for one beer, thankfully she says that’s fine, as long as its only for one beer mind! I opt for Jever in here, nice and bitter as ever. Just off the square and past the s bahn station is zillemarkt, a bit of a mish mash of bar/brauhaus/restaurant, looks nice though with a tiled floor and stained glass ceiling, quite a lot of tourists in here tucking into schweineshaxe which do look pretty good to be honest, they serve their own beer, although not brewed on the premises, I go for the unfiltered helles, its quite dark and pretty nice. Out of here and up the kufurstendamm towards old Kaiser wilhelms memorial church and the last stop of the night in the charlottenburg area. Alt Berliner biersalon is a massive place, catering for the german and international tourist/business folk/general drunk, lots of tv’s showing the Bundesliga, a live band playing covers of credence songs and Berliner kindl on tap at slightly rip off prices. Sort of reminds me of a wetherspoons, tolerable for a quick one though.
    A short walk up to zoo station and an s bahn over to alexanderplatz, needing some food we head for a doener place at the end of the station, it does the job, their Turkish pizzas look good aswell. The unwritten rules of life say you can’t pass through alexanderplatz station without having a swift one in bierbar alkopole and I wasnt about to break that rule so call in and order a radeberger which is surprisingly ok, get talking to a man from ahrensfelde which means we have another beer, a kindl jubilaums pilsner, bit maltier than the original. Take the tram from straight outside alkopole and it’s a short ride up prenzlauer allee for a nightcap in café prenzlau where for some reason theyre showing an episode of star trek on the big screen at full volume (dubbed into german) and there seems to be quite a few treckies in watching it, they have a special offer on kolsch so we have a couple of glasses of gaffell and end the night there.
     
  5. gavinbrooksbank

    gavinbrooksbank Initiate (0) May 24, 2011 England

    Day two
    Up early (lay ins aren’t allowed on holiday) and down to Alexanderplatz for some breakfast, find a couple of things funny, a) the sheer amount of bread based products available in german train stations and b) the fact that to work in a bakery (the equivalent of greggs) in alexanderplatz you have to be able to speak german,English,spanish,Italian,Russian and a bit of Japanese due to the amount of tourists passing through and pointing blindly at bits of pastry.
    First off a little walk round the kaufhof to see if they sell Thomas the tank engine toys for the boy (they don’t) then a train out to Bellevue, a slow walk over the river to stretch the legs and then into the famed café Buchwald where they’ve been making baumkuchen since 1872 or something, very old school konditorei décor which was in contrast to the punk with purple hair and a thousand piercings who served us (great friendly service though) the baumkuchen didn’t disappoint, lovely stuff. Out of here and a walk was in order, so, through the hansa viertel on the edge of the tiergarten, an interesting area dotted with buildings from the 1957 interbau, some great examples of early tower block/modern concrete buildings by architects such as walter Gropius and my favourite Oscar Niemeyer. Liquid refreshment was required again at this stage so we called in the tiergarten quelle, under the arches at tiergarten s bahn station, its owned by the lemke chain of brewpubs so serves most of their beers, I went for the original which is a dunkel and is very tasty indeed, they also brew an ipa! the place was dead, only two people in but every table but one was inexplicably reserved.
    From here we had reservations on a tour of the old templehof airport but needed food en route so got off the u bahn at mehringdamm to see what was around, as it turns out, two places of equally high repute are right there at the u bahn entrance, curry 36 and mustafas gemuse kebap, we went for curry 36 as the queue for mustafas was around an hour long (yes, an hour, for a kebab, in a city which has thousands of kebab joints, strange) theres not too much you can do wrong to a currywurst and curry 36 did ok with their effort, not the best ive had though. The tour of templehof was fantastic, its been left pretty much as it was when the last flights went out of it, we also got to see a lot of the “behind the scenes stuff” bits that were used by the US air force when they were still in town including a basketball court and bowling alley for the troops.
    Obviously a quick beer was required after all that touring so we nipped back to mehringdamm and went in voigts beer express, Schneider weisse on tap in here which rarely disappoints, also has about five million tv’s showing Bundesliga games. From here it was back on the u bahn to neukolln, an area that I’ve investigated previously, it’s a nice place that’s a bit less posh than the likes of charlottenburg, it appears to be slowly gentrifying but still looks like it has a sizeable working class and Turkish population. First stop was Bechereck, think they were trying to save on the electric bill in here as it was almost pitch black, the beer was their own pils called kiez pils, not brewed here but I couldn’t manage to work out where it actually came from, was decent though. Out of here and a short walk through some dark residential streets to lange nacht, a corner pub that looks quite like someones front room, wall paper and all, the beers great in here, an unfiltered helles from rollberg, a small brewery set up in the old kindl brewery, only a few pubs in the city have it and I think its worth seeking out. Out of here and as there’s a u bahn stop right on the main road we did the lazy thing and took it one stop up rather than walk for 20 minutes, right out of the u bahn is brink’s, I think they have a few pubs spread throughout berlin, this one (I don’t know about the others) is a hertha berlin fan pub so is decked out in a sea of blue and white as soon as you walk in the door, what also greeted us as we walked through the door was a sea of stares from the locals propping up the bar, a quick hallo und schonen abend settled those down though, everyone seemed to be drinking schultheiss so that’s what I went for, as always, does a job, nothing spectacular.
    Decided to take the short u bahn ride to kreuzberg next, a short stroll from moritzplatz is another pub that I believe to be over 100 years old, zum kleinen markthalle, really nice in here, sat at the bar and ordered a monchshof schwarzbier, a very decent drink, they have a good selection on tap including one of my personal berlin favourites rotkelchen from Berliner burgerbrau, they seemed to be doing a roaring trade in roast chickens as most people who were eating had at least one on their tables and they looked very nice indeed, walking back down towards the u bahn are two pubs right next door to each other, firstly, Schmitz katze, a very laidback vibe in here, more of a bar than a pub I’d say and a very hit and miss approach as to whether its waiter service or not, the beers good though, rothaus tannen zapfle, a really good pils, straight next door is max und moritz, a nice looking tiled fronted boozer with one room in the front for drinking and loads of tables for eating in the back, they serve their own beer which I think is brewed by schoppe brau up the road, if im honest, I wasn’t keen, it was a bit like homebrew and had a bit of a sour edge to it. Walked back up to the u bahn station and noticed a pub right on the corner, zum kleinen mohr, it looked like there was a disco going on in there and as we walked past the window I could see a man inside dancing with another man on his back whipping him like a horse, that made our mind up and we ventured in, it’s a traditional locals eck kneipe and had a very mixed clientele, the lads up dancing looked like they’d been on the beers all day but they weren’t causing any bother, just having a drunken boogie, schultheiss was the only beer available, seem to have had quite a lot of schultheiss over the course of this trip and I think the more I’ve had of it the more I’ve thought it’s not a bad beer at all. After just the one in here it was back on the u bahn to alexanderplatz for the obligatory night cap in alkopole, this time a Gessner bock, very malty and full of goodness, a nice one to end the night with
     
  6. gavinbrooksbank

    gavinbrooksbank Initiate (0) May 24, 2011 England

    Day Three
    Plans on day three centred around football, and beer of course. The annual pilgrimage to the stadion an der alte forsterei to watch fc union berlin in the 2nd Bundesliga, breakfast at alexanderplatz again where I also fed around 20 little sparrows that decided to join us before taking an s bahn out to kopenick via ostkreuz. Kopenick is looking as lovely as ever as we join the throngs of red and white clad union fans walking towards the stadium, stop for a quick one in the clubhouse “abseitsfalle”, Berliner pilsner, unsurprisingly similar to schultheiss, maybe a bit lighter on the malt end of things and then take the walk through the forest and into the ground to see union win 3-1 against sc heidenheim, after the game we took a tram down into kopenick altstadt and popped in the schlossplatzbrauerei, they claim to be the smallest brewery in Germany, a really strange place this one, a glass construction in the middle of the schlossplatz that looks like a public toilet or a bus shelter and as we step in it is thick with smoke from the fifteen people that are in there, all chain smoking, I tried their helles which is pretty much the colour I’d expect of a dunkel, its slightly homebrewy with a hint of sourness, not terrible but not something I could drink all night, they also do a rachbier that ive had previously and wasn’t overly impressed with either, stepped out of there to get some clean air in my lungs and walked over to catch the tram to friedrichshagen, another lovely little place on the banks of the muggelsee, the tram drops us off straight outside the former Berliner burgerbrau brewery, sadly no longer brewing (the beers are still in production but at the kindl brewery I believe) however, the braustubl pub and restaurant is still open so in we go for an amazing pint of rotkelchen, love this beer, red in colour and a nice malty backbone, could drink it all night. From there it’s a tram ride up the long main street of friedrichshagen to the s bahn station and a pub just across the road, zur stammkneipe, a real locals boozer this one, football on the tv, a game of cards going on at the stammtisch and a warm welcome from the regulars, as well as Berliner pils and radeberger they have two Czech beers on tap from a brewery I confess never to have heard of, jarosover, a light and a dark, the dark is a typical Czech cerny, a bit on the sweet side but perfectly drinkable. Left friedrichshagen after here and took the s bahn back to civilisation. Decided to have a few beers round the top end of prenzlauer berg, started off on bornholmer strasse, the s bahn actually drops you off just under the bridge where the east/west border was first breached in 1989 and theres a few nice info/picture boards about that event, just along the road theres a nice old pub, bornholmer hutte, looks a bit dodgy from the outside but is a nice cosy brown pub once inside, it also has an ancient skittle alley in the basement, the bar looks like its been there for at least 50 years, the beer choice in here is schultheiss or Berliner pilsner, so I flip a coin and order Berliner pilsner. Took a tram from the end of the road down to schoenhauser allee and called in zum schusterjungen, always a friendly welcome in here and the foods good too, unfortunately their beer selection has shrunk to one, yep, you guessed it, schultheiss, thirst quenched we head off on the tram again down as far as greifswalder strasse to one of my favourite pubs in berlin, willy bresch, a classic eck kneipe with a very mixed clientele, when we enter there’s a good game of cards ongoing and there’s a couple of customers who never move from the gambling machines all the time we’re there. They carry beers from the hohenthanner brewery in Bavaria on tap in here so I have the tannen dunkel first, I do love a dunkel and this ones great, in the munich style, caramel with a bit of bitterness, next I give the tannen pils a go, lighter in colour and much more hops than any of the berlin staple pils, a really nice beer. I would have called it a night after here but when we get to the tram stop there’s a 12 minute wait, so, just time to call in the pub right next to the stop, zur linde, another typical locals pub, full of smoke, people playing darts on the plastic dartboard that seem to be a must have in all good eck kneipes and the football on the tv, they have wernesgruner pils on tap in here which ive not had for a while, its pretty decent actually, quite bitter I think, going towards the jever end of things. Just make it out in time for the tram and home for a well deserved kip.
    So, all in all a great trip to berlin, I know the beers not the best in Germany and the choice is sometimes limited but I can’t help but like the down to earth, no frills attitude of the traditional eck kneipe, there are more and more breweries appearing on the “craft beer” scene which I haven’t really touched on in this trip, I just wasn’t in the mood, maybe next time.
     
  7. Akerstache

    Akerstache Initiate (0) Feb 20, 2015 Germany

    Could possibly use some formatting but I'm sure there will be some interesting info in there.
     
  8. gavinbrooksbank

    gavinbrooksbank Initiate (0) May 24, 2011 England

    yeah, sorry about that, i didnt think it was going to come out like that, me and computers, a bad mix
     
  9. Gutes_Bier

    Gutes_Bier Maven (1,339) Jul 31, 2011 Germany

    All of it was a great read, thanks for taking the time!
     
  10. Gutes_Bier

    Gutes_Bier Maven (1,339) Jul 31, 2011 Germany

    This was my favorite part of the trip report.
     
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  11. Gutes_Bier

    Gutes_Bier Maven (1,339) Jul 31, 2011 Germany

    Second favorite part.
     
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  12. gavinbrooksbank

    gavinbrooksbank Initiate (0) May 24, 2011 England

    ha, thanks, yeah im not massively optimistic about that new airport opening anytime soon! Glad you enjoyed it, if anyone wants any info on any of the pubs or anything just let me know
     
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  13. cu29

    cu29 Zealot (546) Sep 26, 2005 Wisconsin

    Thanks for taking the time to write it up, nice read.
     
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  14. pthread1981

    pthread1981 Initiate (0) Mar 23, 2007 Germany

    Great write up. Not sure if you knew this, but about a half a block from Café Buchwald is The Berlin Biershop - perhaps not in line with the Eckkneipe theme, but a decent bottle shop, and Rainer is a nice guy to chat with.

    Kind of curious to check out Willy Bresch some time based on your description. My go to in Berlin was Logo, down on Blücherstraße - always a great mix of people, and the bartenders are super friendly.
     
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  15. gavinbrooksbank

    gavinbrooksbank Initiate (0) May 24, 2011 England

    yeah i was aware of the berlin biershop, ive never been but heard good things about it, didnt really have time for drinking bottles this trip, we were all about the kneipes and sadly id travelled hand luggage only so couldnt take any bottles home with me, will definitely make time for it soon though.

    I'd definitely recommend you check out willy bresch if you get the chance, lovely traditional place with the added bonus of the hohenthanner beers on tap
     
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  16. LBerges

    LBerges Initiate (0) Feb 14, 2010 Germany

    Nice trip. I like your point that the atmosphere of a place/a Kneipe, is just as important as the beer.
    Did you read "around Berlin in 80 beers" by Peter Sutcliffe?
    Schillerklause, Tattersall, Buchwald, Bornholmer and Lange Nacht are among the places I'd recommend to visitors.
    Tip for the next time: See Eckkneipe "Mahlower Klause" in Neukölln, just one block away from Lange Nacht.
    Or go to Wedding, a little bit off the beaten track
     
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  17. herrburgess

    herrburgess Grand Pooh-Bah (3,053) Nov 4, 2009 South Carolina
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Just want to say how refreshing it is to hear someone (in this case a specialty bottle shop owner even) point out the absolute importance of drinking regional beers in their "home" setting. Prost!
     
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  18. gavinbrooksbank

    gavinbrooksbank Initiate (0) May 24, 2011 England

    thanks for the tip on mahlower klause, ill check that out next time im over, wedding is definitely somewhere i'd like to spend more time so ill be planning that into my next trip

    I have got a copy of Peter Sutcliffes book yes, i'd recommend it to anyone visiting berlin for pubs, ive currently visited 44 of the 80 he recommends! (not that im counting of course) I also have a great book that i'd recommend to anyone "berliner jahrundertkneipen" by clements fusers and gudrun olthoff which has some lovely photographs of some of the oldest kneipes in berlin. Are you from berlin? I wonder if you could help me with a question related to that book, do you know if the pub "alte kolkshenke" in spandau is still open? Its one that i want to visit but ive heard various rumours that it may be closed and its quite a way to travel if it is closed.

    Thanks everyone who has taken the time to read my report and comment, i hope it has given people some inspiration for their own future trips!
     
  19. LBerges

    LBerges Initiate (0) Feb 14, 2010 Germany

    i'm from Berlin, but I do not know exactly about Alte Kolkschänke.
    Spandau is for Berlin what, let's say, Croydon is for London.
    Heard that it Kokkschänke closed, but must verify.
     
  20. gavinbrooksbank

    gavinbrooksbank Initiate (0) May 24, 2011 England

    ahh i see, thank you. i'll not plan on making the trip out there then, especially if spandau is anything like croydon! :grimacing:
     
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