With the weather forecast showing llittle chance of rain and a high chance of hot sunshine it was a day for wearing sunglasses, sandals and my green Downton Brewery polo shirt
At least there was some morning shade on the west facing patio of
St Michaels Heim hostel where I could take my coffee (NB bring your own kettle and mug) and breakfast snack (also brought from UK to avoid 10 euro breakfast charge).
Having spied a tweet from Joe Stange on 24 July by searching for Biermeile on Twitter, my plan was to arrive at the
22nd International Berlin Beer Festival at opening time (noon) and head for the vicinity of lamppost 47 to start with a Schönramer Pils.
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| Barrel organ player on the shady side of Kurfürstendamm |
The route from Grunewald hostel involved a 5 minute walk, bus to Kurfürstendamm U-bahn stop, a 5 minute walk to
Zoologischer Garten station (once the central transport hub for West Berlin) and then 6 stops on the S-bahn eastbound, passing through Hauptbahnhof, to Alexanderplatz.
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| etched windows from interior of U5 line train |
After going down from an elevated platform to an underground platform, past tempting bakery kiosks, the final stage was 4 stops on U5 from its current western terminus to Frankfurter Tor, the eastern end of the 'Biermeile'. This would be the first of several U5 journeys during the festival weekend!
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| Frankfurter Tor 1993 |
On arrival, I stopped to photograph one of the historic B&W photos of the Frankfurter Tor area in the underpass section of the U-bahn station.
Soon I was at street level and could take a contemporary photo of the same scene, showing
Karl Marx Allee stretching westwards from Frankfurter Tor.
The monumental socialist boulevard was built by the GDR between 1952 and 1960. At ground level, the 89 metre wide space has two separate roadways on the south side and a broad strip of grassland with trees on the north side, which is the location for the beer festival.
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| Tim - no protective headgear! |
Unfotunately, I had forgotten to bring my Allagash Brewing cap to provide protection from the sun. There was time for a look around a multi-storey HUMANA charity shop at Frankfurter Tor 3, but there was no luck in my search for alternative headwear.
At noon I joined the queue at the festival information stand to buy a 'ProBierKrug' glass with 0.2l mark for 3.50 euro. I resisted the sales pitch to buy a lanyard with a carabiner clip (to attach to the handle of the glass) for an extra 3.50 euro!
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| 2.5 tall 'map' pages from 13 in the programme - that's 350 breweries! |
The glass was supplied with a free festival programme 'Bier-Kompass' showing entertainment details and rough location of the beer stands. (The festival website also has a link to a 'Die Biermeile' tab which has multiple pages showing brewery stands between the lamppost numbers.)
With a
ProBierKrug glass most breweries offer at least one beer at the 'ProBierPreis' 2.50 euros for 0.2l (2017 beer price was 2 euros). Without a festival glass, a Pfand (glass deposit) is also payable and the minimum measure may be 0.3l at a higher price per litre.
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| Schönramer Pils - from the green octagonal stand. |
I went to the
Schönramer stand where they were still setting things up. However, after a few minutes I was able to obtain the first glass of Schönramer (Bavarian) Pils. I found a seat at a bench on one of the few tables that had a sun umbrella. It was a nice surprise when
Joe Stange appeared and introduced himself.
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| Joe Stange |
Once Joe had a Schönramer Pils and a sausage he sat down and even took a look at the West Berkshire CAMRA
Ullage magazine that I edit. Joe is an American living in Berlin and I was grateful for his suggestion that on my visit I should visit
Foersters Feine Bier as it was the best beer bar reasonably close to my hostel in Grunewald.
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| Zachary Johnston - Twitter avatar |
We were joined by a friend of Joe's,
Zachary Johnston, another expat in Berlin, whose office is nearby. Originally from Washington's Olympic peninsula, Zach writes and broadcasts about beer, food, music and travel..
Zach's
Berlin BierMile instagram story for
uproxxtravel includes video clips from the Biermeile and brief interviews with Joe Stange about Dérer's 'beer in disguise' and Schönramer Pils.
When it was time for another beer we went to the
Dérer stand by our table and Joe explained that the Dérer branded Pils is brewed for the importer by
Kout na Šumavě based in the Bohemian Forest of the Czech Republic.
Joe's and my tweets about meeting near lamppost 47 had been worthwhile as we were soon joined by beer writer '
Tandleman' (Peter) and his wife to swing our group's balance back in favour of the UK.
(I would meet up with Peter and Joe (briefly) again, six days later, at the
Great British Beer Festival in Olympia, London, where Peter was a CAMRA volunteer and Joe had been leading a tutored tasting with Tim Webb '
New Influences on Belgian Beer').
I was keen to try one of the New Zealand beers selected as the festival's Motto 2018 - Beer from the other end of the world 'Neuseelands Hopfenseite'. This involved a bit of a walk to find the stand but I was pleased with my choice of draught
Tomahawk, a 5.6% ABV American Pale Ale by
Tuatara Brewery of Paraparaumu, north of Wellington.
The final link in the Twitter rendezvous was to meet up with
Ron Pattinson an expert on the history of beer whose blog is
Shut Up About Barclay Perkins.
A pleasant while later, when our group shrank with the departure of Joe and Zach, I joined Ron's table under a shady tree, behind the La Chouffe stand, where his wife and their two sons were already based. Although shadier it was also popular with wasps but somehow we managed to avoid spilling beer or getting stung! Ron's family had travelled from Amsterdam by train the previous day. His entertaining write up of Friday at the Biermeile is:
Berlin day two (part two).
Nikolaiviertel
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| Brauhaus Georgbraeu (Photo: Mark Geeson) |
When it was time for Ron and Andrew to depart and rejoin Dolores and Alexei who had gone back to their hotel earlier, I set off to meet up with Mark Geeson and his group who had now checked into their hotel and were at
Brauhaus Georgbraeu, Spreeufer 4, a bar and brewery with copper vessels in Nikolaiviertel on the north bank of the river.
On the walk from Alexanderplatz U-bahn station to Brauhaus Georgbraeu, I noticed building work going on.
A poster on a temporary barrier explains the works are for extending the U5 line from Alexanderplatz to Hauptbahnhof with a new station at
Rotes Rathaus (Berlin's Town Hall - built of red brick).
Zum Nussbaum
When I reached Brauhaus Georgbrau, Mark and the group had finished their beers at an outdoor table and were ready to head to the beer festival. However, a compromise was reached that we would go to
Zum Nussbaum (Under the Nut Tree Inn) first. This was only 100 metres, along Propstrasse, at Am Nussbaum 3.
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| St Nikolai-Kirche - opposite Von Nussbaum |
The original inn was destroyed by a bombing raid in 1943. In 1987, it was rebuilt in the Nikolaiviertel (the quarter around St Nikolai-kirche), as part of the DDR creation of an old town for tourists.
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Zum Nussbaum - the 'Farnham Travel / Trubbel' group!
L to R: Dad, Geoff, Den, Peter, Wookie, Gillian, Bod, Mark, John & Phil |
Although the tables were busy outside, we found two adjacent tables in the front room of the inn. A waiter took our orders including my
Potsdamer Rex Pils from Berliner-Kindl-Schultheiss-Brauerei (4.20 euros / 50cl) which was served in a tall tankard with a handle.
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| Von Nussbaum - Mark Geeson's panoramic photo |
With the room to ourselves, we decided to have a second beer here and this time I enjoyed a tall glass of Schöfferhofer Hefeweizen (4.50 euros / 50cl).
Belin Biermeile (evening)
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| Fernsehturm and Rotes Rathaus |
It was nearly 7pm by the time we passed the Rotes Rathaus on the way to Alexanderplatz for the U5 back to Frankfurter Tor.
It took a while for the group to get their festival glasses so I went ahead to get a
Montestella lager from the
Birrificio Lambrate stand, near the information stand.
(The beer is named after
Monte Stella, a 25 metre artificial hill, built from WWII bombing rubble in Milan under the supervision of architect Pierro Bottoni who dedicated it to his wife Stella.)
The most impressive stand was the pirate ship for
Störtebeker Braumanufaktur. Based in the Baltic coastal town of
Stralsund, in 2011 the brewery was renamed from Stralsunder Brauerei in homage to the German pirate
Klaus Störtebeker (1360-1401).
We had sausage or pork steak in a roll for supper from one of the many grill stands at the festival.
The Sussex CAMRA crew (Phil, Wookie, Dad, Geoff, John and Den) tired of the festival and headed to
Zur Letzten Instanz from Weberwiese U-bahn station half way down Karl Marx Allee.
My last beer of the evening was a 6.9% ABV Mysterious Orange IPA brewed in Zwolen, Poland by
Browar Maryenzstadt. I said goodbye to Mark and Bod and headed for Weberwiese U-bahn station.
Mark and Bod carried on walking west, stopping at beer stands on the way. By the time they reached Strausberger Platz U-bahn at midnight the festival was closing so they headed directly back to their hotel.
Returning to my hostel involved U5 from Weberwiese and S-bahn from Alexanderplatz to Zoologischer Garten. I forgot to turn right at the road junction outside the station and ended up walking near
Kaiser Wilhelm memorial church, a landmark with its bomb damaged spire. Eventually I found the bus stop on Kurfürstendamm and after the bus ride and a final walk, on a warm night, got back to the hostel soon after midnight.
Friday Summary:
Beer writers met for first time c/o Twitter: 4
Beers enjoyed from: Germany, Czech Republic, New Zealand & Poland.
Travel trips (using 7 day pass) on: Buses (3), S-Bahn (2), U-Bahn (4)
Tim's Berlin Biermeile tips:
Do: Don't:
Bring: sunglasses, suncream, water, euros
Forget: headwear, emergency beermat
Spend 3.50 euro to buy the 0.2l festival glass
Spend 3.50 euro to buy a lanyard with a clip
Get a festival guide 'map' from an info stand
Expect card payments to be accepted
Check 'Die Biermeile' tab on festival website
Forget to take photos to remember details and faces
Plan a rendezvous in advance eg near lampost 47
Expect all stands to be ready at noon on Friday
Move to a seat in the shade if you can find one
Sit in front of a stage if you don't want music
Visit excellent bars in Friedrichshain as well
Expect high standards from temp festival staff
Enjoy grilled sausages etc from the food stands
Expect to find a variety of vegetarian food
Be aware of wasps that may be intoxicated!
Be shocked by revealing outfits at some stands!
Find quiet times at afternoons or Sunday evening
Get trampled in the Friday & Saturday night crush
See also my posts that include further visits to the Biermeile, bars and breweries:
Berlin - Saturday: Stone Brewing, Berlin Biermeile, Protokoll Taproom, Labor Berlin
Berlin - Sunday: BRLO Brewhouse, Berlin Biermeile, Hops & Barley, Zur Letzten Instanz
Berlin - Monday: Foersters Feine Bier, Frau Maus, Spinnrad
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