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GERMANY: The craft beer revolution is picking up pace: professional beer sommeliers are turning Berlin into a truly beery adventure with fascinating, small breweries, extraordinary beers and moments of completely new enjoyment. And the offer is constantly growing. 

The regional beer from Berlin, Berliner Weisse – however you like, red with raspberry flavour or green with Waldmeister (sweet woodruff) liqueur – is by no means the only thing that Germany’s capital city has to offer when it comes to beer. The boom in craft beer already touched shores here ages ago, and you’re guaranteed a good time while discovering this diverse world with your taste buds and good mood.

The two beer sommeliers Sylvia Kopp and Olav Vier Strawe, who are responsible for bringing the Berlin Beer Academy to life, are considered to be the pioneers of Berlin’s craft beer scene. They hold tastings and seminars in their shop in Friedrichstrasse, where you can learn all about the craftsmanship that goes into brewing beer – from a trial course for beginners to “brave creations by new German brewers” or even a specialist seminar about the popular German “Maibock” beers.

The beer sommelier Hagen “Hasebier” Grosspietsch, himself a brewer of his own beer, will walk you through the evening. For him, the focus always lies on the people and the stories behind the breweries – some of them small family businesses which carry on the handed-down traditions or have reinterpreted them, some of them crazy young people with new ideas and styles. At Beer:eau@Berlin Beer Academy, you can also just enjoy a glass of beer and buy craft beers.

Craft beer in pubs

If you’d just like to try the world of craft beers in a relaxed pub, you’ll find plenty of opportunities in Berlin: the Brauerei Lemke serves six types of craft beers in its own three brew houses in Berlin at Alexanderplatz, at Hackescher Markt and at Charlottenburg Palace. In one corner at the Markthalle Neun in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district, Johannes Heidenpeter serves various craft beers – including his own beer which he brews in the hall’s cellar. 22 different types of craft beers from Berlin, Germany and around the world flow through the draught taps at Hopfenreich (Sorauer Strasse 31). Add to this selected bottled beers and exciting events to the motto of “Meet the Brewer”! In Berlin-Neukölln’s IPA Bar (Karl-Marx-Strasse 195), you can choose from over 100 types of Indian pale ale and other beers from around the world.

The Hopfenhelden have created a wonderful summary of many other craft beer bars and brewery pubs in Berlin. And, as the offer is growing nearly every day, you can also find some updated, fascinating locations for skilled and manually brewed beer on the Berlin Craft Beer Map : micro-breweries, pubs for craft beer and shops which sell delicious drops. So, what are you waiting for: cheers!