Monterey Bar, Danzigerstrasse, Prenzlauer.
The first Australian I met in Berlin was a Melbourne guy who owns this bar. I went in because of the craft beer signs outside. Basically has beer, whisky and rock and roll late).
Like a lot of bars I’ve been to in Berlin this one doesn’t open until 6pm or 7pm. In this case Adie and his partner also run Alternative Berlin tours so they have a day job. (alternativeberlin.com/ )
Vagabund Brauerei is a craft beer bar and brewery in Wedding, Berlin. It is still a fairly low key operation, but they have plans for expansion.
From my point of view the Berlin craft beer scene is quite immature compared to the Australian scene. Most places serve pilsner or weissbier and while some of it is quite good, it seems fairly bland compared to the better craft beers about.
I tried both the Vienna Pale Ale and the Double IPA here as they are house brews. The Double IPA was a bit bitter for my taste, but the Vienna Pale Ale while more cloudy than you might expect, was a very tasty beer.
As an aside, Vagabund describes itself as a “Community Supported Brewery”, and has a membership format to encourage input into what they are doing. – http://bit.ly/1kW6lny
Leibhaftig is a bar that serves Bavarian Tapas, but is also the home of a hausbrauerei, Wanke Brau. At the moment it serves a pilsner and a weissbier, both of which are very good. These are brewed on commission by brewery Schleppzig in the Spreewald, about 60 kms outside Berlin. Talking to Marcus Wanke the brewer, he says he has a rye beer on the go, but only does dark beers in winter.
