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Hamburg was considered the brewery of the Hanseatic League
Hardly anyone thinks of the northern German city when they hear the word brewing tradition. No wonder, because only a few people know that the famous Hamburg beer was once shipped from the Elbe metropolis to all corners of the world and that Hamburg, with around 500 breweries, was considered the brewing centre of the Hanseatic League. And yet Hamburg has no need to hide when it comes to the art of brewing. This was demonstrated at the latest by Hamburg Beer Week 2021, when everything in the city revolved around beer and 18 breweries stood together at the brewing kettle for the community brew.
Hanseatic beer garden: a guest at ÜberQuell with a view of the Elbe and harbour cranes A tour across the city: Breweries on and south of the Elbe
It almost doesn't get any more Hamburg than looking out over the harbour cranes and the Elbe with a beer in hand. This is exactly the view you get at ÜberQuell Brauerei, founded in 2017 by gastro professionals Axel Ohm and Patrick Rüther. Here in the listed Riverkasematten between Fischmarkt and Landungsbrücken, the beer is not only drunk in the beer garden and Brew Pub, but also brewed. At the brewing kettles of the 15-hl Krones system since the beginning: the true Bavarian and master brewer Tobias Hess. He is behind the 20 or so beers a year that end up in the colourfully designed storage tanks in front of the building - including modern interpretations of traditional beer styles such as Helles, Pils and Weissbier, but also creative brews such as Fruity Flamango, a sour beer brewed with mango puree and hibiscus blossom. And as is the case with listed buildings, brewing capacities are limited, so production and bottling of the bottled beers are outsourced to the private Schnitzlbaumer brewery in Bavaria.
Take a plunge into the creative brewery
We cross over to the other side of the Elbe. There, just outside Lower Saxony, is one of the pioneers of the German craft beer scene: Oliver Wesseloh. Together with his wife Julia, he runs the Kehrwieder Kreativbrauerei, founded in 2012, in the Sinstorf district. And with at least as much passion for brewing as success. The Ratebeer.com community has already voted the graduate brewmaster Hamburg's best brewer several times. In 2013, he also brought the title of world champion beer sommelier to the Hanseatic city. But it is not only Oliver Wesseloh himself who has won awards, but also his beers. The brewery's flagship beers, for example, have won several awards: the lager Prototype plugged with Saazer and Simcoe and the non-alcoholic IPA ü. NN with fruity aromas thanks to lots of Simcoe and Mosaic. Incidentally, the Kehrwieder brewery uses its own brewing equipment made from milk tanks.
You can try the organic beers from Wildwuchs Brauwerk in the cosy taproom or in the brewery's beer garden Everything organic with wild growth
Also on the other side of the Elbe in the Wilhelmsburg district is Northern Germany's first organic brewery, Wildwuchs Brauwerk Hamburg - founded in 2014 by master brewer Friedrich Matthies, known as Fiete. And where it says organic on the outside, Wildwuchs' 20-hl brewing plant is 100 per cent organic on the inside. Organic-certified raw materials and sustainability in production are the be-all and end-all here - coupled with the craft of brewing classic and modern beer styles in an unconventional way. And that goes down well. Currently, the customers' favourite beers are the fruity and tart Fastmoker Pils, brewed with Tettnang hops, and the Broid, a fruity, velvety NEIPA. The special thing about this beer: non-sold organic bread is mashed into it - a statement against food waste. Those who want to taste the beers can do so directly in the brewery's cosy taproom or beer garden.
Bunthaus, from classical to rather freely interpreted
Since 2016, Bunthaus Brauerei has also been located on the Elbe island of Wilhelmsburg, with the most idyllic brewery in the entire city - at Bunthäuser Spitze, directly on the Elbe. Jens Hinrichs - once a hobby brewer, now a brewing professional - has made a name for himself with his beers, and not only in Hamburg. A classic from the Bunthaus brewery: the hop-stopped Pilsner with a decent hop charge. While the Pils is brewed at neighbour Fiete's, the other beers come from the small brewhouse with a 2- and a 5-hl brewing system from Polsinelli und Sudhausbau GmbH. The other beers are mainly hoppy beers, but also sour beers such as Gose Morning Vietnam - a Gose interpretation brewed with lemongrass and fish sauce. Sounds very freely interpreted, but it is absolutely recommendable, especially in summer. If you want to see for yourself, visit the brewery's taproom. It is located a few kilometres away in the evaporation building of the former waterworks in Wilhelmsburg's Inselpark.
On the outskirts of the city: Hamburg terroir and farmhouse flair
Back through the Old Elbe Tunnel, it's worth making a detour in Neustadt to Bar Oorlam, the taproom of the Buddelship brewery and Filosoof Jenevers. The two people behind these brands are currently realising a lifelong dream. Simon Siemsglüß and Nienke Oostra have turned their backs on the big city and bought an old farm together with land in the village of Thebüe - just outside the city. This is where the Lost Horizon Brewery & Distillery is currently being built. The meadow orchard with apples, pears, quinces and sour cherries has already been planted, the 10-hl brewing plant and the distillery have moved to the land, and a refrigerated ship is waiting in the barn. The idea behind Lost Horizon Brewery & Distillery: Beers and genever with raw materials from their own terroir. We can look forward to Lost Horizon beers fermented wild in the refrigerated ship and matured in wooden barrels. For all Buddelship fans: Simon continues to brew under this name, focusing on modern interpretations of bottom-fermented German beer styles.
In the Brew Pub of the ÜberQuell Brewery, the brew kettles flash at the visitor Mathematician as creative lateral entrant
Further proof that it is impossible to imagine the craft beer scene without lateral entrants is the Brew Pub Malto in Altona. The creative mind behind the beers is the Italian and mathematician Francesco Ludovici, who has brewed his way into the hearts of Hamburg beer lovers with his Brew Pub and the intuitively brewed beers. Here, too, everything is currently under the sign of a new start: while the mostly top-fermented beers previously ran under the name Birrificio Shanghait, from now on it is Malto. The Brew Pub has been completely rebuilt and renovated to accommodate a kitchen and, soon, an 80-litre brewing system. Until then, Francesco brews his brews at Brauhaus Binkert near Bamberg - and the popular collabs with Blech Brut will also continue.
Classic and modern beer styles on shore leave
In the neighbouring district of Bahrenfeld, Landgang Brauerei dropped anchor in a former printing hall in 2015. Standing in the front row at the brew kettles of Rabek Engineering's 30-hl brewhouse, co-founder and brewer Sascha Bruns brews classic and modern styles of beer. And that goes down well, because it's hard to imagine the shelves of Hamburg's supermarkets without the brewery's beers. Customers' favourite beers: the classic North German Pilsner, the multi-award-winning IPA American Dream and the non-alcoholic Pale Ale called Der Kapitän - which can also be tasted in the in-house taproom.
To a Councillor in the Old Girl
A stop at the Ratsherrn Brewery is a must: the city's largest owner-operated brewery has its home right in the middle of the trendy Schanzenviertel district in the listed Schanzenhöfe. For many Hamburgers, the beer of the popular brewery - and the pub Altes Mädchen - is the very first point of contact with beer styles far removed from the North German Pilsner. In addition to the large brewing facilities, Ratsherrn also has its own microbrewery, where brewmaster Ian Pyle develops brews that are then sold and served.
In the Grindelviertel near the university, Chris Newman and Thomas van Doorn tap the beers of their brand The Baby Goat in their Brew Pub. They do not brew the recipes they have developed themselves in Hamburg, but for the most part in a friendly brewery in the Netherlands.
Master brewer & beer sommelier Friedrich Carl Richard Matthies, known as Fiete, at work at the boilers of northern Germany's first organic brewery Wildwuchs BrauwerkTwo Englishmen at the brewing kettles
We continue to the east of the city. Here in the middle of the residential district, English-born Nikhil Jane and his partner Nicole Rensch opened their small brewery, Circle 8 Brewery, in a whitewashed backyard in 2015, which has not only become a popular neighbourhood meeting place, but also attracts Hamburg craft beer fans to the district in the west. They describe their beers themselves as a mix of modern craft beer and traditional beer styles. And to the great delight of many Hamburg fans, Briton Ian Faulkner returned to the city with his Simian Ales brewery, once founded as a hobby brewer in St. Pauli, after a stopover in Elmshorn - and within the walls of Circle 8 Brewery. Since November 2021, the brewer with a knack for (not only) British beer styles has moved in, complete with Brewik's 500-litre brewing system and can filling. Both breweries will then brew under one roof with shared facilities and taproom, attracting concentrated British brewing power to the east of Hamburg.
Hanseatic hot spot for craft beer lovers
Hamburg's craft beer fans are lucky to have an enormously diverse brewing scene that is spread all over the city and keeps together as a family. Even a chat with the brewer behind the taps is not uncommon in Hamburg. The breweries mentioned above can be complemented by pub breweries (Blockbräu is recommended for wheat beer drinkers) and trendy international breweries with a brew pub in Hamburg. Despite all the Hanseatic understatement, it can be said that our city has become a hotspot for craft beer lovers - whether newcomers, connoisseurs or geeks.
