Beer hiking experts Dan Cole and Yvonne Hartmann recommend five pub walks from their book…
Readers of this website will already know that we’re big fans of walking in and around Berlin—and, as various posts also testify to—are also partial to a decent beer. It was therefore difficult not to do a double-take when we found out about Beer Hiking Berlin, a book that combines both. Produced by writer Dan Cole and photographer Yvonne Hartmann, the project presents no less than forty routes that match scenic hikes with visits to local brewpubs.
“I came to Berlin from Bristol over fifteen years ago,” says Dan. “I was working as a manager in the music scene before eventually entering the world of journalism. As a writer, I’d been thinking about writing a book for a long time, and combining my two favourite activities—hiking and drinking—seemed like the best thing to do. I already had a book called Beer Hiking Bavaria in my library and met the authors when we went to southern Germany. When the opportunity came up to write the next instalment in the series, the publisher actually reached out to us—the perfect excuse to visit every single brewery in Berlin!”
“I’ve been a creative within the music scene for over a decade, which is where I met Dan,” adds Yvonne. “We were both into hiking and, somewhat, drinking, and started working on this project with our blog. Beer Hiking Berlin was a great opportunity to combine my love for traveling, photography and Berlin. After twelve years of living here, it was a refreshing new way to discover the city, its diverse landscapes and craft beer scene.”
The book contains route descriptions, mini-profiles of the breweries, maps and other useful and entertaining info. Below are five highlights directly from the authors; if you like what you read, there’s a link at the end of the article to purchase the book…
Tegeler Fließ // Two Fellas Brewery
When putting together the book, Tegeler Fließ was one of the first routes we made sure to include. It’s amazing to think that such an area of exquisite beauty lies with the city’s boundaries. Protected waterways, bountiful wildlife, wildflower fields, and farms; this walk really has it all. The cream of the walk is when you take it through Lubars, the oldest village to be encompassed by the Greater Berlin Act. Being in Lubars is like stepping back in time.
To connect the walk with a local brewery, we linked it up with the Mauerweg in Pankow, as it runs along the old railway line in Rosenthal, which will soon be reactivated. We finished the walk at the Two Fellas Brewery, a really welcoming brewhouse set up by a couple of home brewers from Chicago looking to do their own thing. The place has a tiny micro-brewery next to the entrance, and pretty much only stocks locally-brewed beers on tap. And on special nights the guys run a Chicago deep-pan pizza night, which as far as I know, is the only place to get this authentic dish in the whole of Berlin.
DIRECTIONS
Leaving the Waidmannslust S-Bahn station, head east on Waidmannsluster Damm, and then immediately north on Artemisstraße.