Whether you’re a beer pro or merely curious about ale, you’ll definitely want to try the entire menu at Straßenbräu, the Friedrichshain brewery and pub where experimentation is very much the norm. Since 2015 founder Timo Thoennißen and his team have been on a mission to bring an endless variety of ales, wheat beers and stouts to Berlin drinkers. But what makes this craft beer pub different? For one thing, it’s the team’s willingness to be bold. Head brewer Sebastian Pfister isn’t afraid to challenge German beer orthodoxy, recently causing a storm with the “Coconaut”, a chocolatey stout that rather improbably contains coconut. Like the team, the offerings are international, with the “Sonnenallee 20” pale ale that combines German and American hop varieties for a truly transatlantic brew. Beer making is onsite, and you can swig your brew amongst the very kegs and brewing tanks from which it came, or simply head outside to one of the traditional beer tables and bring your own food from the surrounding imbisses. Not enough time to taste everything? You can also take the brews home in 1L bottles. (Text: Benji Haughton / Photos: Johanna Rademacher-Flesland & Straßenbräu)

Drinking makes you hungry. Thankfully there’s good food and great people to share it all with at Eigengraubar, named after that deep gray you see in total darkness. Eigengrau is also the name of their signature drink, a cocktail with sloe gin, lemon, egg whites, soda and activated charcoal. Bartender Jenny Klama typically names her drinks after their colors, like the Ingwerocker, an orange cocktail with whiskey, baked apple, lemon and ginger beer, or the Bernsteinbrown, a beautiful amber with rum, malt beer, chocolate and absinthe. Owners Eva Wenger and Mo Binto make sure what comes out of the kitchen is given just as much care as the drinks. The menu changes regularly, but when we visited, we enjoyed a prawn salad, roasted pumpkin with lemon yogurt and green curry, and grilled octopus with potatoes, cucumber, yogurt and smoked chili. The interior is equally vibrant, right down to the flamingo bar stools and the neon lights, while the music and ambiance set the perfect mood for a Saturday night. And given we’re bound to be a little hungover the morning after, the team plans to start serving Sunday brunch soon too. Because that same rule applies for the day after: drinking makes you hungry. (Text: Eva Biringer / Photos: Mina Aichhorn)

Eigengrau, Skalitzer Str.45, 10997 Berlin–Kreuzberg; map
Tue–Thu 17.30–1h, Fr–Sa 17.30–5h, So 17.30–1h
@eigengrau.bar