Berlin, Du Bist So Wunderbar | Fischer Robinson

Logo of the Berliner Kindl, a type of pilsner beer brewed by the Berliner-Kindl-Schultheiss-Braurei.

What better way to unify a country than with a beverage? If there’s one thing most Germans can agree on, it’s that beer is a true staple of their culture and diet. It’s estimated that Germans drink between 105 to 145 liters of beer per year, surprisingly ranking fourth on the list for largest beer-drinking country. But who knew a simple beverage could have such a rich history and actually be so complex? We had a chance to tour the Berliner-Kindl-Schultheiss-Braurei, where we got to witness the elaborate, yet precise, process of brewing a perfect beer. This brewery specializes mainly in its Pilsners, with one beer, the Berliner, eliciting the slogan “Berlin, du bist so wunderbar,” translating to “Berlin, you are so wonderful.”

We began the tour in the brewery’s “Brew House,” where the group was instantly welcomed with four distinct images. They depicted images of water, malt, hops, and yeast. Decreed for over 500 years now, the Purity Law ensures that German beer can only be made out of these four ingredients and prevents breweries from using other ingredients such as sugars, preservatives, or other chemicals. The flavor of the beer begins with the malt. A raw malt can have a grainy taste, while a caramelized or roasted malt can give a sugary or coffee-like taste, respectively. The malt is then ground into a fine powder. The brewery was very intentional about optimizing its process and reducing waste, so the malt waste, called spent grains, are used as an additive in animal feed. There are many more steps in the brewing process, but I will spare the reader from reading all that and you can instead look at the flow chart below.

The bottling process was the most impressive by far, in my opinion. Old, recycled bottles are washed and have their labels removed, resembling a fresh, new bottle. A camera carefully scans and inspects each bottle for cracks or other damage that could be detrimental to the bottle’s safety and shorten its life span. Bottles are then filled, capped, and labeled, all in a process that is almost too fast to follow with the eyes. The entire bottling process is automated, but done with such speed and precision that it really can leave you in awe. It was an awesome tour and our group even got to finish by sampling some of the brewery’s beer and dining on some traditional German cuisine. As our tour guide said: “A beer a day keeps the doctor away!”