Home Archive by category "Brewery Review" (Page 13)

Category: Brewery Review

Review: Blacklab Brewhouse & Kitchen, Barcelona Spain

BLACK LAB BREWHOUSE & KITCHEN, BARCELONA SPAIN We discovered the BlackLab Brewhouse + Kitchen in Barcelona during our trip in January this year (2015) and were lucky enough to meet the brewer and owner Matt during our visit. Matt is an ex-pat from Duluth MN. that brought his love for beer with him when he moved to Barcelona. The location is on the NE side of the Meseu d’Historia de Catalunya building on the Barcelona waterfront and recently opened, so the inside is somewhat ‘modern’ in style, with minimal decorations and vibe. There is outdoor seating and plenty of indoor space at the bar and restaurant rooms. The menu is somewhat of a cross between Asian-fusion and pub food. We ordered some fries and they were hot, spicy, and delicious. They offer tastings of any of their beers (which they only had 2 of their own as they had just opened a few weeks prior and their brewing equipment was not there yet) and any of the guest taps they have. The super friendly servers/bar tenders speak English, Spanish and a variety of other languages and love chatting with the customers. This really does make this place friendly and easy …

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Review: Fàbrica Moritz Barcelona, Spain

FÀBRICA MORITZ, BARCELONA SPAIN Moritz is a large scale, international beer producer that has opened a ‘microbrewery’ in Barcelona. So imagine if Miller/Coors opened a ‘specialty’ beer bar with just their beers on draft. I know that Mortiz doesn’t make the best product in Europe, but it’s great to see them marketing their product in a cool way with a wonderful space and awesome food. When we visited the location in Barcelona, we didn’t realize that there are 4 different parts to this brewery taking up almost 1/2 of the block it’s located at (production in the basement as well). To include: Wine & Beer bar, Restaurant, bakery, and gift shop. Each has a different vibe and a separate entrance, but linked together with passages inside. The color scheme is vibrant florescent orange (like their logo) in the lighting overhead and it is really trippy. The location is purely modern in design with exposed brick, with a cross between cafe and upscale dining. The bakery has fresh sweets, breads and various eats to go, the gift shop is truly amazing. The marketing dept must have carte-blanche and an unlimited budget because they have tons of crazy stuff with their logo …

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Review of 5 Breweries, Altstadt Dusseldorf Germany

5 BREWERIES IN ALTSTADT, DÜSSELDORF GERMANY We spent a few days in Düsseldorf visiting some of our friends, and were lucky enough to have the time to visit the Altstadt, or “Old Town” area which is one of my favorite places in Germany. This is a beautiful, classic town center that holds a LOT of breweries, restaurants, shops and bars. Every time we visit, we try to spend as much time as we can in this district discovering new and exciting things to buy, drink and eat. This time around we noticed a large Ferris wheel that was built recently on the river-walk/promenade which operates year round. While the weather was cold, rainy and foggy (late Dec. 2014), we made the best of it and walked around as much as we could. The breweries located in the Altstadt range from 100’s of years old, to just a few years old. The variety of Altbiers that are available is somewhat stunning, as this one type of beer usually has a full body, present malt and grain build, and sometimes a floral to spicy hop presence. You will find that every brewery does it differently and sometimes more successfully than others. Just …

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Review: Brauhaus Mitte, Berlin Germany

BRAUHAUS MITTE, BERLIN GERMANYThe Brauhaus Mitte in Berlin Germany is owned and operated by the same people that run the Lemke Brewery down the street. This restaurant is a large scale operation with a full menu and dinning experience with traditional German fare. They do have brewery tours available at certain times of the day. The beers are the same between Lemke and the Brauhaus so the reviews are the same. They provide samples of their beer for a euro a glass. During the holiday season, they did have the Weihnachtsbock (winter bock) available when we were there, which was their best beer. The brewery/restaurant location is next to a large shopping center in Mitte, and it is located on the second floor of the building. You have to walk up a number of stairs to get inside, and if it’s icy outside it’s challenging. They do have some of the brew kettles located behind the bar area and you can go up and take a look. The wait staff at the restaurant does speak fluent English and we had no issues ordering food and beers and felt really welcome there. Oh, and they have a crazy leg of ham …

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Review: Brauhaus Lemke, Berlin Germany

BRAUHAUS LEMKE, BERLIN GERMANY During a recent trip to Berlin Germany (Dec. 2014), we tried to find a few breweries to visit, and this one was actually just a few blocks from our hotel. Lemke is an old school German brewery with rustic tables and friendly wait staff located in the “Mitte” part of Berlin under an S-BAHN line. There were two sides to the location, we sat in the bar side, the main restaurant is a dim candle light dinner vibe. Looking at the menu, it had standard bar food and restaurant fare for most traditional German pubs with tons of meat, and few vegetables. The wait staff was fluent in English and had a good time flirting with some of the group. They do offer pitchers of their beer, not just 0.5l or 0.3l. The overall sense is more of a neighborhood hangout than a brewery. They only had a few beers available when we stopped by and below is my review of them. Lemkes Spezialitätenbrauerei GmbH – http://www.brauhaus-lemke.com Dircksenstraße, S-Bahnbogen 143,144 | D-10178 Berlin-Mitte phone +49 (30) 247 287 27 | fax +49 (30) 247 287 28 hackeschermarkt@brauhaus-lemke.de Lemke Original Munich Dunkel Lager • ABV: 5.5% • …

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Review: Gigantic Brewing, Portland OR

GIGANTIC BREWING, PORTLAND OR This is the second spot we went to on during a little Sunday brewery tour (30 Dec. 2014). Gigantic Brewing Company is located in deep South East Portland a few blocks south of SE Holgate in an industrial area with on-street parking. This is a somewhat small building with room for about 30 people inside and a large patio out front. If it’s cold outside, you may not be able to find a place to sit inside, so be prepared to stand. There is a food cart parked next door (literally 10 paces from the door) that has food during normal business hours. The decor inside is somewhat of an art gallery with prints and objects for sale, as well as a big TV to watch Timbers matches on. We’ve never ran into kids inside, as I’m going to take a guess that it’s considered a bar. During warm months, there might be some outside on the patio when it’s open. Oh, and the patio is dog friendly as well. Regarding their beers, Gigantic has made a name for itself with strong, in your face beers. They have slowly expanded what they have on tap at …

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