Beer Tanks at BRLO ()
I don’t like beer. I know that is hard to believe, especially living in Germany, the land of beer. But, I don’t. I was told that I had to “develop” a taste for it, and, honestly, I’ve never been sold on the idea of adjusting to enjoy something; I expect to just find it tasty. However, what I do like is going on brewery tours. I love learning “behind-the-scenes” about how things work and how the sausage (or, in this case, beer) is made. On a recent trip to Berlin, I had the opportunity to tour the BRLO brewery and do a craft beer tasting and food pairing, and I actually discovered there is ONE type of beer I do find tasty.
For those, like me, who don’t speak good (or any) German, fear not, BRLO does English-language tours. We were able to book our spot on the tour online. You can book via their website here. They offer two options, one with a small bites pairing, offered several times a week; or one with food prepared from their award-winning kitchen that is only offered once a week. We went with the first one due to time constraints.
The tour began with meeting our guide and fellow tour-goers in the beer garden section of the brewery and then being escorted behind the bar area to where the magic happens, i.e. where the beer is brewed. There were a few high-top tables where we were instructed to sit and were provided with some water to start with.
Our guide introduced himself and explained how the evening would go. BRLO is a small brewery, unlike other breweries I have toured in Germany such as Griesbraeu in Bavaria, and so there wasn’t a lot of time going room-to-room since all of the equipment was in one room. Since the brewery and our tour group were both small, we had plenty of time to ask in-depth questions. Our guide shared with us the history of the brewery but also some industry information, such as the surprisingly high up-front costs of brewery equipment. Some of the tanks cost upwards of five to six figures alone. After the tour of the room with the brewing materials we returned to our high-top table and began the tasting portion of the evening.
Beer flights and food at BRLO ()
Typically, when I go on brewery tour and tasting I take a polite sip of each beer and then hand it off to my husband who gladly consumes it for me. However, the thought behind the food pairings with each beer intrigued me and I found myself only handing off three of the five beers. The first was a white wheat beer paired with green apples, which was my favorite of all the pairings. I discovered that in my decade-plus search for tasty beer, white wheat is my beer of choice. The guide did not simply hand us the beer and food and tell us to enjoy; he took the time to walk us through the science of the flavor profiles and why each specific beer paired was paired with a particular food. There was a concentrated garlic paste that completely changed the flavor of its paired beer and added a sweetness to it.
After the tour and tasting, the restaurant portion of the brewery was packed so we couldn’t grab a seat inside, however, we were able to find some space in the outside beer garden where we found some great food and gelato. We also got 10 percent off the T-shirt we bought because we participated in the tour.
If you are looking for a fun, educational and tasty evening in Berlin, I highly recommend checking out the BRLO Brewery.
Food tastings at BRLO ()
