Berlin’s best whisky bars
Beyond the iconic TV tower in the city’s arty neighbourhoods and suburbs, Alba Chiara Di Bari discovers offbeat sights, including David Bowie’s old apartment, and visits some of Berlin’s most atmospheric whisky bars
“Berlin is always a good idea”, says the postcard with a familiar image of the Fernsehturm, the city’s spiralling TV tower. From the stand of the souvenir shop, I raise my eyes to the Reichstag building and its modern dome, symbol of a reborn Berlin, shining in the snowy sky, and nod quietly in agreement.
When I set out for my short trip to the city, I decided to focus on its most overlooked aspects. Swimming against the tide, I avoid the Christmas Markets, with their currywursts mit pommes frites served with a tankard of Weiss beer. Instead, I stroll in the working-class neighbourhoods to admire their street art and lose myself in large avenues scarred by stolpersteine, or “stumbling stones”, commemorative brass plaques to the lives lost in the Holocaust. Enjoying the unexpectedly good weather, I take a long walk in the large fields of Tempelhofer, where Allied planes landed to supply West Berlin after the war, and breathe its air of freedom. I opt for off-beat sights, like the Hansa Studios, where David Bowie recorded Heroes, and the flat where he lived in the Schoneberg district — the address is Hauptstraße 155 if you want to check out the plaque outside the apartment he shared with Iggy Pop between 1976 to 1978 — and keep to a minimum the favoured historical sites, East Side Gallery, Checkpoint Charlie, and now, the Reichstag and Branderburger Tor.
‘Among the lesser trodden parts of town, you can also find Berliners who like to drink a spirit that is not necessarily German’
Contemplating the Berlin bruised and divided by the war, I walk east crossing the Tiergarten, an open wound in the city’s urban plan. Only 40 years ago, no one would have dared to traverse these avenues, guarded as they were by ferocious dogs and merciless snipers.
As I approach the old border between East and West Berlin, the curious red Ampelmannchen at the road crossing seemed to welcome me with open arms. One of the few remains of the GDR, these iconic “little traffic light men in hats” show a Berlin able to fall and get up again, a Berlin that does not want to forget, but to move on. Waiting for the man to change to green, I think of the wall, and how its dismantling represents Berliners' will to live, and refusal to tolerate abuse. A Berlin one can still see in its residents’ eyes today.
Nowadays, there is no wall in this area, and the Branderburger Tor stands free, proudly bandaged by scaffolding and its own full-size reproduction, printed to satisfy the tourists’ selfie sticks. As I cross the street and the gate, the wide Unter den Linden boulevard unfolds in front of me, stretching to the river Spree and Museum Island, right to the centre of the city. An ordinary tourist would take a walk along it, and a fine walk it is, but today I resist. Among the lesser trodden parts of town, you can also find Berliners who like to drink a spirit that is not necessarily German. With a last look at the busy square, I leave the crowd behind me and descend into the U-Bahn station, on the hunt for my favourite thing: good whisky.
Madonna Bar
On the south side of the city, in the artsy Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg area, Madonna Bar has become a nocturnal reference point for youthful post-wall Berlin. Candlelit, with orders written down on pieces of paper on the counter, and Renaissance-looking paintings on the wall, its chilled-out “living room” atmosphere is made for unwinding with friends while listening to live music. Raise your eyes from the Madonna statue on the counter to the ceiling, and gawp at the breathtaking and highly detailed painting by Berlin artist Volker Pankrath, that still holds the regulars in animated discussion.
Since the current owner “Kalle” took over in 1995, the bar has amassed 250 bottles of whisky from Scotland, USA, Ireland, and Japan, 120 bottles of rum from across the Caribbean, and seven beers on tap, including Madonna’s peppy house offering. If the bar is not too busy, Kalle will chat with you about his trips and recommend you bottles “against his interest”, just to keep you happy. He tells me he wants to maintain his bar as it is: a homely gathering place for lovers of good spirits. I’ll drink to that.
What Barley ordered: Classic of Islay (56,4%) € 5,40
Wiener Straße 22, 10999 Berlin (+49 30 6116943)
Keith Bar
Travelling even further south from the city centre you’ll find the international neighbourhood of Neukolln, full of Middle Eastern pastry shops and hip hangouts. Here, the improbably named Keith Bar is all about good people and atmosphere, and fosters a community of artists and DJs, with regular music events hosted in the brick-covered rooms. From Wednesday to Sunday, they broadcast the community radio Keith FEM, full of young Berliners discussing art and popular culture.
Keith Bar’s food and drink fare is satisfying: from delicious gourmet tacos to creative signature cocktails, including a varied selection of refreshing highballs. Whiskies are served in flights of four to be shared with friends, and most can be paired with one of the beers on the counter – ask for recommendations. On the menu you’ll find mostly Scotch, but also Irish whiskey, Bourbon, and rye, as well as some niche bottles from Asia and Australia. And if you are up for a challenge, why not try a Pickleback? Don’t worry, we won’t spoil the surprise…
What Barley ordered: Kilchoman Machir Bay (46%) €5,50
Schillerpromenade 2, 12049 Berlin
Offside Pub & Whisky Bar
In the residential neighbourhood of Wedding, in the north side of town, Offside is another great bar with a remarkable ceiling, the brainchild of the owner, Lars “McLarsen” Pechmann. A passionate man who revamped the bar at the beginning of 2000s, he decorated the “ugly ceiling” with an upside-down map and all sorts of curious things, from musical instruments to tables and toys, in the classic old English pub style.
Offside was named Best Whisky Bar in Germany in 2015 and Pechmann certainly knows his whisky, he’s collected over 1000 bottles of malts, grains, bourbon, and world-wide offerings for his customers to enjoy. All the Scottish regions are represented on its menu, as well as Irish, Canadian, and blended whiskies, and a few curated whisky flights showcase the wonders of single malts. Today, McLarsen runs the bar together with his wife, Nina, who accompanies him in the business and on every research trip to Scotland.
What Barley ordered: Connemara 12 year old (40%) €5,50
Jülicher Str. 4, 13357 Berlin (+49 30 60267317)
Union Jack - The whisky pub
Don’t let the name put you off. Yes, from the flags to the dart board, the homemade soups to the salt and vinegar crisps, the Union Jack pub does to a large degree do what it says on the tin, but it’s also a proper whisky-drinking destination. Located in Charlottenburg, not far away from the Berlin Zoo, it was the first English pub to open in the city in 1976, and still prides itself on a fine selection of Scottish and Irish beers and ciders, like Murphy’s Irish Stout and Newcastle Brown Ale.
On its shelves, the Union Jack showcases a hefty selection of 1200 bottles, with all kinds of Scotch, Bourbon, Irish, Japanese, and Canadian whisky delights to choose from. Together with world whiskies, there are also some excellent independent bottlers represented, including expressions from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society and Finest Whisky Berlin, the specialist shop in Schöneberg run by the owner of the pub, Uwe Wagmüller. He is generous sharing his expertise and organises whisky tastings throughout the year to help beginners find their way.
What Barley ordered: Finest Whisky Berlin, High Coast Sweden (49,5%) €6
Schlüterstraße 15, 10625 Berlin (+49 30 3125557)
Alba Chiara Di Bari is a storyteller & tour guide with a passion for whisky, currently working for Johnnie Walker
