Thursday 5 March 2015

Berliner Weissbier breweries in the 1890’s

Not written about Berliner Weisse for ages. And this wasn’t really planned.  I didn’t wake up this morning and think “Let’s look into Berliner Weisse”. (Actually, it was “I must  search for ‘keg beer’ in the newspaper archive.)

Strange, the way I stumble through research. And how I come to look in certain books.

This all started with Twitter. A tweet about a Berlin brewery I recognised. The former Schultheiss Weissbier brewery in Prenzlauer Berg. Which is what I tweeted back. Only to be told only Lager had ever been brewed there.

I was pretty sure I was right, if only because I can remember it being open. Where to look? A web search got me to the German Wiikipedia and one of my own web pages. Luckily I’ve an excellent book on Berliner Weisse, published by the VLB. "Die Berliner Weisse", by Gerolf Annemüller, Hans-J. Manger and Peter Lietz, published in 2008.

I needed to check whether it had been the Weißbierbrauerei E. Willner. One of the handy tables at the back of the book confirmed it was the brewery on Berlinerstrasse. I scanned the page to post on Twitter. Then thought that I may as well scan all the tables. Much easier to find stuff when it’s in an electronic form.

Here’s the first table:

Membership list of Vereins der Berliner Weißbierbrauereien E.V.
Nr Firm Boss Address These breweries still existed
Street 1906 1914 year of closure
1 J. C. A. Richter & Co. Weißbierbrauerei Alfred Richter Hier C. 34 Rosenthalerstr. 51 X X ca. 1920
2 Berliner Weißbier Brauerei Akt. Ges. vorm. Carl Landre Dir. Otto Ullrich Hier. N. 37 Straßburgerstr. 6/8. X X 1927 merged with Breithaupt
3 C. Breithaupt Weißbierbrauerei C. Breithaupt Hier. N.O. 18. Pallisadenstr. 97. X X 1927, s. Nr. 2
4 Berliner Export Weißbierbrauerei C. & 0. Fischer O. Fischer Rixdorf *) Hier. S.O. 26 Prinz Handjerystr. 78/79 Waldemarstr. 74 X 1912
5 Berl. Weißbierbrauerei Jul. Boehm Max Rauch Hier. C. 25 Prenzlauerstr. 16. ca. 1906
6 Berl. Weißbierbrauerei Friedrichstadt Jul. Borsdorf Julius Borsdorf Hier. N.O. 43. Neue Königstr. 32. 1896
7 Berl. Weißbierbrauerei Ed. Gebhardt A. G. Dir. Bernh. Gebhardt Hier. N. 20. Prinzen Allee 79/80. X 1913 merged with Groterjan
8 Berl. Weißbierbrauerei und Malzfabrik Albert Bier Alb. Paegeiow Hier. C. 2. Stralauerstr. 3/6. X ca. 1910
9 Berl. Weißbierbrauerei E. Willner Gust. Pradel Pankow Berlinerstr. 80/82. X X ca. 1990/91
10 Gabriel & Jaeger Weißbierbrauerei F. W. Gabriel Hier. N. 54. Zehdenickerstr. 9 / Choriner Str. X ~ 1913 (an KindlAG)
11 Hartmann's Brauerei Wwe. Hartmann Reinickendorf Scharnweberstr. 101/2. X X ca. 1914
12 Berliner Weißbierbrauerei Carl Richter Carl Richter Hier. N. 39. Dalldorferstr. 23. X X 1964 (an KindlAG)
13 Weißbierbrauerei vorm. H. A. Bolle AG. Dir. Hugo Riedel Hier. N. 24. Friedrichstr. 128. X X 1932
14 Berl. Weißbierbrauerei Fiedler & Billep Otto Billep Schoeneberg Sedanstr. 73/75. X - 1912
15 Bert. Bierbrauerei Act. Ges. vorm. F. W. Hilsebein Dir. Max Wem berger Hier. O. 17. Koppenstr. 61/69. X - 1911, brewing operations to Carl Landré, after that maltster
16 A. Landre Weißbierbrauerei Emil Kaufmann Hier. C. 2. Stralauerstr. 36/37. X X 1917 to Carl landré
17 S. D. Moewes WeJßbierbrauerei R. Materne Hier. C. 2. Hoher Steinweg 6/7. X - 1912
18 Vereinigte Berliner Weißbier-Brauereien G.m.b.H. Dir. Paul Zoeppritz Weißensee Brauhausstr 2/5. X X ca. 1914
19 Rud. Frömchen Weißbierbrauerei Rud. Frömchen Hier. N. 20. Wiesenstr. 43 X - ca. 1910; 1931 reopened; until 1948
20 Christ. Stauch WeJßbierbrauerei Christian Stauch Hier. N. 39. Wildenowstr. 4. X X ca. 1920
21 Berliner Weißbierbrauerei Act. Ges. (vorm. Gericke) Dir. Arno Freyknecht Hier. N. 28. Rheinsbergerstr. 43/45. X - 1911
22 Berl. Weißbierbrauerei Max Füllgrabe Max Füllgrabe Hier. N. 20. Stettinerstr. 20. X X 1920
23 Alb. Laue WeJßbierbrauerei Prok. A. Laue Hier. O. 27. Andreasstr. 8. X X 1923
24 Rud. Braun WeJßbierbrauerei Rudolf Braun Charl. 1. Berlinerstr. 74. (Lützowstr. ???) X X ca. 1920
25 Berl. Weißbierbrauerei W. Bönnhoff W. Bönnhoff Hier. N. 39. Schulzendorferstr. 3/3a. X - ca. 1906
Spelling as in the original
The bosses of the numbers 1 through 3 are marked as Board of Directors.
*) The address Rixdorf, Prince Handjerystr. was obviously added later.
Source:
"Die Berliner Weisse", by Gerolf Annemüller, Hans-J. Manger and Peter Lietz, 2008, page 319.

Bit thin just that, isn’t it?

I know. Another table. Now there’s an outrageous claim by another beer writer about hundreds of Weissbier breweries in Berlin. Here are some real numbers:

Number of Weissbier breweries in Berlin (in brackets limited companies)
1844 12 1872 17 1895 34 (4) 1916 23 (2)
1849 13 1875 17 (3) 1899 49 (4) 1918 11 (2)
1855 12 1877 19 (3) 1905 51 (4) 1920 9 (2)
1860 13 1880 25 (3) 1909 39 (5) 1924 12 (3)
1865 13 1885 35 (4) 1912 38 (4) 1928 14 (2)
1870 16 1890 40 (4) 1914 25 (2) 1933 14 (2)
1940 10 (1)
Source:
"Die Berliner Weisse", by Gerolf Annemüller, Hans-J. Manger and Peter Lietz, 2008, page 319.

Not quite 700, are there?

There will be more from the book, arsing allowing.

3 comments:

Rob Sterowski said...

Did you find out why Landre and Groterjan weren't in the table?

Ron Pattinson said...

Barm,

I noticed elsewhere in the book that Groterjan onlt started bbrewing Berlier Weisse in the 1930's.

Not found out about Landré yet. Possibly they were called something else back then.

Ron Pattinson said...

Barm,

I see Landré is in the table.