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.