The Best Bars In Wedding, Berlin

Moritz Bar is a bar that allows its attendees to sink into the night. Cool lounge furniture, seemingly out of place pictures of Lindsay Lohan, and an intimate setting add to the ambiance of this laid back mini oasis. The bar is always candle lit and moody and that just seems right. Mortiz Bar is owned by two brothers, Lukas and Kilian. They take pride in their unique cocktails and even make their own tonic and root beer. A sizable cocktail list crafted with care, and a relaxed vibe make this the perfect spot for a drink and to escape. Moritz Bar also hosts Wedding’s only weekly ‘Gay Party’ with 2 for 1 gin and tonics and heaps of dancing.

There are many contenders on the list of the best beer gardens in Berlin. Some claim to be list worthy for their age or sheer size and it becomes a boisterous battle of bragging rights. Hausbrauerei is list worthy for its humility and excellence. It was opened by brewers from Technische Universität, and its location is a little off the beaten track which gives it a pleasingly secret feel. Freshly brewed and seasonal German beer ensures variety. This Wedding-born beer garden is worth the trek.

This stylish and serious brewery is a must for craft beer enthusiasts. This hoppy haven is both a brewery and a taproom. The interior of Vagabund Brauerei has a pub vibe with rustic accents. Vagabund has a rotating list of beers to keep things fresh. The owners hail from the land where the re-imagining of craft beer was born, America, there mission is to bring proper, fresh, and distinctive beer to the Hauptstadt. Apart from their own careful creations there is a bottled list that is just as eager to please.

Prinzinger lies on the corner of Prinzenallee and Osloer Straße; a corner-hugging bar with a fresh start. Having just opened in December, this highly anticipated neophyte watering hole drew in a lot of hype. Maybe it was the special attention to the interior design – elegant and minimalist light fixtures and pristinely aged hardwood. The new owners were careful to pay homage to its prior owners, maintaing some of the old structures and making this bar a sort of inebriated palimpsest. The massive red doors of Prinzinger beckon all those who pass to come and stay a while. An impressive array of alcoholic choices dot the muted golden wall behind the bar. Whether it’s a cocktail or a beer from Eschenbräu, the bartenders are happy to deliver. This bar aims to juxtapose charm and a sense of local pride. The clientele is a mix encompassing everything from real Weddingers to hipsters in search of the next nonchalant yet cool thing. Prinzinger is the place to go have a proper cocktail in the heart of a proper neighborhood.

This incredible neighborhood joint attracts a motley crew. Perhaps it’s the ample variety of beers, perhaps it’s the feeling that a spontaneous party is always about to unfold, or the unrelenting gestures of the staff to make its patrons feel right at home. People come here for good music, a good time, and the good ambiance. The furniture is worn in a way that invites people to linger for hours. The cocktails are cheap and served stiff. The music is always simpatico with the moment. This bar screams abandoned-apartment-meets-dive-bar. What once was abandoned is now up-cycled with craft and consideration, paying homage to the spirit of Berlin, a city that writes its own rules. Fos is the perfect neighborhood dive bar that is everything a Berlin dive bar should be.

Finally, something in Wedding for the jazz lovers. This place has been around for some time, but few are privy to the holiness of Jatz Bar. Comfortable leather couches and red hues carefully inundating the interior are just a few of the characteristics that make up this place’s inviting charm. Jatz bar has swank without being swanky. It has a sense of coolness without asking anyone to know about it. It’s in alignment with the traditional Berlin pubs: cozy, cheap, and full of good music. The scene here is young, made up of mostly students and locals. This watering hole is a fine place to grab a well-made cocktail in an obscure nook of the capital. There’s a smoking room in the back so the wafting cigarette smell can be contained, unlike some other fire-friendly bars.

Don’t mistake this place for a tourist trap just because it’s next to a Holiday Inn – can there be tourist traps in a neighborhood as untouched as Wedding? Though there are some vestiges from what you might expect of a next-to-a-hotel- bar, this place is a proper pub. The craft beer selection is enough to make someone forget some of the more gimmicky aspects of the place. The gregarious staff elevates the evening in a matter of seconds. Karaoke and pub quizzes happen once a week, ensuring that the clientele leaves happy, even if they didn’t come in happy. Castle pub is a place that makes it almost impossible to have a bad time, especially with some of their drink specials. 1,50 € shots on Fridays might be the unexplored path to the Elysian fields. The cavernous interior is laid out in a way that begs for groups to come in and nestle for a while.

This dapper ensemble of alcoholic beverages and aesthetic mystique adds an indelible amount of allure to Wedding. Purple and red walls adorned with ornate and antique pictures, funky lantern lights, and plush throws juxtaposing up-cycled crate furniture significantly raise the bar in terms of this neighborhood’s watering hole standard. This dashing bar is unbridled with effortless elegance, from the writing on the chalkboard to the geometric patterns etched on the walls, every detail is accounted for and the ensemble is thrown together in a way that is homogenous. Oh! Calcutta is a cocktail bar that awards those with the knowledge of its existence bragging rights. It doesn’t only serve up class and tasty libations; there are DJs and live concerts as well.

One of the most imperative facets of a good bar (and often an overlooked one) is a knowledgable bartender. Here at Offside, the bartenders pair alcohol expertise with amicability. Their command of the drink at this dive bar outweighs their décor, but that’s not to say their effortless ultra-kitsch approach isn’t amusing. This dive bar packs hyper funk and authenticity. Offside is stuffed with two things – locals and a colossal amount of alcohol. It serves as a reprieve from the overwhelming waves of overcrowded gimmicky bars that promise too much and deliver too little. A no-frills pub with an emphasis on good whiskey – this is the place for an honest and furtive drink in the land of Wedding.
By Brienne Pierce