Best Local Beer in Hamburg

If you've seen my series Tipsy Tips, you'll already know that alongside eating, I am also a fan of drinking the local culture. *Consuming the culture*, you might say. To help you on your journey of drinking exclusively the best parts of the Hamburg, welcome to my guide on the best beer of Hamburg. Hamburg has quite the local beer scene and as a newcomer/ tourist, it can be tricky navigating the 5000 beers that you can find in every kiosk. So if you want a taste of Hamburg, keep reading!

Fun fact about me: I used to hate beer, until I moved to Munich and found it a necessity to engage in the local drinking culture. 100 litres of beer later, and now I'm quite a fan.

One of my favourite things about Germany is that each city/ region has it's own local beer. Not only that, but they are the beers that are then predominantly consumed in the area. It's nothing to do with craft beer, but just a proud beer tradition that has developed over hundreds of years. As you would then expect from me, whenever I am in a new place in Germany, it's a MUST for me to try the local beer.

So having been in Hamburg now for a good few years, I feel like I am pretty qualified to give you a rundown on the best Hamburg beer. I'm going to do this in the form of a ranking, from my preferred brand to least preferred brand. Do note; these brands all have a wide sortiment of types of beer, ranging from Pilsner to Helles. For the purposes of this highly scientific study, I will be focusing purely on the brands.

1. Ratsherrn

Truly God-tier beer. Ratsherrn is locally brewed and even have a restaurant in the middle of Hamburg, "das Alte Mädchen", where the normal sortiment of beers is supplemented with special IPAs and craft beers.

I rate Ratsherrn because they have a great range and they're not exorbitant in price. You are also guaranteed to find Ratsherrn in every kiosk that you head to, and likely in ever bar you visit to. Quite the ubiquitous brand.

The standard Pilsner can be found in the green bottles all over Hamburg, but I have friends who are fans of the Helles. The Radler is also really nice! They also have a "Zwickl", which is slightly darker in taste and in colour, but one of my favourites.

2. Astra

This beer is cheap. Cheap cheap. When I first moved to Hamburg, I could get an Astra (incl pfand) for 80c. I would crack one open and enjoy it whilst exploring new parts of the city. For those of you non-local to Germany - yes, you can drink beer on the street!

Astra is probably the brand most synonymous with Hamburg - even the packaging ties it closely with the city. Notable varieties include "Kiezmische", their version of a Radler!, "Rakete" and the classic "Urtyp", which literally means "Original type". (Side note: I wonder which came first? The name or the beer? Clearly someone in their Marketing department was having some good Original Though. Or should I say, "Ur-thought"?)

3. Holsten

This beer only gets extra points due to the price point. Typically found in cans, rather than the sturdy glass bottles of Ratsherrn and Astra. Most easy to find is their Pilsner, which will be in a green and grey can. This brand doesn't have the best reputation amongst Hamburger locals, but if you're on a budget you can head to the supermarket and pick up a few cans for less than 2€.

Holsten is truly Hamburg. The headquarters can be found in Altona, just around the corner from......"Holstenstraße". Truly a heritage brand.

That being said, I don't have a whole lot else redeeming to note...

Last place: Jever

For some reason, this beer is always served warm. Doesn't matter where you are, it's 2 degrees below room temp at best. This beer is (sadly) always to be found at local music events or as a street bar, and it is the only beer, where I would rather drink water. For me, the taste is very bitter and almost putrid like. I truly cannot not-recommend enough.

Notable mentions:

Landgang

This is a relatively new brand on the Hamburg beer scene. I'm giving it a notable mention but not included it in the official ranking as I honestly haven't drunk enough of it yet. They have a brewery in Hamburg, which is supposed to be great, and I've mostly heard really positive things about the brand. The bottles tend to be a bit more pricey than the brands I have listed above and they've not yet made their way into the regular Kiosk sentiment. But do try!

Other beer-related tips

Just wanted to note a couple of other beer-related tips for the tourist to Hamburg.

Pfand

All beer cans and glass bottles have a deposit ("Pfand") cost. That means, be prepared for the drink to cost 8c more than the listed price when buying the beer directly from a kiosk. This, of course, doesn't usually apply in bars. You can, however, return the bottles to any supermarket and there the money will be returned to you!

Drinking on the street

I mentioned it above, but, yes, you can drink on the street in Germany. Hamburg is no exception! On a sunny day, it's a great idea to grab a few drink from the kiosk and head to the park. Do note, that the only exception is the area around Reeperbahn, where glass bottles are banned between certain hours (22-6).

Craft beer

There is a growing craft beer scene in Hamburg. I've not mentioned it here, as I wanted t focus on your typical regional beers, but maybe I'll address it in a later post! Notable places for craft beer would be Überquell in St Pauli, and the imaginatively named "Craft Beer Bar" in Schanze.