Altstadt · Brauhaus

Gröninger Privatbrauerei

Hamburg's oldest house brewery (1750) — pils from the wooden cask, Eisbein and eel soup in the vaulted cellar.

The Gröninger Privatbrauerei traces its roots back to 1750 and counts as the oldest continuously operating house brewery in Hamburg. Brewing still follows the Reinheitsgebot in open tuns, and the beer is traditionally served from the wooden cask by gravity — a method that hardly any other address in northern Germany still maintains. The business has been run for generations as an owner-operated brewery with attached restaurant. The venue sits on the Willy-Brandt-Straße in the Altstadt, a few steps from the Chilehaus and the Kontorhausviertel. The dining area spreads across several vaulted cellars of red brick, with long wooden tables, heavy benches and the characteristic smell of malt and hops from the brewing kettles next door. The menu is Hanseatic home cooking: Eisbein with sauerkraut and pea purée, pork knuckle, Labskaus, pickled Matjes herring, Hamburg eel soup and fried potatoes from the cast-iron pan. To drink there is the house pils, served unfiltered after only a few days of maturation, and a dark lager. Mains are priced between 16 and 24 euros, half an Eisbein around 19 euros, a 0.3-litre pils about 3.80 euros — a solid €€ category with no tourist mark-up. Reservations are advisable in the evening and at weekends; at lunchtime and in the early evening, walk-in usually works without trouble. Larger tables are often booked up a week in advance. Getting there: U1 Steinstraße, two minutes on foot, or U/S Hauptbahnhof, eight minutes on foot via the Mönckebergstraße. Ideal for: Hamburg visitors who are looking for hearty food, brewing history and the opposite of a designed concept restaurant.