Fuerst among equals

With the Siemens campus expanding nearby and the area's slow gentrification beginning to pick up speed, Fuerst Wiacek is well placed to benefit from increased footfall—though Georg is cautious about the pace of change. "We share the parking lot with neighbours, so we have to be respectful. But we do events, brewery tours, and for our anniversary we always have food trucks out. It’s becoming more of a thing."

Even as local interest steadily builds, the brewery is already a destination for international beer lovers, with groups from Scandinavia, the Netherlands, and the UK recently making pilgrimages to Spandau. For Georg, this direct connection to drinkers – local and more far-flung – is a luxury still new enough to feel remarkable. "When we were gypsy brewing, we never had the opportunity to be a host," he says. "Now people can see the brewery, drink the beer fresh, sit and talk. It’s a very different energy."

This openness extends to fellow brewers, with Fuerst Wiacek remaining one of the most collaborative outfits in European craft beer, with recent projects including releases with Track (UK), Soma (Spain), and Hotbox (UK). Such collabs, says Georg, are more about learning than marketing. "Every time we work with another brewery, we get new ideas. You talk about water chemistry, you try each other's yeast, you talk packaging and logistics. It's a way of staying on your toes."

Many of the brewery’s past collaborators were present for the brewery's latest anniversary party in May. "We all kind of grew up together as breweries," says Georg. "It’s great to get everyone together, pour beers in the car park, get a food truck over. It just works." The celebrations are more than just a party, though. They reflect something deeper about Fuerst Wiacek's philosophy, a desire to be part of a brewing tradition and community that transcends national borders. This outward-looking perspective has helped keep the brewery creatively fresh and culturally agile.

Even while the mood inside the brewery is optimistic though, the market outside is less upbeat. Georg is candid about the challenges of operating a modern craft brewery in Germany, even in a city as outward-facing as Berlin. "There’s still a lot of consolidation," he says. "Some breweries have gone bankrupt. It’s not an easy market." Distribution remains a constant challenge; the UK was a key market for Fuerst Wiacek pre-Brexit, and the fallout continues to bite. "Sometimes shipping to Singapore is easier than to the UK," he says. "We’ve found a way that kind of works now, but it’s still frustrating."

The impact of this shifting trade landscape has forced the team to think more strategically about where and how they grow. "We’re doing better now, this year especially," says Georg. "But it’s been hard. Brexit, then COVID, then inflation. One thing after another. We’ve had to be resilient."

Being based in Berlin and focused mostly on international craft-style brewing, Fuerst Wiacek’s calendar doesn’t exactly revolve around Oktoberfest. "In Germany, Oktoberfest is really just Munich," says Georg. "It’s not a national thing. We don't use the term here because it’s protected. Plus, in Berlin there’s already so much going on at that time of year that we don’t really need another excuse to drink."

Accordingly, the brewery’s take on festbier is more an export product than a local fixture, which has nonetheless found fans in the UK, Scandinavia, and France. Most Berliners however firmly associate the brewery with its IPAs and darker experimental offerings. "We did a Brett IPA recently that had been ageing for three years," says Georg. "That was a fun one. Bottled it in small bottles—very iconic."

This kind of experimentation is clearly something that lights Georg’s passion and imagination, and there’s plenty more in the pipeline. For now though, he’s pragmatic about the challenges still facing German craft brewing, and how these will shape the brewery’s medium-term priorities.

“It would be great to really push things and cement Berlin as a true craft beer destination, just like it is for food and wine appreciation, and that’s what we want to be part of, long-term,” concludes Georg. “Right now though, it’s a very challenging environment and a lot of good breweries here have closed in the last couple of years. So for now we just need to navigate that, concentrate on doing what we do, as well as we can, and keeping that focus.”