Berliner Geschichte Pilsner
 

Review Date 10/30/2025  By John Staradumsky

Berliner Geschichte Pilsner! That’s what I am drinking tonight. Berliner Geschichte means Berlin history, and Berlin, and beer, do have a long history indeed. I had seen this beer checked in by friends on Untappd and had long wanted to try it, so you can imagine my sheer delight when I saw several varieties of Berliner Geschichte at Betty’s County Store in Helen, Georgia. Betty’s boasts the largest selection of German beer of any store in Georgia. I think they are correct. I have never seen another store with more.

Anyway, I bought a number of German beers, most of which as I found out were brewed by Eibauer. Berliner Geschichte Pilsner being one of them. Important safety tip: the label says “Seit 1237” at the top, but that isn’t how long the beer or brewery have been around. No, 1237 is the year Berlin was founded. A little deceptive, that.

There is no listing for Berliner Geschichte beers on the Eibauer website. My bottle (a rather large one actually for a half liter of beer) says the beer has an alcohol content of 4.8% by volume. I paid $3.99 for my bottle at Betty’s. It has no freshness dating.

The label also says the beer is “Gebraut nach dem Deutschen Reinheitsgebot” or brewed according to the German Reinheitsgebot. This is the famous beer purity law of 1516, passed at the time in Bavaria. Berlin is obviously not in Bavaria (it is its own state), nor is Eibau, which is in Sachsen. However, when Bismarck unified Germany in 1871 Bavaria required as a condition of entry that the Reinheitsgebot be extended over the entire German nation. Very serious about their beer, those Bavarians. Interestingly, Eibauer has a line of beers under the “Bismarkhbrau” brand as well.

Berliner Geschichte Pilsner pours to a pale golden color with a thick fluffy white head and a nose of crisp biscuit malt and grassy hops.Taking a sip, the beer is about medium in body with a light crisp maltiness. A long dry lingering grassy intense bitterness quickly emerges, and dominates through the finish. I do enjoy the Underberg’s-like intense herbal grassy hop character, but I did find the beer out of balance with the malt.

That said this is definitely a beer I would buy again, especially at the bargain price.