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Hops and Malt

There would be no Prenzlauer Berg, neither Bötzow’s brewery nor the Kulturbrauerei, but also no Kindl or Schultheiss in Kreuzberg and Neukölln, had there been no Ice Age. About 12,000 years ago, masses of ice piled up over Berlin reaching up to 200 meters in height. If the television tower had already existed, only its tip would have protruded from the ice. Ice Age glaciers pushed stones, sand, clay and loam from the north to Berlin; as the meltwater drained off, the Berlin glacial valley with its partly steep bank edges was formed. Until the 19th century, the Barnim with the Barnimkante in the north and the Teltow with its northern edge in the south defined the populated area of Berlin. But then breweries began to discover the Barnim as well as the Teltow; its geological condition proved to be much better suited for the production and storage of the beer than the centre of Berlin, where the water quality was excellent, but as the water table was only three meters below ground it was impossible to build basements there. Digging the cool basement
directly into the Barnim at ground level solved the problem. Because the ice used to cool the beer not only was voluminous, but also weighed several thousand tons, the structures had to be large and sturdy. This is the reason why breweries with their huge fermentation and storage cellars were the largest underground structures in the city.
If you want to get on the trail of the Ice Age and its ice cellars: the ruins of the Schneider Brewery on Greifswalder Strasse are right on the edge of the Barnim, and an ice age glacier also smoothed the round paving stones that covered the courtyard.