It all began with a beer-infused idea. The first ingredient: three Americans, named David Spengler, Tom Crozier, and Matt Walthall. The trio worked as English and kindergarten teachers in Berlin. They also played in a band together, but instead of making a lot of music, they preferred to talk about beer. To be more specific, about the varieties of beer they were missing in their newly chosen country of residence, Berlin. Those would be fruity pale ales or bold seasonal brews to name a few, the trio being tired of German pilsner and white beers. “We found the most complicated, but also the most entertaining solution to our dilemma,” says Tom Crozier. They became brewers.

Whether or not Americans had the right to brew beer in the country of the Reinheitsgebot*, was a question they asked themselves often. The trio even chose to omit their origin in the early days of their newly started brewery. Then again, why should they?

During the ‘70’s, there were only three larger breweries in the USA, dominating the market with their tasteless beer. Nowadays, the nation is home to over 2400 microbreweries – land of opportunity indeed. The three hobby brewers were fond of the craft beer trend, which was slowly spreading to Europe as well. Inspired by their beer-brewing friends back home, the trio set to it and crafted their first beer.
“We had forgotten to include the condensed water”, David recalls, laughing. Instead of the aimed 20 liters out of the first batch, the result was only ten liters. Meaning, those ten were strong, and really flavorful. Suffice to say — the beer brewers were hooked.

Self-taught brewers

None of them were professionally trained in the beer making industry, so all their knowledge is self-taught.
“Fortunately, we live in a time where you can learn everything from the Internet,” says David. The trio studied diligently, learned from their mistakes, and eventually their beer tasted so good, it needed its own name – and its own brewery. The name Vagabund was an obvious choice for them. “A vagabond is someone who travels and wanders, sets out to discover new things, is able to form friendships without much effort —someone who finds a home everywhere he/she goes, explains David,” as if he was describing himself and his colleagues.

In order to realize their dream of a so-called Brewpub, i.e., a pub with a brewery in the back room, they needed to borrow 20,000 euros for fermentation tanks, pumps and a dispensing system. Their aim was to support themselves through crowd funding in 2013. Within two months, they made their financial goal, and were amazed to find out who their donors were. “We were very surprised by the fact that 90 percent of our investors were German,” says David.

Then, everything progressed in small steps. “The biggest challenge was the bureaucracy,” admits David. Although being a professional brewer does not require a master craftsmanship and is a free for all, few are capable of handling all the paperwork involved. “We also needed the appropriate realtor, because when describing a brewery, everyone immediately thought of huge brick halls.” What they really only needed was a kitchen, since Vagabond is a so-called nano-brewery, which means it’s even smaller than a micro brewery, producing 180 liters of beer a week.

In the back room of their favorite pub in Wedding three huge boilers that look like over-sized pressure cookers were placed. “Anyone who wants to be a brewer, needs to know one thing,” says David: “You have to love cleaning.”All pipes, tubes, boilers, and even the smallest valves must be meticulously cleaned after each brewing process, to prevent unwanted bacteria to alter the painstakingly designed taste. In addition, continuously stirring a brew of 60 liters is a decent effort. “It’s our weekly workout.”

In the meanwhile, the three have found not only ‘know-how’ within the industry, but, also, success. They could even of quit their previous jobs.

“Nowadays, when I say that I’m a professional brewer, it still feels just a little bit odd”, admits David.

Nevertheless, their pub is now open seven days a week and attracts an eclectic mix of people from the scene, beer lovers, foreigners, and inhabitants of the neighborhood.

They offer excellent craft beers such as Imperial India Pale Ale, American Pale Ale, and a Smash Series consisting of a single malt and single hop beer. In addition, the experimental brewers offer a dozen of unusual types of beers for the tap, together with a fridge filled with selected bottled beers. There is just one thing left these guys don’t get around to doing anymore: making music.

Vagabund Brauerei

Antwerpenerstr. 3
13353 Berlin

vagabundbrauerei.com
Open daily from 17 clock

*The Reinheitsgebot is also known as the German Beer Purity Law, meaning that the only ingredients that could be used in the production of beer were water, barley and hops.