Bremen Weekend

I still hearken back to the yummy Kräusen from Haake Beck available in a lot of places in/around Bremen.

 

As many bigger german cities, also Bremen has modern "craft" beer now: http://www.bremer-braumanufaktur.de/
I don't know which bars that carry it are good, but the beer itself is good. Esp. since Bremen itself used to be kind of a beer dessert.

 

I'm personally not a huge fan of Hopfenfänger (Bremer Braumanufaktur's label). I appreciate what they did being the first to bring craft into Bremen - as Lurchus said Bremen was a beer desert up until just over a year ago when they arrived on the scene, but a lot of the beers lack any sort of coherence in their character and some such as the Schwarzbier are cloyingly sweet (they literally put sugar in it, I was shocked: http://www.bremer-braumanufaktur.de/index.php?articleID=76). That said some are at least interesting to try - Ale No. 2 uses hops grown in Bremen, and was brewed in conjunction with Shüttinger. It's not terrible. Certainly I drank the hell out of all of their stuff gladly just to have some variation when it first came out, but in that year better options have come to Bremen.

There is a guy with a small bottle shop that is also brewing in Schnoor that is definitely worth checking out. Here's his Facebook page, he updates it with new brews as available:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Grebhans-Bier-GmbH/264567770376725

The most recent one he has on there, the Doppel Hopper Double IPA is absolutely fantastic, and generally everything he makes is at the very least enjoyable. The bottle shop has a decent selection, including occasionally having some of the sought after Cantillon and once I even saw some Westy in there. There's a decent variety of Brews from the US, Germany, and around Europe. He's also just an awesome guy. Definitely check that place out, but be aware that if a beer gets posted on Facebook it usually won't last more than a day or two, he brews in really small batches.

Another bottle shop in Bremen is also Boltar's: https://www.facebook.com/Brolters?fref=nf

Maybe a little larger selection than Grebhan's, but a bit further from me so I don't frequent it as much.

For bars, most of your general nightlife is going to be in the Viertel, centered around die Ecke (the corner), where Ostertorsteinweg hits Sielwall. For craft beer, the main option is the bar above Cinema im Ostertor. They have really strange hours though - I've seen them closed on a Saturday night at 11PM. But they have a decent (for Germany) selection of "craft" beers including a standards from the US including Sierra Nevada and Kona. They also carry some of the standard German craftbeers including most of the Crew Republic beers. Not a fantastic selection, but in Bremen the best thing going for "craft". Right next to that, I believe it's called im Lu is a bar that has a couple German craft beers and does a variety of cocktails and liquor if that's your thing or interests some of your friends). The Burrito place next to that is awful in the event you have taste buds, btw.

For a wider selection (again, relative to German standards) of German beers, nearby is the Lagerhaus, which carries an alt bier, Aventinus, and a Pinkus beer or two as well as the standard fair.

If you find yourself out late and things are closing, the go-to all night rager spots are Bermuda followed by Heartbreak Hotel. Bermuda will close at some god awful hour, but you can move on over to Heartbreak and find it in full swing usually. You'll be drinking Haake Becks at that point but at that hour you probably wouldn't care. If you are into late nights at the bar, I recommend hitting both of these places up. They bring out really interesting mixes of people.

On the more touristy end of things (nothing wrong with that, I frequently bring visitors to these places as well, also it gets you walking through the beautiful old city part of town) Shüttinger make its own beer. It's decent enough for what it is, standard German stuff - you can pick a light or a dark beer. The food there is just okay. Across the street, if you were interested in getting a bit of the Kölsch bar experience is the StäV which, while a chain across Germany (something like 5 locations), has decent enough food and serves Gaffel in a kranz if you want that experience. It also has a lot of neat pictures of historical relevance on the walls.

There's also of course the Hofbräuhaus, which I'll say I actually think has better food than in Munich (and much better than the Berlin location). Of course generally you know what you are getting there.

If somehow the weather manages to be nice still at that time, I really recommend going down on the Schlachte, there's a series of beer gardens (well, maybe a bit light on the trees but it's a nice spot along the river). There are also several bars and restaurants down there, including a bar that boasts about its beer selection from around the world, but they've managed to collect some of the most awful beers from around the world so I don't think it's worth visiting.

Oh, and another thing - in the Viertel close to die Ecke, there's a späti (late night kiosk) called Que pasa Amigos - it's a good place to get a beer for just wandering the street with, or just hanging out on the corner and people watching (there are a lot of weirdos there, it's fun). They have most of the Hopfenfänger beers there, some of the Ratsherrn ones (generally not a fan, but the Coast Guard Westküsten IPA is decent enough) as well as some Pinkus and other decent enough beers.

Sadly I'll be out of town at the end of the month or I'd offer to meet you for a drink. Hope you have fun, and if you have any other questions feel free to ask!