Top 5 bars in Prenzlauer Berg
Top 5 Cocktail Bars in Prenzlauer Berg: A Local's Guide
Prenzlauer Berg has one of Berlin's best cocktail scenes — quiet speakeasies hidden behind unmarked doors, classic whiskey lounges, and a pioneering cocktail institution that's been pouring since 1995. When I was scouting bars for the BertaBerlin Prenzlauer Berg map, I found far more than five I love. Here are the ones I'd personally take a friend to — each with its own ritual: some want you to ring a bell, one has a jukebox, one just wants you to sit down and try cocktail number 47.
X-Bar — The Oldest Cocktail Bar in Prenzlauer Berg
X-Bar has been pouring since 1995 — making it the oldest cocktail bar in Prenzlauer Berg and one of the first American-style cocktail bars in all of Berlin. The menu runs to over 300 cocktails, many of them in-house creations that have become local legend over three decades. The vibe is warm, unfussy, and built by regulars. If Becketts and Immertreu are the polished younger siblings of the PB cocktail scene, X-Bar is the grandparent who taught everyone how to make a proper sour.
Raumerstraße 17a, 10437 Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg (near Helmholtzplatz)
Mon–Sat from 18:00 (Happy Hour 18–20) · Closed Sunday
Bonus: They also run cocktail courses if you want to learn the craft.
Becketts Kopf
Speakeasy Cocktails Behind an Unmarked Door
Named after Samuel Beckett — whose portrait marks the otherwise anonymous entrance — Becketts Kopf is the speakeasy most Berliners name first when asked where to take an out-of-town guest for a serious cocktail. After you ring the bell and step inside, you're in a hushed, red-velvet room where the bartenders take orders like they're solving a puzzle. Drinks arrive with orange blossom spray, house-infused bitters, truffle eggnog in winter, and an entirely different set of herbs than you'd expect. Reservations are strongly recommended.
Pappelallee 64, 10437 Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg
www.becketts-kopf.de ([email protected])
Sun–Thu 7 pm–2 am · Fri–Sat 7 pm–4 am
Lamm Bar
Mixology Craft in Industrial Prenzlauer Berg
Hidden on the northern edge of Prenzlauer Berg, Lamm Bar is the kind of cocktail bar Berlin's mixologists recommend to each other. The space is industrial and stripped back — dark, low-lit, the bar itself the star — and the drinks are where the creativity lives. Every cocktail comes in two sizes: a full-size Lamm or a tasting-size Lämmchen (just €4), which means you can actually work your way through a flight of four or five experimental creations in one evening. Expect fresh peach, mango, lavender, rosemary — drinks that taste like the bartenders had too many good ideas and wrote them all down. Quiet conversation, serious cocktails, no pretense.
Wisbyer Straße 1, 10439 Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg
www.lammbar.de ([email protected]) Open evenings
reservations accepted for up to 15 people until 8 pm
Immertreu
Ring the Bell, Step into Another Era
A second Prenzlauer Berg speakeasy, and a different mood: Immertreu sits behind an inconspicuous door with a bell you have to ring. Inside: red curtains, leather armchairs, a warm bronze glow, and a bartender — Ricardo Albrecht — whose knowledge of spirits history is a conversation in itself. Ask him about rare bourbons and watch him light up. The menu runs from classic long drinks to contemporary twists, always with fresh ingredients.
Christburger Straße 6, 10405 Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg
www.bar-immertreu.de ([email protected])
Mon–Sat from 8 pm
Scotch & Sofa
54 Whiskeys, a Jukebox, and 1950s Sofas
Scotch & Sofa has been in Kollwitzkiez for over 15 years, and it hasn't aged a day — partly because it was already styled to look like the 1950s/60s/70s when it opened. The decor is clashing wallpaper and original vintage television sets; the drinks menu has 54 whiskeys and 24 gins. The whiskey sour alone is worth the trip. In summer, the garden chairs come out onto the sidewalk — this is the bar that reminds you Berlin does slow-drinking better than most European capitals.
Kollwitzstraße 18, 10405 Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg
Sun–Thu 6 pm–1 am · Fri–Sat 6 pm–4 am
Want More Prenzlauer Berg?
If you want to explore the neighbourhood beyond its bars:
- Top 5 of Prenzlauer Berg — my overall best of PB
- Top 5 cafés in Prenzlauer Berg
- Top 5 restaurants in Prenzlauer Berg
And for the full local experience: my BertaBerlin Prenzlauer Berg fold-out map covers all five bars above (plus 40+ more PB spots) on a walking route you can take from Mauerpark to Volkspark Friedrichshain. Printed, pocket-sized, made in Berlin.
Discover Berlin like a local. 🍸