Protokoll Taproom — Restaurant in Berlin

Get ready to embark on a journey of (beer)scovery at Protokoll! Lovely staff and great collection of different types of craft beer!! 5 / 5 Stars Easy!

I was out with a friend when I went to visit the East Side Gallery on a rainy day in Berlin. Since it was pouring cats and dogs, I thought to get somewhere dry where I could get a good beer. After getting my bearings, I noticed Protokoll Bar with its good rating and figured to jump on the next tram to take me to it.

It wasn't too long that I finally managed to get to the bar and noticed that nearly all the bar stools were occupied and the rest of the tables packed with patrons. Still, I managed to squeeze myself in at the end of the bar and it wasn't long until I was attended to.

To be honest, I was a bit overwhelmed by the selection of beer since I couldn't make heads or tails of what was on offer, it is a craft beer nonetheless and different from your regular run of the mill beer. No worries though, the staff is prepared for such situations and I was given a sample of a couple of beers that raised my interest. For the life of me, I don't remember what I ordered anymore but I do remember its taste and the memory that it invoked in me.

The beer I had reminded me of a summer BBQ back home, but not of the beer I would be drinking, but of the smells of smoked meat sizzling on the grill, filling the air with its savory flavors. I was amazed and awestruck. What sorcery is this?

In the end, Protokoll Berlin has a variety of flavors that will catch the interest of any that are interested to explore the different facets of beer brewing. If you should find yourself in their neck of the woods, do yourself a favor and stop by and to see and experience...

On 11.03.2023 (around 8-10pm) me and group of my friends had a really unpleasant experience at the bar. One of the guests got aggressive and later physical towards me. Before that, he also harassed group of women sitting table next to us. All that because people didn't like max-brightness laptop in facing the room of people and were asking politely to just sit differently. His response was pure aggression.

The staff didn't want to take any decisive action as the person was "a regular and known". ¯(ツ)/¯

We decided to de-escalate and ignore the person, but after a while, he came to me and started getting physical. Punching table in front of me, shouting some profanities and spitting on me. Other guests tried to de-escalate, but the person started attacking them. Luckily, he was reasonable enough to not start a proper fight. I was threaten to get beaten in front of the bar, but luckily that not happened.

We were forced to call taxi home to not get retaliation from this person. Staff did not call any authorities just because nothing happened. It was apparently enough that there were video cameras inside.

All 3 staff members that interacted with us were very passive. They didn't really want to throw these people from bar. They were okay with women harassment. They were okay with repeated assault. They were okay with person shouting and threatening multiple people.

I felt all the time like staff found us a problem, not their drunk friend and regular visitor. They were friendly towards the aggressor and pretty...

Beer that I've tasted was fine!, but: I've additionally asked for "a beer on the sweeter side, stout/porter-like, similar to imperial stout that you have on tap now". Bartender suggested: Guinness (because stout, y'know, even though it's dry); Pastry sour (it was sour); Cocktail; Nothing else, "and actually stouts aren't sweet", "and all other tap/canned beer in the bar also isn't sweet" (even no bock/barleywine?). I think that, overall, bartenders should be able to suggest a beer based on visitor preferences. Sweetness is basic taste characteristic, same as bitterness or sourness. The most awful thing was that the bartender, after finished pouring the beer, seeing that the beer foam is still flowing over the glass, didn't wait until it stops and didn't clean the glass, so part of the beer went straight on the floor when I took it, and my hands of course became sticky. My guess is that bartender was more interested in speaking with her nearby friends than serving the customer, which is understandable but unprofessional. Also questionable music was blasting out of the speakers straight onto our table, but I suppose that it's a part of the atmosphere and we just shouldn't have been sitting near them. Don't know the bartender's name, it was a woman...