Hamburg Beer Week

Hamburg's Craft Beer Scene in Festival Format

Hamburg has developed a diverse craft beer scene over the last two decades – supported by breweries such as Ratsherrn (Schanzenviertel), Buddelship (Eimsbüttel), Kehrwieder (Eimsbüttel), Wildwuchs (St. Pauli), HHopcast, or Überquell (Holzmühlenstraße). The Hamburg Beer Week makes this scene experienceable for everyone once a year – not concentrated in one place, but decentralized, spread throughout the city.

Format: 16 Breweries, 40+ Locations

The organizer is the Hamburg Beer Week Cooperative – an association of 16 Hamburg breweries. For 11 days, from August 20th to 30th, 2026, these breweries will jointly organize a program of over 40 events in 40+ locations: in the breweries themselves, in restaurants, bars, and cultural centers of the Hanseatic city. The event is Germany's largest decentralized beer festival.

What Visitors Can Expect

• Tastings – curated tastings with the brewers themselves
• Brewing Workshops – how do I brew my own beer?
• Brewery Tours – behind the scenes of Hamburg's craft beer scene
• Beer & Food Pairings in selected restaurants
• Concerts and Themed Evenings in breweries and bars
• Special Brews – beers brewed specifically for the Beer Week

Opening Brewers Cruise and Closing Beer Festival

The Beer Week opens on August 20th, 2026 with the HHBW Opening Brewers Cruise on the Elbe – a boat tour with all participating breweries, exclusive beers, and a program. The closing event is the big closing beer festival on August 30th, 2026, where all 16 breweries will serve their best beers – as a joint celebration of the festival.

Hamburg's Beer Identity

As a Hanseatic city, Hamburg has a long brewing tradition – as early as the Middle Ages, the city was one of the most important brewing centers in Northern Germany, and "Hamburger Bier" was an export product until the 19th century. The Beer Week builds on this tradition without nostalgically glorifying it – it celebrates the contemporary craft beer scene, which is breaking new ground with experimental beers.