Asuka N.
Yelp
Our AirBnB was pretty much right across from the park where BRLO is located, so we passed it many a time on our way to the metro, and we stopped in a couple times as well. I really like the industrial feel and look of the brewhouse itself (it is comprised of 38 shipping containers), as it fits in perfectly with the austere setup of the park, as well as the old-school bridge the U1 runs on behind it. The main entrance is on the side closer to the metro entrance, and once there, you can sit in the main dining area on the ground level, with a small bar-only seating to the right. There's also a small area near the bathrooms on the second level that overlooks the ground level, which I can imagine provides for a nice view as well. We didn't get a chance to eat here, as we only came to grab beers to take away, and to pre-game on New Year's Eve at the bar area. From what I can tell, there's a decent amount of American expat interest (virtually everyone that night at the bar was speaking American-accented English), and it's not surprising given that American craft brewing probably outpaces most of the world. The brewhouse has approximately 25-30 beers on tap, by my recollection, with about 5-7 in-house choices, followed by mostly other local craft beers (although they somehow had barrel-aged Arrogant Bastard, something I cannot find easily in NYC). Of the house beers, I would say I liked their West Coast-style IPA (styled 'C4PO') the best - a very smooth, crisp drink with a good balance of bitterness and hoppiness without going overboard. Their German IPA was also pretty solid, although there's not really much hoppiness in it and drank very similarly to a doppelbock. One of the local beers we tried was quite flat - we got the bottom of the keg, so perhaps that explained it. The Arrogant Bastard was sublime, though, and was the best beer I had by far. It was also the highest-ABV beer at 7.9%; most of the selection was on the lighter side, making it not the most natural place for my tastes (which can tend towards the heavier, hoppier, higher-ABV side of beer).
In all, I enjoyed the ambiance, and the beer selection beat the pants off of anywhere else we went to in Berlin (and definitively was way ahead of the 'beer' we got at a convenience store). It isn't going to be world-beating brews compared to other places I have been, but a few of the in-house beers are good, and the variety is wide enough (if not the heaviest enough, IMO) to make it interesting. Whether it is ordering by the glass, a flight, or even taking away a 6-pack of their beer to go (IMO, they should add growlers), there's an easy way to make sure you aren't left high and dry.