When I was in Berlin last March, I REALLY wanted to check this place out! When I finally stopped by, the place was packed and I was too timid to enter.

Oh well, next time.

Berlin: Weinerei

Wow, a wine bar on an honor system? Interesting.

Is that a practice here also, Shannon? I have only been to one in San Mateo where they had some Napa winery (Mi Sueno) sponsor a tasting. The place charged $20 and a customer could try/taste the wines that Mi Sueno brought to the bar. The bar had some cheese and crackers out too.

I have never seen a wine bar on the honor system here in the U.S. It is a really cool concept though!

It's a system that probably has a limited life expectancy because Berlin is sort of a lab experiment in all sorts of areas concerning service and design. A very exciting city. Rents are cheap and costs are low, allowing for some very creative ideas. Such a concept in a city like Munich or Hamburg would be unlikely because rents and costs are triple/quadruple and more what they are in some areas of Berlin. If Berlin gets out of the experimental stage its in right now (example: government giving free housing to young designers to make studios out of those old nasty Soviet-era apartment blocks) it will (unfortunately) normalize and concepts like this one will probably go out the window, but it is so cool to see what can be done in the sort of economic environment which Berlin finds itself. (remember this is a city that still has over 20 percent unemployment).