retiredmartin

March 2026. Dusseldorf. Germany.

You can’t come to Dusseldorf and just do one Braurei, even if that one is Uerige.

I’d made a list, I was checking it twice.

But I already knew I had to pop in Schlussel on the Bolkerstraße, one of the world’s great pub streets.

3 years ago with the lovely Southworths we’d had to decide between that one and the Goldener Kessel, which in fairness was as good as it gets.

But Schlussel has that glorious key sign that graces page 455 of the Beer Guide to Germany, an exterior that looks unchanged in decades,

and the boys were adamant this was the best they’d tried that day.

It looks a bit giant refectory perhaps,

but the barrels speak of tradition,

there’s a random monkey so we felt at home,

and I’m a sucker for a pub with a model of itself.

Those slightly larger glasses help; I’m definitely an Alt over Kolsch man. This was rich and chewy.

As in Cologne, the Köbes was cheery and charming. Perhaps that’s why we succumbed to tea; James and Matthew had devoured an apparently massive schnitzel 4 hours ago.

The Schlüssel Bierbratwurst for 13,90 confirmed our view that you’ll rarely eat better than in Germany, though they’ll never match our Chinese takeaways.

If you paid me 13,90 euros I wouldn’t have been able to climb that tower across the road.