Our Vision

For us doing it the right way means that we work for the benefit of the community. We want to show that doing business in an ecologically, economically, and socially sustainable manner works and try to create awareness for alternative products and correct consumption. That is why we are independent, transparent and invite you to do good with us! We follow these six principles:

Our beers are traditionally brewed in independent, middle-class breweries in accordance with the German purity law. All our ingredients come locally from Germany and within the districts of regional producing areas.

We intentionally decide to work with regional, independent breweries. This is in order to support the traditional, middle-class beer industry which is put under pressure by big corporations. Our beer for the region south comes from the Genossenschaftsbrauerei Gut Forsting, whereas the beer for the region east comes from Stadtbrauerei Wittichenau.

Quartiermeister is a social enterprise and we seek to deal with our proceeds in a reasonable and sensible manner, so that as much money as possible goes to the projects we want to support. We’re in support of full transparency and to ensure that no money is wasted or misspent, we publish a complete breakdown of our income and expenditure every three months.

In fact, we are the first German beer brand to work with Economy For The Common Good: with whom we have proudly achieved a Matrix score of 665 points. 

All transparency reports from Quartiermeister

Our Mission: We wish for cultural diversity within our neighborhood, where small projects have a chance to help shape their community. Unfortunately, there is often little money or state support for these projects. This is where we come into action. We see ourselves as sponsors, dialogue partners and idea providers in the neighborhood as well as a body for the Quartiermeister GmbH enterprise. 

We vote for the projects which later go onto the online voting as well as ensuring transparency of the enterprise. Although the enterprise provides us with grant funds through the sale of beer, we sometimes organize events in order to finance ourselves or to support other projects in creative and fun ways! We network and motivate with our ideas! 

Next to regular events such as general meetings (four times a year), informal pub-meetings (every month) and meetings to select projects (ones every quarter), we meet in working groups, organize workshops, as well as discussion rounds. There are no borders for your individual event format in regard to the mission of Quartiermeister e.v.

What advantages do you have as a member?

You are helping to shape our society and to establish a new kind of economy. 

You are learning about local projects and supporting cultural diversity in your neighborhood..

You are able to network with a lot of great people.

You are learning how operating and democratic voting works in real life.

You are able to realize and finance your own projects.

You are having a lot of fun at our events and free beer, too.

Convinced? Get in touch with us today under mitmachen@quartiermeister.org. In Berlin over 25 members got involved with Quartiermeister e.v., in Dresden 15. Our locations in Leipzig, Stuttgart and Munich are currently growing because of the engagement of single individuals.  If there is no Quartiermeister in your city , you have the chance to work with us in order to expand to a new location.

• What does social business mean?
• How does the cooperation between the enterprise and the association work?
• Why is independence so important for us?
• Since 2013 the social profit per liter decreased. Why?
• Why beer and not another product?
• What does regionally effective mean?
• Why did you rename the regional principle from "regional" to "regionally effective"?
• Where exactly does the beer come from?
• Don't you find the connection between alcohol and the communal problematic?
• For the common good - what exactly does that mean?
• Why doesn’t the beer come from Berlin?
• Is the beer bio-certified?
• Is the beer vegan?
• Why isn’t there a single recipe for all locations?
• Who’s the guy on the bottle?
• Why the asterisk?
• Beer for neighbourhood – which neighbourhood are you talking about?
• I want Quartiermeister in my city - what can I do?

What does social business mean?

At Quartiermeister we follow our own idea of how to economically operate correctly. However, we see ourselves as a social business according to Mohammed Yunus, founder of the … and recipient of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. We aim to show that working alternatives to the current economic system are already existing and that the transformation to a sustainable society (triple bottom line) is in full swing. Since 2018 we’ve been a member of the SEND e.V. (Social Entrepreneurship Network Germany).

How does the cooperation between the enterprise and the association work?

While the enterprise handles selling and merchandising the product, the association is responsible for the allocation of funding. It functions as a dialogue partner as well as controls the business operation. The idea of Quartiermeister started initially with the association, which voluntarily sold beer in Berlin Neukölln. Today around ten permanent employees work in the enterprise and over 50 members regularly get involved with the association. The cooperation helps us to guarantee an independent funding and also remain true to our principles. In addition, the cooperation makes it possible for everyone to get involved with Quartiermeister and realize their own projects.

Why is independence so important for us?

We are independent of investors and shareholders in order to make our own decisions and remain true to our principles. Therefore we don’t aim to maximize our profits or grow as fast as possible, but rather our goal is to evolve our company in an organic and healthy way. 

We always keep an eye on our vision and do not have to account for something to anyone but ourselves, our consumers and our association. We believe that big companies, because of their preeminence, have too much influence on politics as well as on our society. Most of the times consumers do not know who they are buying from. Even though the beer market seems to have great diversity, most of the products belong to Dr. Oetker (Radeberger Group), Anheuser-Busch Inbev SAB-Miller and Carlsberg. We are and will be the alternative.

Since 2013 the social profit per liter decreased. Why?

The profit per liter decreased because Quartiermeister was a voluntary project from 2010 until 2013. Therefore it did not pay any salaries. Consequently, we were able to put most of the total revenue into local community projects. Since 2014 we are an enterprise, which works to operate socially inside the company as well and pay our employees a salary. By working professionally, the total profit has highly increased, causing the share per liter to decrease but the total social profit to increase (2016: 17.000 Euro; 2017: 28.000 Euro; 2018: 35.000 Euro; 2019: 45.000 Euro). Since 2015 we were able to stick with 10 cents per liter and we will push to keep it that way for next year. Every year we discuss our numbers with the association in order to justify our economic activities and determine to what project the money goes to. If you are interested to help shape Quartiermeister and to share your voice, you are welcome to contact us at: mitmachen@quartiermeister.org.

Why beer and not another product?

For us, beer is a social product. We drink it with friends in a bar or out in the open air, we chat and have a good time together. On top of that, beer is a regional product with strong roots in Germany. For several years now, small, independent, and middle-sized breweries have suffered under pressure from the large brewery concerns. They’re either swallowed up or they go bankrupt. We want to work against this trend and preserve Germany’s colourful beer landscape and its flavoursome variety.

What does regionally effective mean? 

We don’t want to have an impact at the other end of the world but immediately there, where we operate and where Quartiermeister is consumed. We create this impact by funding social and cultural projects in the respective cities or regions. The amount of our funding for each city is a directly linked to the quantity that is drunk in the respective region. Thus, everyone can contribute to the benefit of the community in her or his neighborhood by drinking Quartiermeister. Every three months we publish a transparency report that states how many liters are sold in every region and the amount of funding that is linked to our sales.

Why did you rename the regional principle from “regional” to “regionally effective”?

The adjustment of our regional principle is due to Quartiermeister’s development. Originally, “regional” meant for us the fact that we exclusively work with regional producers in order to strengthen economic structures in the region and in order to keep transport distances short. For us the producer is the brewery that produces Quartiermeister based on our own recipes. The Stadtbrauerei Wittichenau is located in Lausatia, a region in Saxony, which has an approximate distance of 170 km from Berlin. Initially, we have sold Quartiermeister exclusively in Berlin, where all started in 2010. The reason why we don’t collaborate with a Berlin-based brewery is that back then, there was no brewery in Berlin, that did not belong to the Radeberger Group and we actively wanted to support smaller breweries that find themselves more and more under pressure by large food companies. We never wanted to establish an own brewery since we wanted to use already existing structures. This does not only save (financial) resources. We can also actively contribute to the development of our partner-brewery. Due to our striving, the Stadtbrauerei Wittichenau is organically certificated, operates with renewable energy and purchases the malt from a regional supplier.

Within the last ten years, Quartiermeister has grown significantly. We operate in more cities, where we also fund social and cultural projects. Our goal to operate as regional as possible is of course still valid. That’s why we started another collaboration with a the Genossenschaftsbrauerei Gut Forsting close to Munich, that brews Quartiermeister for southern Germany.

By now, Quartiermeister is available in further away regions, such as Vienna or Cologne. In those cases, our beer actually travels a longer way from its production site to the shops or bars. That’s why we find the term “regional” no longer adequate. However, the motivation for our work, the DNA of our enterprise, was always the funding of social and cultural projects. The more beer we sell, the more funding we can allocate. The funding happens exactly where Quartiermeister is consumed. That’s why Quartiermeister is “regionally effective”.

Nevertheless, we still have the aim to operate as regional as possible. Currently, we talk to a potential new partner-brewery in the middle of Germany that could potentially produce and deliver Quartiermeister to North and West Germany.

Where exactly does the beer come from?

The beer for Berlin, Leipzig, Dresden and Brandenburg comes from the Stadtbrauerei Wittichenau in Lusatia. Our decision for the Wittichenau brewery came about for many reasons:

    •    The beer tastes good

    •    The brewery has belonged to the same family for many generations and remains independent to this day.

    •    The beer is made from regional ingredients (there’s more about our beer here)

    •    The brewery identifies with the idea of Quartiermeister and wholeheartedly supports our work.

Our Munich beer comes from the cooperative brewery Gut Forsting. This independent private brewery is just east of Munich between Ebersberg and Wasserburg. If you’re lucky, you can see the alps from this beer-brewing idyll. As far as possible, these breweries support athletic and cultural associations and events in their regions.

Don’t you find the connection between beer and the communal problematic?

We acknowledge that this link isn’t entirely free of contradictions. It’s not our intention for people to consume more alcohol through us. Our purpose is to offer a good alternative to the existing beers.

Our marketing tends not to encourage people to drink more beer, but rather to connect their existing beer consumption with an added social value.

With reference to the funding of projects, we outline to the applicants how we raise the money and let them decide whether they want to work with our funding.

For the common good - what exactly does that mean?

Since 2010 Quartiermeister advocates an equal economy for the common good. With a fixed share of 10 cents per liter, we support social and cultural projects in local neighborhoods. Therefore a portion of our profit flows back to society in a way in which people can benefit from them. 

With our claim we wish to express that Quartiermeister was founded for exactly that reason: to create an additional social value (through an everyday consumer product) in order to benefit a lot of people.

Why doesn’t the beer for Berlin come from Berlin?

Unfortunately, there were and are no breweries with whom we could work in Berlin. The large Berlin breweries are all of them owned by the Radeberger-Group, which in turn belongs to Dr. Oetker – one of Germany’s largest food companies. We’re against corporate structures because they have to prioritise short term profit for their investors over long-term community-oriented engagement. This profit-orientation leads in many instances to the exploitation of both people and nature. We want to change that and work, as much as possible, with independent, regional partners. The micro-breweries which have developed in Berlin in the last few years do brew good beer. However, in many respects they’re too small (no bottling, the beer isn’t long-lasting, too little production capacity, too costly, etc.) for a collaboration to be viable. For these reasons, our beer is brewed 170km south of Berlin in the independent and family-owned Stadtbrauerei Wittichenau.

Is the beer bio-certified?

In October 2015 we published our first in-house Bio-Pils. In 2017 we introduced our red beer in the east and in 2018 our pale ale in the south also bio-certified. Thereby we are not only social and regional, but ecological, which is a big step towards our goal of a sustainable product. Compared to our conventional beer, we see our bio-certified beer as a development towards an even more “correct” product. Due to economical reasons however, we still sell our conventional beer.

Is the beer vegan?

Our Kiez-beer is in and of itself vegan. So far, however, it hasn’t been possible to use label glue that isn’t made from animal materials. This is because the properties of the glue require a different bottling method than that which the Wittichenau brewery is technically capable of.

Why isn’t there a single recipe for all locations?

We consciously chose to keep the beer and its taste regional. Consequently, in Munich we have a light beer und in the eastern region we bottle a pilsner. Those are the kinds of beers that come from those areas and best represent those regions. We love our multifaceted beer landscape in Germany and it serves as inspiration for our regional concepts. That’s why a Quartiermeister in Munich tastes different to one in Berlin and we think that’s actually pretty good.

Who’s the guy on the bottle?

The person on the bottle is the quartermaster. He concerns himself with the well-being of his neighbours. The person on the bottle is an emblem for all those who sell, buy, drink, do social projects and support their neighbourhood through Quartiermeister. In this way, we’re all Quartiermeisters.

Since July 2017 50% of all labels show a female Quartiermaster. With this campaign, we are taking a stand against sexism and stereotypes in (beer) advertising and are setting an example for equality. For more information go to www.quartiermeisterin.org. 

Since march 2019 the label of our shandy shows for the first time a living Quartiermeister: Talu Tüntas. Everyday he gets local projects going and supports them with his full commitment. Talu Tüntas is someone who strengthens neighborhood culture and therefore embodies Quartiermeister’s ideas. Several times Quartiermeister has supported Talu and his different projects, such as self-help bicycle repair shop on the Tempelhofer Feld and the Taschengeldfirma e.v. Furthermore he has recieved support for an open stage, and has constructed a windmill as if it were nothing. For these reasons, Tulu is the embodiment of Quartiermeister.

Why the asterisk? 

On our homepage, all online appearances, and on our bottles we intentionally decided to use the gender star. The star is used an an open place holder. Quartiermeister*in takes a stand against all gender stereotypes and in particular against discrimination against people who can’t or don’t want to classify themselves as binary. 

Beer for the neighbourhood’ – which neighbourhood are you talking about?

Quartiermeister is the neighbourhood beer because the profits from the beer are used to fund projects in the neighbourhoods where Quartiermeister is sold. By neighbourhood, we mean specifically all the neighbourhoods in Berlin, München, Leipzig and Dresden.

I want Quartiermeister in my city! What can I do?

If your city is located in our covered region (East/South), you can directly turn to mitmachen@quartiermeister.org. You can actively support the sales and distribution of our beer, suggest your favorite bar and build your own quarter according to our principles and possibilities!