It started with four friends brewing beer at home. Alex Mager, Paul Brouwer, Sander Nederveen and Rick started Oedipus Brewing in 2012, and the brewery has since grown into one of the busiest spots in the Havenkwartier in North. The Craft Space on Schaafstraat is their home base: a former industrial building where brewery, taproom, stage and store coexist.
What makes this place different from a regular pub: the beer you drink is brewed in the same building. Fresh on tap, no brokering. Every Thursday you can see the inside of the brewery on a tour, at 4 or 5 p.m., for groups of four to 10 people. Meanwhile, The Beef Chief, regular culinary partner of the Craft Space, has burgers waiting for you. That combination, cold beer and a good burger in a space with DIY furniture and candlelight, just works.
The taproom is there Wednesday through Sunday, until 12:30 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. But the Craft Space is more than a place to drink. The stage runs regularly. The Wormhole Cult is its own concert series, with names like Los Palms and Firefriend and Pink Breath of Heaven along with The Top Left Club. Live music, in a space that feels like a warehouse where someone once decided to make it cozy.
The beer you drink is brewed in the same building. Fresh on tap, no brokering.
Right next to the taproom, at Schaafstraat 19, is the Spätkauf. Not the Berlin night store, but Oedipus' own merchandise and art store: exclusive stuff, work by local artists and beer to go. The front terrace is sunny and serves as a meeting place for the neighborhood. The spaces can also be rented for corporate events, launches and showcases, from intimate to large scale. Oedipus Craft Space is the kind of place Noord needed and now can't do without.