E. & M. Leydicke - traditional distillation since 1877
The foundation of the liqueur factory
In 1877 the brothers Emil and Max Leydicke founded a liqueur and fruit juice factory. A little later, the Weinprobierstube was opened in Schöneberger Mansteinstraße 4.
Leydicke in the 1960s-1970s
While in the 1920s, the usual audience of the proletariat and petty bourgeoisie in the Leydicke still wrong, changed the situation of the distillery with the 1968 student movement. "We were the springboard on our way to Kreuzberg, which has just become a trendy district," recalls Raimon Marquardt, who leads the Leydicke today in its fourth generation. The students of the 1968s discovered the place as a quaint taproom with its original interior and a unique landlady: Lucie Leydicke. She whispered to the guests, if they drank too little, settled quarrel, brought world reformer back to the floor and poured. Die Zeit printed an obituary shortly after Lucie's death in the summer of 1980.
Fall of the Berlin Wall and scene change
The students stayed, tourists were added in the 1980s. Buses unloaded dry Dutch, school trips ended in Leydicke. After the fall of the Berlin Leydicke suffered the fate of many pubs in the old West Berlin and remained much emptier. "The scene," as Raimon Marquardt says, "always wanders."
Today at Leydicke
Even today, guests can enjoy the fruit wines and liqueurs according to the old recipes of Emil and Max Leydicke. "The Berliner has no culture," said Raimon Marquardt, "he always drinks beer." He is one of the few certified distillers in Germany. There are regular concerts and parties with swing, blues, jazz or rock 'n' roll bands.