Die Stammkneipe/Der Schwarze Kölner Looks Back & Celebrates Five Years Of Fort Greene Family
We noticed the 5th Anniversary of Die Stammkneipe/Der Schwarze Kölner (710 Fulton Street at Hanson Place) was approaching on August 8, so we thought it might be a good time to check in on DSK’s highlights from the past five years. We met up with staff members Stuart Wellington, Aga Szymczuk, and Stefanie Ullmann to hear about DSK’s birthday celebration tomorrow night, and what’s yet to come.
Mostly we got a chance to speak with Stuart as he, Aga, and Stefanie prepared to open for the evening. Stuart, who’s been with the Biergarten for about the past three and a half years, started as bar back on slow February night, the day before his birthday. He says something nice about their customer base is that not much has changed since then.
“We still have a lot of the same regulars,” he says, “Mostly people who live in Fort Greene.”
This sort of homegrown support is why DSK, originally simply Der Schwarze Kölner, has since prefaced that name with “Die Stammkneipe”–“the local’s pub.”
“A lot of these people grew up or have put own roots in this area, and they bring their families in,” says Stuart. “It’s great to know young people who came in here as singles or couples, and have since had children, and over the past couple of years have celebrated their kids’ birthday parties here. It feels almost like we’re part of the family.”
Besides the regulars, Stuart says DSK gets a certain amount of traffic from goings on at Barclays Center; but their largest events traffic source is, and has always been, BAM–whether it be audiences or artists themselves. One of Stuart’s favorite memories at DSK took place early this year, as he was preparing to close for the night and the cast of Blue Ruin showed up at the door, fresh off their premiere at the institution.
Other outstanding memories from DSK have been during soccer games. This past World Cup was Stuart’s first at the bar.
“Whenever we have a soccer game in here, it’s packed,” he says. “It’s crazy, and we get slammed, but it’s a lot of fun. I was glad to see a lot of familiar faces during the World Cup.
“It was really great when Germany won,” Stuart says. “Everybody got really excited, because we’ve been let down the past couple of years.
“People were running around with our miniature trophy,” he gestures to the prize behind the bar. “I don’t think everyone got a chance to hold it, though. We were just too full.”
Between the regular customers and a staff that’s stayed pretty consistent (Stuart says most of the current employees have been around for two years or more) not much has changed at DSK over the past half a decade–though they do have a relatively new area for lounging on Hanson Place, where patrons can “bring their Brat to the beach.”
One of their seniormost staff members, Dimitri, will be playing DSK’s festivities tomorrow evening with his group, The Black Coffee Blues Band; and revelers can look forward to beer specials, giveaways, and Brezl eating and mug holding contests, too.
As for the next five years, perhaps they’ll start opening earlier–but mostly, Stuart and Stefanie expect things to stay just perfect the way they are.
“No matter what, there’s always going to be good beer and good sausages!” Stefanie says.
“I think we’re going to remain a casual, friendly, welcoming place,” Stuart adds. “I don’t think anything’s going to change there.”