Bryggeriet Apollo sits right at the main gate of Tivoli on Vesterbrogade, and it carries a title worth the trip: it was the first microbrewery in Denmark, brewing on site since 1990. The kit still works the way it did at the start, with the wort cooked in hand-hammered copper kettles you can see from the room. For a pint with genuine provenance in central Copenhagen, this is the address.
This is a brewpub in the old sense, where the beer is made in the building and the restaurant is built around it. VisitCopenhagen lists it as Apollo, Denmark's first microbrewery, still brewing with passion in those copper kettles. The crowd runs to Tivoli-goers, Vesterbrogade passers-by, and beer drinkers who came on purpose for the house pour.
The room is a bright glass pavilion facing Vesterbrogade, with a terrace that looks onto the Tivoli gardens. It reads more polished restaurant than back-street boozer, fitting for a spot wedged between a busy street and the city's grandest pleasure garden. Take the terrace in summer and the people-watching does half the work.
The house beer is the reason to order. There are always at least four varieties on tap, brewed on the premises, and the unfiltered lager is the safe first pick before you branch into the seasonals. Ask what came off the kettles most recently, because the rotating brews are where the kitchen and the brewer show off.
Pricing sits at the higher end, and that is worth saying plainly. This is Tivoli-gate real estate with a sit-down restaurant attached, so a round here costs more than a Norrebro beer bar. You are paying for the brewing history and the location, not a value session, so come for the experience rather than the cheap pint.
The kitchen serves a small, varied menu, some of the dishes built around the beer itself. It is set up for a proper meal alongside the pour rather than bar snacks, which suits the brewpub format. On the first Sunday of each month the room hosts live jazz with a special menu, a nice fixture if your timing lines up.
A note for the sports crowd: this is a brewing house and a restaurant, not a screens-and-shouting venue. Watch the match somewhere with a wall of TVs, then walk over here for the after, ideally on the terrace with a fresh house lager. The setting rewards a slower drink, not a roaring one.
The crowd shifts with Tivoli's hours, busier when the gardens are open and the terrace catches the evening. Tripadvisor reviewers, filing it under Inner Vesterbro, single out the on-site brewing and the location as the two things that justify the visit. It is a tourist-aware room, but the beer keeps it honest.
Best time to go is a summer evening on the terrace before or after a Tivoli visit, when the gate traffic and the long light do the atmosphere for you. The brewpub keeps daytime-into-evening hours, so a late-afternoon pint works well. Book ahead on a jazz Sunday.
Getting there could not be simpler. Kobenhavn H, the central station, sits a two-minute walk away, and Vesterport is close behind. Pair a visit with the rest of the city's tap rooms in our guide to the best craft beer bars in Copenhagen.
This is the brewpub for a house-brewed pint with real history, parked at the most famous gate in the city. For the wider lineup, see the full Copenhagen guide and our pick of the city's hidden gem bars.
Sources: VisitCopenhagen · Bryggeriet Apollo official site · Tivoli venue page · Tripadvisor
