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Not to veer off on too much of a tangent, but I find Germany’s notoriety for beer odd. They’re main claim to fame is that that they have old beers... but you ca

by Fezzik 6y ago

Not to veer off on too much of a tangent, but I find Germany’s notoriety for beer odd. They’re main claim to fame is that that they have old beers... but you can find more diversity in locally brewed beers in 40 square city blocks in Portland (Ore.) than you can in all of Germany. I loved living in Germany, and love beer, but hype re Germany being exceptional for beer is just wrong and, I imagine, stems mostly from Oktoberfest and legend. Edit: typo

jamil7 6y ago
Germany has great beers and many tiny “micro breweries” before that was even a trend, old and new. Germany just doesn’t do the style of craft beer that’s popular in the US. You won’t find “apricot IPAs” or whatever but there’s plenty of diversity in the different regions and styles of beer. I think the reputation is mostly justified especially in the south.
- zaarn 6y ago
  I don't think it's entirely true in the south either, there is plenty of breweries around here, though granted a lot of them sell their own brew + brew from a distributor to balance their sheets. Many small towns have their own brewery, even if it just services the local tavern/restaurants with local + brand brew.
zaarn 6y ago
There is about 25 local breweries in my area in germany. Half of them predate WW1, some are almost as old or even older than the United State of America. The town I was born in had a "micro brewery" run by monks since around the 1200s, the only reason they write "196x" is in part because it was destroyed during the thirty year war in the 17th century and then again during WW1 and WW2. The church never had much more than 20 people there and since atleast a hundred years the brewery is run by less than 3 people.
mgraupner 6y ago
The main claim is not that our beer is old. The main claim is that the ingredients adhere to a strict standard: Hops, malt, yeast and water, nothing else is allowed. So there are still thousand ways to brew a beer, and as another commenter said, there are so many breweries in my vicinity I can't even count them. But German beer having a bad reputation in the world? Which part of the world would that be? Really curious.
- samatman 6y ago
  Yes, you have a thousand beers of high quality, within a narrow band of the beer spectrum. Belgium, next door, has a couple thousand more, also of high quality, across a much wider field. Honestly an unfair competition, but it's how Germans like it, I suppose.
  - mgraupner 6y ago
    What do you think about the argument that in wine there is just one ingredient, still no real wine connoisseur would claim that there is narrow spectrum of wines. Same for beer, there are countless varieties of hops, malts and yeasts and by combining them and using different temperatures, brew durations and a multitude of other parameters you could still achieve a wide variety of different flavours that one could probably never try all of them in a lifetime. I my view the "Reinheitsgebot" as it is called is just a way to ensure that this is a basic product where everybody knows what's inside, so more of a quality standard than a taste standard.
BjoernKW 6y ago
It’s certainly more varied than that. The large industrial breweries and their products dominate the market and the majority of German beer drinkers probably don’t really care about (and likely couldn’t tell apart) the type or specific taste of their beer, as long as it’s beer. However, the quality of German industrial beers is still very good. It’s just that they mostly taste the same, especially those of the Pilsner variety. Nevertheless, even though they don’t dominate the market there’s a flourishing, often centuries old, tradition of highly diverse, local brews and plenty of different types of beers. In the last decade or so, mostly due to the craft beer trend in the US and the UK, there’s also been a growing number of modern craft beer and micro breweries.

by Fezzik 6y ago

jamil7 6y ago

Germany has great beers and many tiny “micro breweries” before that was even a trend, old and new. Germany just doesn’t do the style of craft beer that’s popular in the US. You won’t find “apricot IPAs” or whatever but there’s plenty of diversity in the different regions and styles of beer. I think the reputation is mostly justified especially in the south.

zaarn 6y ago
I don't think it's entirely true in the south either, there is plenty of breweries around here, though granted a lot of them sell their own brew + brew from a distributor to balance their sheets. Many small towns have their own brewery, even if it just services the local tavern/restaurants with local + brand brew.

zaarn 6y ago

There is about 25 local breweries in my area in germany. Half of them predate WW1, some are almost as old or even older than the United State of America. The town I was born in had a "micro brewery" run by monks since around the 1200s, the only reason they write "196x" is in part because it was destroyed during the thirty year war in the 17th century and then again during WW1 and WW2. The church never had much more than 20 people there and since atleast a hundred years the brewery is run by less than 3 people.

mgraupner 6y ago

The main claim is not that our beer is old. The main claim is that the ingredients adhere to a strict standard: Hops, malt, yeast and water, nothing else is allowed. So there are still thousand ways to brew a beer, and as another commenter said, there are so many breweries in my vicinity I can't even count them. But German beer having a bad reputation in the world? Which part of the world would that be? Really curious.

samatman 6y ago
Yes, you have a thousand beers of high quality, within a narrow band of the beer spectrum. Belgium, next door, has a couple thousand more, also of high quality, across a much wider field. Honestly an unfair competition, but it's how Germans like it, I suppose.
- mgraupner 6y ago
  What do you think about the argument that in wine there is just one ingredient, still no real wine connoisseur would claim that there is narrow spectrum of wines. Same for beer, there are countless varieties of hops, malts and yeasts and by combining them and using different temperatures, brew durations and a multitude of other parameters you could still achieve a wide variety of different flavours that one could probably never try all of them in a lifetime. I my view the "Reinheitsgebot" as it is called is just a way to ensure that this is a basic product where everybody knows what's inside, so more of a quality standard than a taste standard.

BjoernKW 6y ago

It’s certainly more varied than that. The large industrial breweries and their products dominate the market and the majority of German beer drinkers probably don’t really care about (and likely couldn’t tell apart) the type or specific taste of their beer, as long as it’s beer. However, the quality of German industrial beers is still very good. It’s just that they mostly taste the same, especially those of the Pilsner variety. Nevertheless, even though they don’t dominate the market there’s a flourishing, often centuries old, tradition of highly diverse, local brews and plenty of different types of beers. In the last decade or so, mostly due to the craft beer trend in the US and the UK, there’s also been a growing number of modern craft beer and micro breweries.