Renaissance or rebellion? The new wave of German brewing

Discussion in 'Germany' started by herrburgess, Mar 12, 2013.

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  1. Stahlsturm

    Stahlsturm Initiate (0) Mar 21, 2005 Germany
    In Memoriam

    My point was that a great part of that list is what over here we consider our equivalent on BMC and those you actually can get everywhere in Germany. Throw in a few highly BA ranked Frankonian breweries and there's not much left of that list. I know you weren't trying to start a pissing match, neither am I :slight_smile:
     
  2. Stahlsturm

    Stahlsturm Initiate (0) Mar 21, 2005 Germany
    In Memoriam

    Heidelberg is also squarely centered in a wine producing (and consuming) area so the market for outlandish Franconian brew is probably not very big.

    And as I pointed out it's mostly makro stuff you can also find all over Europe. At least as far as the German aisle goes. Which is the only area I'm qualified to comment on anyways because even though I drink Belgian beer when in Belgium I'm not even remotely resembling an expert.

    Well, most German LOCAL stores cover LOCAL products. There seems to be a major misconception as to what a German would consider "local". :slight_smile:
     
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  3. Stahlsturm

    Stahlsturm Initiate (0) Mar 21, 2005 Germany
    In Memoriam

    So does Belgium or Czechia or the UK. Europe is just much more regionalized than the US and the vast majority of Europeans likes to keep it that way. The more "equal" things are the more we emphasize our different cultures and beer is just one of many fronts of that culture war. Why do you think there are more and more independence movements (Catalonia, Scotland, Bavaria, the Basque Country etcetc) over here ? We do like that we don't have to bash each others heads in every 20 or 30 years anymore like we did the past 800 years but we still ARE very different and we take our identity from that so we'd like to keep it that way, thank you very much. If that makes a handful of stranded US expats unhappy we're sorry but that won't change anything :slight_smile: My advise would be to travel and/or homebrew and just accept that our traditions and divisions over here go back 2000 years to the days of the Roman Empire and that there's a gigantic chasm seperating us (= Europeans and North Americans) mentality wise.

    I hope I'm not offending anyone, I certainly don't mean to but sometimes it's kind of frustrating being on an US dominated message board and trying to get a point across that must seem completely alien to most of you guys.
     
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  4. Gutes_Bier

    Gutes_Bier Maven (1,339) Jul 31, 2011 Germany

    I am slowly being won over to the German way of thinking the longer I live here, but you have to understand that it's frustrating to know that America is getting great German Bavarian beers that I, living one state over in Baden-Württemberg, will never see. As you say, probably because the market is in America and not HD, but still it's hard to get a handle on.
     
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  5. Stahlsturm

    Stahlsturm Initiate (0) Mar 21, 2005 Germany
    In Memoriam

    I can see your (and Tony's point) but it's really your own fault for not moving to a more beer savy area :slight_smile: Most Europeans I know (and no, they are not all Bavarians living in a 20 km circle around Regensburg... :stuck_out_tongue:) just adjust and go along with whatever the locals do in any given place. When in Rome... you know ? :slight_smile: And yes, I sometimes also complain that I can't get certain comodities. Good Italian and Spanish ham, French cheese, decent and offordable red wine and fresh seafood in general come to mind... But these are all reasons to travel again and in the meantime I embrace what I have here (and miss anywhere else I go), Bavarian sausages, the probably best selection of bread worldwide and of course the brew, bland and boring as it may appear to some :grinning:
     
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  6. Gutes_Bier

    Gutes_Bier Maven (1,339) Jul 31, 2011 Germany

    This is why I think your voice is so important here. I like hearing the traditional German points of view in these conversations. It's a good reminder to us Amis, myself included, to be more accepting of the culture here instead of demanding that everything be like America.

    I don't homebrew but I have traveled, at least a little. I agree that it's an important way to experience all the great German beers that are out there.
     
  7. Gutes_Bier

    Gutes_Bier Maven (1,339) Jul 31, 2011 Germany

    I didn't have a choice in the matter! The job opportunity for die Frau was in HD, not "your choice of German/Bavarian cities". And anyway, I thought beer in Germany was going to be liquid gold flowing from the taps. What I got was Beck's Gold in bottles.
     
  8. Stahlsturm

    Stahlsturm Initiate (0) Mar 21, 2005 Germany
    In Memoriam

    Maybe we should rename this topic to "Reconnaissance or Rebellion" ? :grinning: :stuck_out_tongue:
     
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  9. Stahlsturm

    Stahlsturm Initiate (0) Mar 21, 2005 Germany
    In Memoriam

    For many it's the ONLY way. Not that I mind much but I can't get Schlenkerla or any small Franconian brewery in Regensburg. I have friends in Forchheim so whenever I feel like I need some Franconian brew I get myself 2 empty crates and visit them and go "beer hunting". Since the vast majority of breweries bottles in either of the 2 standard .5 liter bottles I can return those everywhere.
     
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  10. herrburgess

    herrburgess Grand Pooh-Bah (3,053) Nov 4, 2009 South Carolina
    Pooh-Bah Society

  11. Stahlsturm

    Stahlsturm Initiate (0) Mar 21, 2005 Germany
    In Memoriam

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  12. Stahlsturm

    Stahlsturm Initiate (0) Mar 21, 2005 Germany
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    That very subtle blade (= feine Klinge) is what I often miss with US American beers. More often than not they are "blunt cudgel" rather than "subtle blade". Which, I guess is the prerogative of the Young and the Wild :slight_smile:
     
  13. herrburgess

    herrburgess Grand Pooh-Bah (3,053) Nov 4, 2009 South Carolina
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Precisely. U.S. macro brewing used a sharp scythe and just cut all taste and subtlety out for so long, that in a way it is understandable that the current U.S. "craft" rebellion has taken up the massive flavor club with which to bludgeon the drinker into submission. But with so many fresh examples of beers that still possess brilliant subtlety in Germany, any rebellion there is going to be seen, to a degree, as adolescent posturing.
     
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  14. Stahlsturm

    Stahlsturm Initiate (0) Mar 21, 2005 Germany
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    My sentiment precisely :slight_smile:
     
  15. einhorn

    einhorn Savant (1,141) Nov 3, 2005 California

    Nice article, but you have to laugh. Let me say I LOVE Pilsner Urquell and I would SO much like to try a cask version, but to focus on the behemoth (a PILSNER nonetheless) at Braukunst is like focusing on Blue Moon at GABF.
     
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  16. herrburgess

    herrburgess Grand Pooh-Bah (3,053) Nov 4, 2009 South Carolina
    Pooh-Bah Society

    That's a very juvenile comparison to make, IMO. Not to mention a sad testimony to where the lack of historical perspective among so many supposed "beer advocates" has taken us. It's fairly clear that they were saying that while the obvious focus was on the *new* experimental beers, it's still worth mentioning that an *old* experimental beer -- which eventually grew into the world's biggest style -- warrants recognition and respect.
     
  17. einhorn

    einhorn Savant (1,141) Nov 3, 2005 California

    Juvenile comparison? The reporter could have focused on just about anything else at the show.

    Just to add: When I read "Da mussten wir undurchschaubare Brauversuche ver-craften" - a nice play on words but definitely again the looking down (abschauend) view from the classical German pils drinker, it makes me sick to my stomach.
     
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  18. herrburgess

    herrburgess Grand Pooh-Bah (3,053) Nov 4, 2009 South Carolina
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Comparing a recent macro knockoff of a relatively obscure Belgian style with the original of a massively popular style imitated the world over is a juvenile comparison in my opinion, yes. That the article got a few digs in at some of the failed experiments -- of which anyone would admit, there are many among the current rebellion -- seems appropriate, if wholly secondary to their main point. EDIT: I mean, come on, it's not like they are praising Oettinger Kellerbier or something.
     
  19. Stahlsturm

    Stahlsturm Initiate (0) Mar 21, 2005 Germany
    In Memoriam

    Not surprising considering this mindset:
    Mentalities clashing. And seen neutrally, of course both are right in a way.
     
  20. einhorn

    einhorn Savant (1,141) Nov 3, 2005 California

    I see your point Herr B about the great PU brand - one for you.

    My point was simply being that the reporter had a chance to say "Lots of new beers, some still in the adolescent stages and not ripe for most palates, but we found Brewery XYZ that is making fantastic beer." I wasn't at the event, but reading through Bod's reviews, there were some present. To fall back on PU and the pilsner style is so German it makes me cringe. I used to sell Newcastle, Beamish, Foster's, John Smith's, San Miguel, Kronenbourg and (gasp!) Strongbow Cider in Germany, so I have had to deal with this mentality from publicans and consumers alike many times and it's just worn thin for me.
     
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