Renaissance or rebellion? The new wave of German brewing

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

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  1. herrburgess

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

    Well, again, I think they used Urquell as their example less because it is a pils (honestly, how many Pilstrinker buy PU as their go-to?) and more because it was a truly revolutionary beer in its time -- not unlike what many of these new wave beers are attempting (and, if we are being honest, frequently failing) to be.
     
  2. Gutes_Bier

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

    Well the local Kaufland and Alldrink keep plenty in stock, so I'm sure it must move pretty well.

    At first I could see where Einhorn was coming from - you went to BKL! and reported that the Pilsner Urquell was good?!?! :confused:

    However, it does seem like the point of the article was to say, "hey, yeah, there's a lot of experimenting going on here, but that PU that you're drinking was an experimental beer at one point, too." It's probably easier to do that in (500?)(1000?) words to a German audience than to start off by talking about the more "adventurous" beers that the typical German can't relate to and immediately lose your reader.

    Still, I imagine some brewers were banging their heads against the wall wondering what they have to do to get noticed.
     
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  3. einhorn

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

    Pilsner Urquell has a fairly long tradition in Germany and is, IIRC, the best selling import beer in Germany.
     
  4. Gutes_Bier

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

    I was going to edit my reply to add that it's one of the few beers not made in Germany that places will sell but you beat me to it. I'd be stunned if another import sold better here.
     
  5. herrburgess

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

    I don't doubt that, but -- as we've discussed -- how much non-German beer gets consumed in Germany? I still don't think it's a go-to for very many people. I, for one, used to get weird looks when I'd pick up a crate at my local Getraenkemarkt. :slight_smile:
     
  6. herrburgess

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

    IMO, you have to do more than just be "experimental," even if your experimentation takes ever-more-extreme forms. In the U.S. "craft" scene, it's just a matter of pointing to (and keeping alive) the BMC straw men in order to illustrate your uniqueness (although you're starting to hear terms like "shelf turds" begin thrown around by the walez-hunter crowd). In Germany, of course, it's a different playing field (if you point to Pilsner Urquell as the bogeyman, you're quickly going to be called on it -- and rightfully so).

    So, in order to get my undivided attention in the current German brewing scene, a brewer would need to make a case for their beer being more than a simple rebellion against Fernsehbiere (that's far too easy) and instead (a) a beer that stands out even among other experimental styles by means of something like a proprietary yeast strain, (b) an historically accurate and masterfully crafted resurrection of a lost (or almost lost) style, or (c) something truly revolutionary (which I can't even surmise as it's way beyond my skill or imagination at this point). Anything else runs the risk of becoming ABIbier :wink:
     
  7. Gutes_Bier

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

    So nothing Boddhitree posted about caught your undivided attention? For me, Eiswerk's Josef Spezial and Pax Bräu's Cissy were instantly on my radar.
     
  8. einhorn

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

    Sorry, but highlighting an international, Inbev-owned, imported beer at a German craft beer festival is still wrong.
     
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  9. herrburgess

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

    Sorry you can't seem to get past that (though you're certainly not alone in that regard). I think your objection shows a rather extreme lack of historical perspective since, as recently as 1993, Urquell remained THE world-class Bohemian pilsner on the market and is to this day -- especially in some of its more historically accurate forms, which the brewery has retained -- an excellent representative of the style.
     
  10. herrburgess

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

    Will have to go back and look :wink:

    EDIT: I will admit that the new Austrian (officially recognized) Trappist beer caught my attention.
     
  11. einhorn

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

    Mistake on my part - ownership is with SABMiller.

    I have no problem with the quality of the beer, as I said, I am a big fan. But this was a chance, as MJ points out, to boast about something new, small, crafty and interesting, and instead it's the exact opposite - mega-mono-style-brewer with the most popular style of beer known and produced worldwide, corporate ownership from a foreign country (even by German standards).

    But that's just my take on it.
     
  12. Gutes_Bier

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

    Agreed. Trappist tickers gotta tick Trappists. I had 'em all, now I don't. :grinning:
     
  13. herrburgess

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

    One more was Joseph's Spezial, the Braunbier that was described as "smoky."
    But how were they supposed to do so in a piece about "revolutions in brewing" without pointing to the beer that more or less SINGLE-HANDEDLY revolutionized both brewing and consumer preference worldwide, with an impact that has lasted now close to 200 years? Which beer that was present would have been, in your view, a more suitable example?
     
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  14. Gutes_Bier

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

    I would have been disappointed if you didn't say this! :grinning:

    ^To me, this only holds water if the rest of the article is devoted to the new brewers, i.e. "PU was the original, but who are the new kids on the block...", but they just end with PU.
     
  15. herrburgess

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

    That's a fair point. I would say the same thing, however, about Pax Brau's FB post. He devoted quite a bit of ink to talking about the ABIbiere, and then that much more to his own philosophy and products. It seems everyone has their own little soapbox/Bierkasten that they climb up on to preach their version of the gospel. Guess that's just what you have to do to get noticed these days. :wink:
     
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  16. Gutes_Bier

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

    I'm going to have to reply later. My boy is up from his nap and I can't gather my thoughts right now. :slight_smile:
     
  17. Gutes_Bier

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

    OK you lost me. :slight_smile: What does the Pax Brau FB post have to do with this article? Not trying to be snarky, but I genuinely think I'm missing a step in your thought process here. He is using FB to promote his product or give his product a certain image in the marketplace. Einhorn was complaining that Genuss wrote an article on BKL and talked only about Pilsner Urquell. I don't see what one has to do with the other.
     
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  18. herrburgess

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

    Not sure what I'm thinking. I had to go pick up my son from school and lost my own train of thought. :wink: Seriously, though, I was speaking to Einhorn's criticism that the article could have contained more praise for the up-and-coming scene/brewers and less about its own interests. Pax Brau's article/FB post began with the words "Wie versprochen kommt heute mein Eindruck von der Braukunst Live..." Sounds to me like he was setting the reader up to expect an assessment of the event, and not self-promotion, though the latter ended up being the case -- and we didn't hear much praise for the up-and-coming either. At least that's what I think I was thinking....
     
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  19. boddhitree

    boddhitree Pooh-Bah (1,765) Apr 13, 2008 Germany
    Pooh-Bah

    Agreed, wholeheartedly. Me and my crew felt the same way while at BKL. We even got a ticket for a free beer from Pilsner Urquell with our entrance ticket, but so many beers we wanted to try and... well we know what PU tastes, though the cask version raise a small interest, there was no way we wanted to drink and try beers we'd already tried. I can get PU in virtually every supermarket in Germany, so why go to MH to waste one's sobriety on what you already know well.
    Sure, I give PU respect. I give them all the respect such a leading beer brewer deserves, but now their owned by Bud-Inbev:angry: and it's become a Massenbier. So I get that, but it doesn't mean I want to waste my time with it when there's so much more interesting and new things to try.
    Besides, PU isn't even the best Behemian Pils in Czech now. It's living off of fumes from it's past glories.
     
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  20. boddhitree

    boddhitree Pooh-Bah (1,765) Apr 13, 2008 Germany
    Pooh-Bah

    It's a high seller in Germany. You see it often in many people's baskets at the supermarket, at least when I go. Multiply that nationwide and that's a boatload of beer.
     
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