Can Cantillon be found in Germany?

We weren't literally going to ask a tour guide, it was just our little inside joke.
We were actually making a little fun of our American brothers and sisters.

 

I've been thinking about my response to this since I saw it this morning. I'm disenchanted with the American Craft Beer scene. The hoarding of beers for cellaring and/or trading. Beers disappearing from the shelves within minutes of release (if they even hit the shelves). People waiting in line hours before a beer is released. It's just not that much fun anymore.

I think I enjoyed it more when breweries were more regional. Going out of town meant trying something you couldn't get at home. Now many of these beers are available at home. I know I'm going to find beers I haven't had before when I go out of town, but it just isn't the same. Maybe because there's so many beers available at home that I haven't tried, finding beers out of town that I haven't had is less exciting.

But all the fun I had on my recent German trip shows me that I'm not disenchanted with beer!

 

“The hoarding of beers for cellaring and/or trading. Beers disappearing from the shelves within minutes of release (if they even hit the shelves). People waiting in line hours before a beer is released. It's just not that much fun anymore.”

Jerry, my personal approach to the above is that I just don’t participate in those ‘activities’. There are plenty of excellent craft beers available which can be obtained with basically no to little effort.

For example, every year there is a shit storm to obtain Hopslam. There is a beer distributor about a 1.5 hour drive from me that always has cases of Hopslam when it becomes available. They restrict the sale to one case per car (and unfortunately discourages carpooling with that policy). I simply do not buy any Hopslam (either from that beer distributor or other retailers).

I have never traded for a beer.

I have never waited in lines to drink beer and I never will wait in line to drink beer.

I simply go to beer bars or beer stores and drink the beers I like without participating in activities that are onerous.

Cheers!

 

@JackHorzempa , when you win the lottery and come to Germany I will take you out to a typical German restaurant. There you will wait 5 hours for a beer whether you want to or not!

 

“There you will wait 5 hours for a beer whether you want to or not!” Gee whiz!

Now I have a better appreciation why Stahlsturm always orders beer by the Maß.

Cheers!

 

As we all know, it's no longer that simple. I can no longer go to my local beer store and buy the beers I like, as a number of them (such as Spaten Lager and Oktoberfest to name just two) have lost shelf space to yet another American "craft" brew; or, in the case of some of my favorite American craft brews -- such as SN Kellerweis, Tumbler, or Glissade -- have already been, or are in danger of being, phased out completely because they don't sell the way a new cartoonishly amped-up DIPA with a cartoon bleeding skull on the label does. I know it's easy to believe that it's all rainbows and sunshine in the land of unlimited possible beer styles, but actually there are good reasons why many of us are becoming increasingly disenchanted.

 

I have NEVER in my life waited longer than 10 minutes for my beer. By that time they either deliver (99.5 %) or I get up and get one from the cooler in my trunk. Usually just the process of getting up sends a beer wench running my way.

 

But isn't this unsteadiness and the constantly being on the move the core of what makes America America ? I mean, that is why you (or your ancestors) set sail from Europe. You are complaining about the founding impulse here Maybe you should look into coming back home

 

I thought it was so they could go from being the oppressed and persecuted to the oppressors and persecutors ;(

 

You know, you're probably exactly right. Makes the expression I used earlier of that "ship having sailed" take on a whole new meaning.

 

Or move to Wisconsin -- best of both worlds (so to speak)!

I've expressed this same feeling many times here at BA, and there are others who agree, but I think we are of a different generation; one that didn't grow up with overflowing shelves of new (nearly identical, most times) beers. Back then "Beer Hunting" was fun.

 

And now when they do travel/"beer hunt," the new generation prefers beer bars just like you find in the U.S. (as witnessed by the ranking of Cafe Abseits as the #1 beer place in Bamberg or this recent post on Camba Bavaria). As someone said before, it's kinda ironic that those who sing the praises of diversity and variety are actually creating a "craft" beer monoculture worldwide.

...now, if only all of these places carried Cantillon!

 

If your friend has a car he should check out this shop in Arlon Belgium. http://miorgemihoublon.be/nos-bieres-artisanales/gueuzes/

It is a great shop and the owner speaks good english and can help your friend.

My wife is stationed at Ramstein and I go to this shop every 2-3 months to get great beers from Belgium and even the States. It is about a 2 hour drive from Ramstein.

 

Fun fact #1: Cafe Abseits, as of this post, is not the #1 beer place in Bamberg, Mahr's is.
Fun fact #2: Cafe Abseits has a 4.25 rating and Schlenkerla has a 4.20 rating, meaning you are getting upset about Abseits being ranked 0.05 points higher than Schlenkerla.

If you ask me what Abeits and Mahr's have in common, I'd say they are both out-of-the-tourist-way places that have friendly service and really good beer. Perhaps it's not the selection that got Abseits that extra 0.05 points, perhaps its the friendly service and quiet, neighborhood-pub vibe, both of which, frankly, can be found lacking at Schlenkerla. But hey, don't let it get in the way of your narrative, HB. We all need our bogeymen.

 

Touche!

Actually I was going to add that I am not afraid that the new "craft" culture will kill off the traditional one in Germany (well, at least not in Bavaria). At least no more than Starbucks is killing off Oma's Kaffee Kultur there....

These places are a welcome *addition* in many ways, but in no way should they be seen as a substitute for what is already there.

In other words, the ability to pop into the local beer bar or bottle shop to fill all your wildest beer dreams is hardly an ideal for a place like Germany to aspire to...at least not IMO.

 

Both Starbucks and the general coffee one gets in Germany is appalling at best, thankfully there seems to be a burgeoning artisanal coffee culture a la Portland that is thriving in certain areas. Berlin is replete w wonderful small roasters that actually know how to make a great espresso or a wonderful pour over or aeropress coffee. Hell, even Kassel has a couple of small roasters

 

I don't do those things either. But it used to be you didn't have to get good beers. I guess it saddens me that beers I have been buying for years aren't worth the trouble to get anymore.

Disclaimer - I did trade once. But it was in person and nothing really rare.

 

Deutschlandia?

 

I hope own little rant didn't come off as angry. I was saying it all with a smile!

 

hahaha, not really, but thats pretty funny
enough so though that there is a great guide on the cafés in Berlin:
http://www.cremagazin.de/city-guide-berlin/

though Deutschlandia could be an equally funny show.