German craft beer

You will fit in just fine when you return to the States!

Cheers to MJT (and his wife with the discerning palate)!

 

Maybe. I don't know - I hear they serve their Kellerbiers in glass vessels over there!

 

Just bring your Steinkrug with you to the bar and ask the bartender/waitress to use that instead. The one advantage of the States is that we have friendly/helpful servers here!

Cheers!

 

MJT,

I was bummed out to see your picture of your broken Schneider Weisse glass.

I thought that maybe a picture of my Weihenstephen Weisse glass filled up with Andechs Weissbier Hell might cheer you up?


I decided to include some flowers in the photo as a tribute to @-N8

Cheers!

Jack

P.S. Maybe another thing that might cheer you up: the Flyers are up 1-0 over the Rangers in the Stanley Cup playoffs (1st Period).

 

Beautiful picture. Probably my favorite hefeweizen.

Oh, and go Bruins

 

this deserves a thread unto itself

 

Well, I'm glad you didn't write it because I'd have to laugh at you as I did the actual author. I pointed out this article to HerrB a few days ago under the title of poor journalism (more correctly, I suppose, poor beer journalism). In my opinion it's written with the sort of knowledge of beer someone might get while sitting at a bar listening to the old-timer talk about the bottom-of-the-barrel-Bocks that used to be brewed in the U.S. every spring.

For instance:

This leads the reader to believe beer is made from hops, nothing else. And I have to doubt that any beer brewed by St. Korbinian (in the 8th century) was "golden," and probably didn't even use hops.

The rest of the story may go on to give good input and information, but it lost me after that paragraph because the author is more reporter than true journalist.

 

@einhorn, thank you for posting that link. I agree with Nate that this is deserving of its own thread. There was lots of great discussion in there but a few points which stood out to me:

"Beer risks becoming an outdated product," it warned earlier this year. Nowhere in the world is beer as expensive to make or cheap to buy as in Germany. Nowhere does brewing make so little money, the DBB says.”

And

“Helped by brands like Atlantik Ale with a citrus aroma, the strategy seems to be working. Since the shift, sales are up 25 percent compared to a 12.5 percent fall for German brewers.

Future success depends on the specialty beer niche which could grow to some 10 percent of overall demand from 1-2 percent now, says Triebe who wants others to help expand the market.”

Cheers!

 

Anyone heard of/tried these guys? Sounds (to me) like they are doing it right....

 

Except for a few details about brewing itself, this article repeats what a lot of other articles have said before, and they're all spot on when it comes to the industry of selling beer. I especially like the parts where they talk about how the young people are turned off by beer today.

Demographics is destiny, and only a focus on the Craft (high quality and/or adventurous beer styles) aspect will reverse that decades-long trend. It won't come much from outside brewers, especially from American craft brewers, as this quote correctly says:

I simply don't see any American craft brewers breaking into this fragmented and byzantine market, so the rescue of beer will come from within Germany, both bottom up and sooner or later top down when a conglomerate realises the craft model is the way towards higher profit margins.

 

Regional news "Hessenschau" just showed a little report on German craft beer - their contribution to German Beer Day today. It focusses on Alexander Himburg from BrauKunstKeller.
There's also an article to read here. The video on this site is a shorter version they showed earlier today.
You can see the full video here. I can't find a direct link, just look for "Mit selbstgebrautem Bier zum Erfolg" under "Aktuelle Videos".
You see this kind of media coverage in classic newspapers, TV and radio more and more here. Considering it's national beer day and usually you are presented with the same old fairy tale about the Reinheitsgebot each year, I think that's remarkable!

 

Checked out anything The Monarchy is doing? All old, forgotten styles, being rebrewed; collaboration between Fritz Ale and Freigeist.

cheers

 

Sounds cool. I know both Fritz Ale (now AleMania after Fritz Kola sued him) and Freigeist, but haven't heard of that.

 

I posted about The Monarchy Year of the Dragon in the past:

“My wife and I were running errands last night and decided to get a bite to eat at a local beer bar. I quickly read the beer menu and saw a beer that was detailed as being an Altbier that was brewed in Koln. I said to myself: I just gotta try that beer! I ordered one; it was labeled The Monarchy Year of the Dragon. It was served in a tulip glass (the beer was on tap). It had the beautiful deep amber/brown color of an Altbier. I took my first sniff with the expectation of the beer having a malty aroma but to my surprise there was ‘something’ else there. I took my first sip and the flavor of the beer was consistent with the aroma, that same ‘something’. The aroma/flavor was something herbal. What could it be? I went back to the beer menu and read further; this beer was brewed with jasmine. My wife took a sip and right away exclaimed: your beer is good! I took a number of additional sips and got about halfway through the glass. I then asked my wife if she would like the rest; I thought she would rip my fingers off as she enthusiastically ripped the glass from my hand.

I went home and researched this beer. It is imported by the Shelton Brothers and below is the write-up of the beer from their website:

The Monarchy Year of the Dragon

From Shelton Brothers:

“The first of an ongoing project which will see the brewery create a special beer to commemorate each the 12 corresponding figures of the Chinese calendar, Year of the Dragon pays tribute to the Far East in its addition of a large percentage of Jasmine rice to the brew kettle. A rich malt-accented concoction, Y.O.T.D. is yet another mysteriously drinkable strong ale from The Monarchy.”

Cheers!

 

BR recently ran a short report on Hertl, a small Franconian craft brewery: http://www.br.de/mediathek/video/sendungen/heimatrauschen/heimatrauschen-april-craft-bier-100.html

 

Most recent "newsletter" from the Friedel "Brauerei am Kreuzberg." You fans of whiskey-flavored beers will notice their new Whiskey-, Sherry-, and Cognac-Bock beers.

http://www.brauerei-friedel.de/zeitung2014.pdf

I tried this place last year for the first time. In theory, they would seem to be doing everything "right" to keep up with the times: new flavors/combinations, going for a younger crowd, embracing the Biersommelier trend, etc., etc.

There's just one problem: the beer is mediocre at best.

Matter of fact, we each ordered one of their variety to sample, and all were forgettable to downright bad. We quickly moved on to the connected Liebert and Rittmayer Kellers, for some real Franconian Kellerbier served by Bayerischer Anstich. Is it still right to say that having both options -- new/experimental and traditional -- is a good thing? Can't deny the crowds that seem to regularly populate the place.

Perhaps this does represent the future of German beer: the new existing directly beside the old. Either way, I think you know where you'll find me....

 

I'd love to get your opinion of Faust's beers. I hope you get a chance to try them the next time you are out this way. I am no fan of €15,00 beers, but their Whiskey-Eisbock was very good, and perfect to split with friends on a special occasion (which is exactly what I did). I would buy that beer again, actually. And the beers in their standard line-up - as far as I have tasted anyway - are all pretty dang good. So I guess they are the counter-point to what you have presented above. Thus my answer to the above question is "yes", for now.