German craft beer

Oh, I know -- so was my outing Einhorn about his obvious sellout to commercialization.

 

Probably not. But I wanted to make Einhorn aware that there could be lots of homebrew floating around with that pic in the label.

 

Good point.

 

Boddhitree's Lebkuchen Brown Ale
500 ml flip-top poured into my 400 ml Willibecher and shared with die Frau. Details unknown. Ask Boddhitree.



The flip-top pops off with great might, but no explosion (I opened it in my kitchen sink just in case). This beer pours and looks like a stout. Very thick and dark, only a little light brown escapes at the edges. Now, what to make of this beer. First, I'd say it's very good. I want to put that on the record. I will add that I generally prefer my beers without added flavors, so keep that perspective in mind.

What comes through the most is cinnamon, clove, and candied orange. A bit of hoppy earthiness thrown in for good measure. This beer tastes like you might imagine a Yankee Candle - Christmas Scent might taste. For my own personal tastes, the cinnamon is a bit too dominant. It's almost like eating a box of red-hot candies. For that reason, I think is a beer I would not drink a lot of at once. But I appreciate it for what it is. I bet this would be a great beer to serve during the Weihnachtsmärkte.

3.50/5.00

 

The predominate taste you got is the cardamom, of which I added waaaaay to much. Next Christmas season, I'll tone it down and you'll be able to get the full Orangeat and Zitronat as well as all the other flavors that were overpowered. But thanks for your input. I always open my home-brews over the sink, just in case.

 

Thanks for letting me try some! Do you have a rough idea of the ABV?

 

This may account for a part of the huge increase in the exports number.

http://www.bild.de/regional/ruhrgeb...en-lieben-unser-weizenbier-34439188.bild.html

„Die Chinesen mögen keine herben Biere. Deswegen haben wir jetzt mit einem Weizenbier angefangen. Die obergärige Hefe dafür stammt aus Deutschland”, so Kloppert.

Wait, you mean super bitter American style IPAs aren't necessarily the wave of the future everywhere? Who knew?

 

True...and that is a big reason why I wonder about "craft" beer fans becoming so prescriptive about the traditional German beer culture, frequently saying that what it needs is more extreme tasting beers like American-style IPAs -- and/or to amp up its Pilsner, Koelsch, and Helles with "MOAR HOPS!"

 

Also would sincerely be interested in your take on those latest numbers. You have a unique insider perspective, and those numbers seem to tell a story of a pretty major turning point, if I'm reading them correctly. Of course only time will tell, but we can (and do) always speculate....

 

Feldschlößchen is a Braunschweig brewery...and my father-in-law's favorite local (though it's since been bought out by a conglomerate). I have drunk lots and lots of Feldschlößchen, and while it's certainly not remarkable, I strongly disagree that the quality is, and has long been, "dismal."

Regardless, the fact that they seemed to have tapped into a major market -- perhaps the biggest in the world -- where disposable income is on the rise year after year would seem to me to indicate that they have found something potentially very sustainable, and perhaps even increasingly profitable. Even if 100 other German brewers entered the market, certainly you'd agree that this type of growth would be more sustainable than entering, say, the U.S. "craft" market -- where the 6-12% of the U.S. beer drinkers that comprise the majority of consumption are already served by more than 3,000 breweries?

 

According to a pdf from Heineken (using Euro monitor statistics) the Chinese beer market volume grew like this over the years 2005-2010 (I can't seem to link the pdf in a link-form, but the name of the pdf presentation is Heineken-APB China: Capturing the significant growth potential in premium beer from December 8 2011):

2005 304 mhl
2006 346 mhl
2007 386 mhl
2008 409 mhl
2009 438 mhl
2010 466 mhl

So basically, the market is growing by several million HL per year, and those 800 000 HL represents merely a drop in the bucket. Since the brewery mentioned in the article was built in 2004 the total market volume growth (albeit China-wide) amounts to at least 162 million HL.

For comparison, Carlsberg is building a new brewery in China which aims to produce 15 million HL by next year:
http://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2013/10/carlsberg-invests-513m-in-china-brewery/

 

According to another Heineken report from this year, in 2013 the Chinese beer market amounted to 531 mhl.

 

I think the increase in German beer sales boils down to one thing: the weather. The spring in Germany has been unusually quite warm, many weekends in the 20ºCs (70ºFs), and sunny. Whenever this happens, 90% of all Germans go outside, period. They grill, picnic, hike, bike, whatever, and when that involves others in a social event, it's usually accompanied by beer. It's been off and on warm like this since March. Had it been the usual gray, cold, rainy spring, then I believe consumption would've gone down 2%. Ask anyone Eis-diele, any bar or restaurant with outdoor seating, and I think you'll see the exact same trend. In investing, they say a rising tide lifts all boats, well, here the tide = the weather.

I doubt it has anything to do with any other factor, except maybe all the beer I drink at BrauKunstLive in February.

 

You missed an adjective, "...but hops + ABV = obvious FLAVOR."

It seems that the current beer geek needs BIG, BIG, BIG in order to feel like he/she's tasting something. To my palate, a little goes a long way -- and I actually like big and bitter beer, just not all the time. I don't need to be slapped around in order to feel like I'm enjoying something.

 

There's a lot of relevant info on the Wikipedia page for Feldschlösschen.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feldschlößchen_(Braunschweig)

The beer he -- and I -- drank was the Feldschlösschen Pilsner. Apparently it was -- and is -- brewed differently than the others. Even since the takeover by Oettinger in 2009, it has been brewed by (former) rival, Wolters.

"Das umfirmierte Unternehmen Feldschlößchen Brauerei GmbH und die Traditionsmarke Feldschlößchen verblieben noch bis 2010 bei Carlsberg, während das Braunschweiger Feldschlößchen Pilsener bereits seit Dezember 2009 vom marktbegleitenden Wettbewerber Hofbrauhaus Wolters im Rahmen eines Lohnbrauvertrages gebraut und abgefüllt wird."

Wolters Pilsner is itself a fine enough beer, especially when ultra fresh. My FIL always claimed, however, that it was too herb for his liking. Which brings us full-circle, in a way....