Is German beer really THAT good?

Like you said, you cannot compare Bamberg beer culture with German beer culture.

 

I have kept up with a number of Germans from other parts of the country who studied with me in Bamberg. While it hasn't taken root completely yet, the Bavarian beer culture is being exported in various forms throughout Germany, so that you can now find Bavarian restaurants and beer halls (such as Bavaria Alm or Augustiner) -- as well as Bierfests -- in places as far afoot as Moenchengladbach, Erfurt, Berlin, and/or Hildesheim. Just like U.S. "craft" influence has spread from California/PNW/NE to the rest of the U.S., something similar is happening in Germany. Now, will beer culture find firm purchase in traditional wine (or Apfelwein) regions? Probably not. But I'd say that can be a good thing, as both traditional cultures are preserved in such cases.

 

There isn't even a reason to even give a style. "Ein starkbier" is nearly universal outside of a handful of places that have more than one.

 

Yep. Just as in certain parts of PA you walk into a bar and say, "I'll have a Lager," the bartender pours and hands you a Yuengling.

Very common linguistic trait--no need to provide more detail than necessary. If there is a single book on the table I'd never say, "Please hand me the Red-leather covered book with the gold embossed lettering and cloth book mark" rather than say, "could you hand me the book?"

 

american beer is far superior IMO, i would choose the american craft over german tradition all day, out with the old! believe me i get it when it comes to tradition but i am way more excited about new american brews!!
Cheers

 

But then isn't it misleading to make broad sweeping general statements about "German beer culture this and that" when you actually mean Franconian and/or Bavartian beer culture?

 

Well, I was using just one example. As has been stated before, German beer culture is very regional. Where you do have a very strong Bavarian (and Franconian...and Oberpfaelzerischen) beer culture that is being exported, other regional beer (and beer fest) cultures are being exported as well. Look at the huge increase in Karnival-style fests -- which have spread from the traditional beer cultures of Koeln and Duesseldorf to the rest of Germany -- over the last couple of decades. The originals will remain just that, but the influence is being felt throughout the country...and it's coming from multiple directions.

 

Making an observation about language usage is not a critique or comment about whether or not it is desirable to have more than one Dopplebock on tap.

University students from throughout Germany? My experience is that one almost universal quality of University students (whether in Germany, Austria, Australia, the UK, the US, Canada, France, Holland, Finland or Mexico) is that any excuse to take a break from studies and go drink beer with their friends is very popular.

 

And yet overall consumption of beer continues to fall.

 

Correct. And what follows just as universally is that those people learn a new culture when they leave home to study and frequently bring back a piece of that culture to their home(s) when they begin their professional careers. Indeed, that is the way much of the U.S. "craft" movement in the 80s and 90s started -- with someone traveling to and/or studying abroad (primarily the UK) and bringing those cultures and beers to the U.S. in the forms of microbreweries and brewpubs.

 

Yup, and it might just work. But it has a ways to go yet and there's an uphill battle on the horizon just as there was here in the US. Those who went to the UK and came back to start brewing were at first few and far between but also had a fertile field to plow and other major social changes on their side.

 

Overall consumption has likely fallen in Bamberg as well -- without doing anything to diminish or damage the beer culture. Why? Because the manufacturers and other employers stopped allowing workers to drink on the job. The Bosch factory in Bamberg is one prime example; they used to sell 5000 half-liter bottles of beer a day (dispensed from vending machines) to the factory workers. When this practice ceased, one Bamberg brewery (which had based a good deal of their business model on supplying these places) went under. Multiply this example my 100, and you have a considerable hit to the industry nationwide.

 

But that is not the decline being written about in German publications that talk about the growth in popularity of things like Red Bull and Vodka, etc. etc. among the younger drinking population who are turning away from Grandpa's drink.

 

It is certainly frequently mentioned in those publications as a big contributing factor. Also, it was always kind of an "industry" secret. I doubt many people abroad would want to know that their VW Jetta, Bosch washing machine, etc. was constructed/assembled by someone who had consumed 8 beers during their shift!

 

The other thing to factor in to thinking about this is that when dealing with statistical data there are always going to be supporting examples and counter examples that can be produced. But, these are not either or phenomena we're looking at. The trends are what are important and examples are only for illustrating what the data may mean not for supporting a conclusion.

 

Overall beer consumption is on the decline in the U.S., too.

 

Yup, and that seems to mostly impact mass market beer consumption.

It seems that many 20 somethings are drinking wine and are having a big enough impact on the wine world that they may well be changing the way wines are marketed. Similarly baby boomers who are also empty nesters seem to be turning more and more to single barrell bourbons, malt whisky, and fine wines. Add to that the steady almost double digit growth of "craft" beer....

Where the macro brewers are making their biggest mistake is targeting "internal" competition when their biggest loses are going to other alcoholic beverages.

 

Well there are the occasional off beers that you get in Germany. Small brewpubs with a house vegetal flavor, another with tart finish, a big brewery overlooking a lake near the Alps with an oxidized Helles. Those come to mind, but are a small percentage of what I have had there.

 

While I have less time in Germany than some, it has been my experience that if one looks for them there are some bad beers to be found in Germany. Not a lot, as you say, but they are there to be found.

Although I suspect that part of it is that I've never gone to place specifically asking "Whats the worst beer to be found around here?" For example, typically when visiting the UK I'll ask the cab driver from the train station, "Whats the best local bitter?" Gets some good information about local beers and other things of interest to the locals.

 

Just pointing out that the decline in overall German beer consumption is a complex issue, and not reduceable to something as simplistic as kids choosing Red Bull vodkas over "grandpa's drink." Similarly, the number of "craft" breweries in Germany is increasing rapidly. But all of these things need to be seen (and evaluated) in the context of both the extant beer culture as well as the political/legislative "culture" of the EU -- making matters that much more complex.