German craft beer

This is what I've heard. So in other words, the "expensive" beers are more a luxury than anything. Oh, to have such troubles. I think the last Aventinus I saw on shelves here was $5 or $6 USD.

 

In SC, Tap6 is about $4...Hopfenweisse, Tap5 is $5...I like Tap5 but IMHO it isn't in the same league with Tap6

 

Pretty much what Lurchus said. It's mostly the contrasting effect and I think once a standard like this has been established - establishing a new one - even with good reasoning - is going to be smashing your head against granite.

I guess it may also be related to being used to having huge quantities due to the price/quantity ratio with these:

 

Lol,yup, thats also one key difference- germans just drink more than americans. Recently someone here posted that he did not want to drink 100 ounces out of any beer.......Than I thought hang on, 100 ounces is just 3 Litres, so 6 half litres- which during my time in franconia was totally normal, or even worse when i spent time in the czech republic, 6 or 7 half litres of weaker lager go down quickly.
When you drink 6 half litres of beer thats more than 2 Euro, it can get very expensive for sure. Another thing is, with expensive beer you can not show off here,while with expensive wine, you can...

 

That sounds familiar, I can't remember any barbecue where there weren't at least a few cases of beer that were almost always emptied. Same with house parties and the like. I've also seen some craftsmen work on private projects like refurbishing homes while drinking and they tend to have at it, too.

True, even though price tag mostly has more of a psychological effect from what I've read. And a lot of the bashing of sweeter wines apparently seems like it's a bunch of crap, too. (my father really likes wine and he stocks all kinds of stuff from cheaper varieties from Globus to imported Barriques from Italy)

Personally, I prefer beer because wine tends to be pretty nasty to me. Gives me mad headaches and some get me pretty nauseaous - particularly Riesling.

 

Yes, this whole thing is psychological as hell, because although people buy cheap supermarket plonk wine all the time, they still consider wine as a whole as more sophisticated,refined drink and beer as cheap refreshment...

But-where do you see sweet wine being bashed? I feel like among enthusiasts recently, sweet german and french wine is becoming more and more hyped these days.

I myself love wine and beer, and the older I get, the more I tend to enjoy the simple,subtle, honest wines and beers, made honestly, with craftsmanship,by locals for locals- be it Franconian Dunkles or Moselelbling........
Since livnig in a wine region, I started to appreciate the endless possibilities of this world. Within one varietal like Riesling, there are endless posibilities, even within dry Rieslings you'll find so many different options...

 

True, I guess it also depends on a bit on who exactly we're talking about but in general I'd agree.

Palatinate. Sweet wine is either seen as "cheap" or "for women" where I come from.

Idk, a lot of those descriptors sound a bit ideological/nostalgic - which, I don't really care for. I mean that's completely fine if you just found yourself liking that type of stuff. I personally like all kinds of stuff from a variety of different manufacturers.

I actually don't mind some Riesling (I tried some really good Grauschiefer not too long ago), but it's the same with whiskey. I like it but it doesn't like me so I tend to stay away since I don't really like being nauseaous or having crippling headaches.

 

A friend of mine is one two Americans that recently founded NBG in Nuremberg: https://www.facebook.com/nbgbeer/info
They're still getting things up and running, but I'm 100% certain they know what they're doing beer-wise.
I dunno a whole lot more than that, but their stuff is on sale in at least a few places in the area.

 

I think it is more a question of "drinking experience" and "epiphany"...... Don't get me wrong, I love Pale Ales ,IPAs and Stouts(traditional and craft) and all kinds of experiments, I also don't say no to big bold wines, but when it all comes down to, I think the days of ticking and "I must try as much as possible" for me are over, and I nowadays simply like to relax more while drinking.
BTW, under the "made locally by locals for locals" banner i would also put stuff like Belgian Sours, Belgian amber ales like De Koninck, French biere de garde, english cask ale, Altbier,Kölsch, basically all classic bavarian styles, the native weird beers of africa and asia,Gose,Lichtenhainer........I think it is a very wide variety.

 

Ah, thanks for the clarification. I guess that makes sense. I do like to try new things but not to a ridiculous degree, I like to at least be somewhat sure that what I'm getting won't be a complete waste.

 

Although I’ve basically been inactive on the forum for a few months now (due to some personal and professional issues that are basically decimating my spare time), I thought I needed to take the time to give a small report on what is happening in my neck of the woods (Heidelberg) when it comes to craft beer.

First up, Heidelberg now has its own dedicated craft beer store, known as “Upper Glass”. It’s located not far from the main tourist street, and the owner is a super nice guy who seems to know his stuff. I won’t post pictures of the interior here, but you can see them at http://www.upperglass-craftbeer.de/. It has a tremendous selection, and while I’ll be the first to admit the prices are rather on the high side, it’s another small piece of evidence that expanded interest in “different” types of beer is on the rise (at least in this area...). Hopefully it survives.

All of this comes on the heels of a number of local(ish) breweries dipping into the experimental pool. Welde has been doing this for a bit, releasing an annual Jahrgangsbier that generally uses non-German hops in very non-German amounts. This year’s was a hoppy “Lager Bock” with hops from New Zealand that was actually very good (I meant to write up a report...).


Going a bit further than that, Palmbräu (from Eppingen) started this year releasing a monthly “special” beer. These have ranged from a Hoppy Pils to a Stout, as well as a Pale Ale and other assorted varieties. At €4-5 a 6 pack, these are actually not bad value. I’ve only had the Stout, and I found it rather lacking. But I applaud the effort... And apparently others do as well, because these 6 packs have been selling out at my local supermarket rather quickly in the past few months. Though, to be fair, not as fast as the recent Köstritzer 4-packs (Red Lager and Pale Ale) did.

That brings me to today, and the reason that I finally set aside an hour or so to type this up. I went to my normal Saturday morning grocery stock-up for the week, and outside my local was a Welde representative giving free samples of their latest “craft edition” beers: a Badische Gose, a Bourbon Barrel Doppelbock, and a HopStuff Ella+Equinox.


I spent a few seconds talking to him (we couldn’t talk much, he was actually very busy giving out tastes), and he was astonished at the level of interest. Even though he had only been there for 2 hours that day, the REWE had already sold out of the Doppelbock, and was very close on the others as well. I grabbed 2 of each of the Gose and the HopStuff (at €2 per 0.33L). I tried the HopStuff this evening, and though I’ll be happy to write up a full review of each one after I’ve had the Gose as well, my short take is that this is exactly the sort of “craft beer” that I have been waiting for a German brewery to make. It’s kind of a mix between a Pilsner and a Pale Ale. Basically, it’s a very fruity and hoppy pilsner. Very fresh, very crisp and very suffig. Nothing amazing for a hophead like me, but I can imagine that my German friends here would immediately be blown away by this. It’s just different enough to be eclectic, but still familiar enough to not be off-putting.

Either way, I guess I’d make two basic conclusions from my last few months of observations that kind of go hand in hand. First, at least in this area, craft beer is definitely not an underground thing anymore. Second, local breweries and stores are taking notice and selling in that direction. We’ll see if it is sustainable... But for right now, I’m enjoying all of the new possibilities (though I am still not terribly pleased with the prices...).

 

Good to hear from you, hope your issues work out for the best!

HD has a Craft Beer store...the times they are a changin'...still always good to hear news from the old stomping grounds. Perhaps Klosterhof will educate the Germans as to what it really means to be Craft!

Welde has been doing their Jahrgangsbier for a while now, I'd say at least 5 years. Thanks for reporting!

 

I had one of the worst german "craft" examples so far last evening, and it was really embarassing:
Kraft Bräu Imperial Wiener Lager.
It had a really nice,stylish label, with taste description, information about degree plato, IBUs, history of the style and so on.
Sadly, this was the first time the sentence "not true to style" made sense to me.
It was very murky (!), not clear at all, an ugly brown with a inconsistent,small head, it had this weird, sour-fruity smell I usually know from this brewer's ales. Taste was really weird and unpleasant, I don't know if it was just off- a bit sour,fruity, chewy, slightly bitter, but no real nice hop aromas to speak off, they all got lost in the sludge. Really, really bad. And it had zero characteristics of a proper lager. Nothing of the promised "lange,kalte Gährung" was noticeable.

The point why I am so upset is, this bottle was purchased in a bigger, kinda upmarket supermarket and beside the Beck's line, the Kraft line are the only "craft" beers they carry. So this can be a really bad,off putting first example for newcomers to the "craft" world-even worse than Beck's.

 

Would you characterize this beer as having technical brewing flaws (i.e., the brewery did not properly brew this beer from a technical/brewing process perspective)?

Cheers!

 

i think a lot of that has to do with the mindset of the american craft beer drinker in general. they think they are so superior to the average drinker and do not realize that germany produced awesome beer forever while up until about 5-10 years ago, they were all still drinking swill and loved it.

 

even german craft fans today often don't realize how wonderfull german beers can be and how many native styles there are. As I always say, more of them have tried an IPA than a Rauchbier, Kellerbier or even a classic franconian Dunkles.

I am not trained to taste technical flaws and don't brew myself, so I could not tell. I wrote the brewery an email and said that I am dissappointed. I described what I tasted and asked if it is intented to be like that. I also said that I liked their Ales..

 

I would be happy to hear their response to your query if you are able to share that information.

Cheers!

Jack

 

I will! Right now, I'm having Caspar's Pils from the same brewery and it is WAY better- clear in color, slim,but soft malty body and very hop-forward-bitter in the end, long finish. 46IBUs! I'm happy aigan...

 

That Caspar's Pils does indeed sound tasty!!

Cheers!