Available beers in Germany

For the most part, German bottle shops sell German or Czech beers. I think any Belgian beer you want to bring to him is likely not readily available in Germany, sad as that sounds.

 

I've been to Cologne and other places in Germany, and any Belgian brews are rare. The market in Germany is pretty insular (to put it another way, most German consumers see foreign beer as subpar).
So, get your friend anything you want! I suggest Duvel triple hop

 

After all, who would want to drink the native beer of the country to which you're traveling?

 

I may have misunderstood the OP...I felt he was bringing a gift to his German friend from Belgium. If OP wants to drink Kölsch and German beers all day long, I am all in favor! The "sad as it sounds" was in reference to the many beer stores whose aisles are divided into "German", "More German", and "Czech".

EDIT: For those of us who live in Germany, that is, and cannot get access to Belgian beers without some effort.

 

The Germans really view the Belgium beers as suspect.

 

I always suspected this....

 

Very true. I took a friend from Franconia (a huge fan of the local beer scene, from the little-known town of Hof) to Belgium and he was convinced he was drinking "Chemiebiere."

 

Well, he was, wasn't he ?

 

Actually you can find lots of Belgian beers (in prices sometimes better than in Belgium).
This is an eshop (and actual shop, about 1:30 hr away from Cologne) :

http://www.bierzwerg.de/index.php?c...he-Biere--Bierspezialitaeten-aus-Belgien.html

They always have a good stock of the classic ones, with some nice lambic surprises. Plus the have tons of german micro stuff and other interesting beers from other countries.

As for the prices: Orval @ 1.69 euro , Chimay Blue 750ml @ 4.29 euro, Cantillon Iris 750ml @ 8.99 euro are a good example

Cheers,

Alex

 

That is true, and their pricing looks to be pretty good as you say, but it's not a good option if you just want to pick up 1-2 Orvals, for example, or just wanted to try a Cantillon with tonight's dinner.

 

If you are in Germany the shipping costs are 6.99 for a package up to 23Kgs. But to make it worth it you have to make a good order. I usually order when they have new ones that I haven't had and fill the order with Orvals (I am an addict ) and geuzes (if they are available at the time).

 

Yeah, sorry -- I was responding more to the "sad as it sounds." It just doesn't sound right to me, with all the good beer available, that finding Belgian beer in Germany is distressing.

Didn't mean to veer the thread off path.

 

No offense taken, sometimes it is good for me to be reminded that I have things OK here in Germany. I still would like to say this in my defense: there is plenty of good beer available in the US, but you still like going down that Belgium aisle from time to time, don't you?

 

Yeah, I don't know what I'd do living in Germany. Not sure if I'd get tired of it quickly, start longing for an IPA, or just spend a lot of time hunting down the smaller breweries to keep my interest piqued.

Then again, Belgium isn't a long train ride, and a good Holiday to the UK wouldn't be difficult -- a wine excursion to France or Italy... okay, back to reality!

I'm at a point in my beer-drinking days where I've run the gamut of all the different styles of beers (probably 3 times around) and I'm starting to focus in on the specific styles I always like to drink. And most of them are German styles!

 

OMG, Steve is growing up ?!?

 

Yes, I turned 12 yesterday.

(C'mon man -- you've known me long enough to know I have a (great) big soft spot for German beer)

 

I know, that is why I'm teasing you