German craft beer

That really depends,some prices are defended, some prices are called rip offs.. My thought is though:
Look at how small franconian Brewers are making their beers- lots of handarbeit, long lagering times, fresh hops in some cases etc. I think the costs are higher than many new big craft IPAs. I'm thinking of Brauerei Herold Büchenbach, for instance,I think the only reason they can even survive is because they have a Gasthof and a bakery as well and are mostly run by family members. If all the personell would be paid normally, I think a crate would HAVE to be more expensive than 15 Euros. I feel the value, in ingredients as well as final product, of a Büchenbacher Vollbier,is higher than a braufactum palor or maisels pale ale, for instance.

 

That reminds me: A Maisel's craft beer pub with a large beer menu in Bayreuth opened recently. And being in franconia, they don't only have tons of national and international IPAs and Pale Ales, but a few "local gems" as well. I heard some natives complaining that the classic franconian beers are way to expensive. And..... they cost 3,50 Euros for 0,5l (stuff like Held Bauernbier altfränkisch or Leupser Dunkel-stuff that the Brewery pub is usually <2 Euros XD)
What I think I should add: Im amazed that mediocre Pale Ales for >4 Euros/0,3l are seen as "legit",while 3,50 for a half litre of delicious oustanding local Dunkles is seen as a "rip off":..

 

Ugh. The next time I'm talking gasoline prices with a German national I'm going to bring up beer prices.

 

Yeah - in a sense it's not really fair to compare against prices like that, because as you point out, they might well be operating at a loss or barely breaking even. Also, just to be clear when I was saying "big IPA" I more meant in the sense of high alcohol, extremely high hop content (probably fairer to say IIPA then), not necessarily popular. Certainly the difference in cost for a pale ale vs Vollbier is probably hard to distinguish.

I know this has come up in the forums here before, but beer prices in general here in Germany are absurdly low. It kind of blows my mind - when I first moved here I assumed somehow beer was tax exempt - to think they can sell some of these beers at these prices and are still paying a decent amount of tax is crazy.

 

And according to @einhorn the value added tax is substantial: "19% MwST"

Cheers!

 

Well, first it the Milk Stout and now...

http://www.camba-bavaria.de/news/artikel/kein-bier-des-monats-fuer-maerz-coffee-porter-gestrichen/

 

Some new brews to try:

 

I believe all 3 of the NBG IPA's are available at the new Maisel's Pub if anyone is interested.
I've had mixed experiences with the German craft scene (some great, some definitely not) but I can vouch for those guys.

 

I find the Roundhouse Kick enjoyable. Nothing amazing, but pretty solid. I still haven't had anything from Buddelship that I really liked, though I haven't tried that one. I'd be curious to hear what you think. At this point I kind of avoid them.

 

BKK Laguna is basically a Lagunitas IPA clone.
Ive had all of the Rügener Insel Brauerei Beers.Id only describe the "Übersee Hopfen" and the 2 Sours "Meerjungfrau" & "Seepferd" as good.

 

Agreed - it was a poor attempt at the style. If only German breweries would take the time to perfect stouts and porters...

 

See if you can find this one... http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/5855/155715/?ba=Bierman9

Thought it was top-shelf!

Prosit!

 

I actually found the older version of the Bayerischer Bahnhof Porticus ( http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/4909/64892/ ) to be fantastic. So much so that my wife and I, after visiting and receiving blank stares when ordering one, wrote the brewer and found out it was only distributed in the US (where we found our first bottle the year before).

I was eventually able to procure some that they had though, and honestly it wasn't nearly as good as the first one. You'll note in the reviews people referring to a "brett" note in there - I kind of assume the batch was bad. I don't recall the original I had having that flavor. The new ones were all gushers too. Too bad. :/

 

A classic sign of an infection.

Cheers!

 

I'd say Buddelship is the most solid smallscale brew in that lineup. Enjoy the Heineken Tripel which is being sold as crafty in DE. Oldschool sugars and fumes in perfect Belgian harmony.
Still a step up from Insel tripel though, they are taking on too many styles at once - all spiked with Traubenzucker

 

The Insel brews are really dreadfull in my experience. Crew is ok though. While their roundhouse isn't my favorite amongst their offerings, it's still good enough..
Affligem isn't too bad though, esp. compared to other big Abbey style beers like Grimbergen or Leffe..

The thing with Stout though-many germans are shocked when they first have an IPS. I think they don't even known Guiness kinda makes one, too

 

I don't get how a German brewer making American craft beer is German craft beer. Just seems like a gimmick or a fad. I'm sure someone will give me a paragraph on why that's a good thing, but I really could not care less.

I can only hope more German breweries do existing, extinct, or derivative German styles more and more, and do less IPAs and crap.

Personally I can think of a ton of different fun things to do ( some of which is based off of the neat things Schneider has done):

* Use of new German and American hop varieties to add balanced character to certain styles

* Use of open fermentation to make sour or emphasize yeasty flavors in other beer styles other than hefeweizens

* All barley hefes - hefegerstenbier?

* Blended beers

* Double versions of beer styles

* Foeders

* Various wood staves like they do at that one place in Franconia with beechwood

I know some of these are made, but I think everyone would love to see more of these things! I don't even think of those ideas would be against the RHG to boot!

 

Is it necessary to place a value judgement here?

There are German beer drinkers who enjoy drinking hoppy beers (e.g., American style IPAs) and there are German breweries who are fulfilling that demand.

FWIW as a beer drinker I would like to see that happen as well. I am uncertain whether there is sufficient demand among the German beer drinkers to make this happen.

It will be interesting to see how beer in Germany evolves in the future.

Cheers!