"Maybe it takes Americans to make a good German beer.."

We're Bavarians. We have a very different sense of experimentation. Or rather, we don't have much of it at all, for better or worse. But that is what makes Bavarian beer Bavarian beer and I'm quite sick of established breweries around here all of a sudden starting to waste their resources brewing IPAs. This will not go far because apart from College Kids trying to be cool and different (and having to big an allowance...) nobody touches the crap more than once. Not too long ago I had an excited Michael Plank hand me his newest creation (Guess what, an IPA...) and it was ghastly. A bready overhopped wheatbeer like substance with strange fruit poured in it... I still gag at the mere memory. I'm pretty sure the next guy who tries to tell me to my face that THAT is the future of Bavarian brewing will be struck down by an Exorcist-style stream of my v... Well, you know...

 

Personally, I don't want the traditional breweries to mess with the "craft" trend necessarily. I'm thinking more of what the guys at Crew Republic & NBG are doing. A few breweries with competent to excellent brewers making non-native styles. I'd rather see that than places like Augustiner (or even Plank) getting away from what they do best.

 

@Stahlsturm, you gots to stay!! We need a voice of reason, albeit a curmudgeonly one, like yours!!

Zum Wohl!!

 

I am hardly a week in to brewing professionally and have already gotten more than enough "No thanks, I only like hoppy beer" responses. One monoculture being replaced by another....

 

Stay the course Herr Burgess...We're not all hop-heads! Best of luck! Cheers.

 

That's not unexpected, unfortunately. You just need a stock response like "we'll be here when you're ready to expand your horizons. "

And I hope you will be. Best luck with your new venture!

 

Deja vu.

When I started brewing commercially in 2008, I also started with German styles, due to my love of them. Unfortunately, hoppy beers were "in" (as they still are) and there are only x amount of people who are willing to drink hefeweizen & Kölsch. You can only do so much "educating" of people to help them discover the nuances of such beers. Good luck, it's an uphill battle at this point in where the industry is at in regards to IPAs.

 

I have been fortunate to have been homebrewing long enough to let some of Columbia's most vocal representatives of "craft" scene understand and appreciate my beers and the culture that has influenced and inspired them. Good thing the university has had an exchange with Bamberg since 1975...as well as an Army base that trained thousands of GIs who would eventually end up in Germany. But the monolithic "craft geek" set is pretty much the same. Glad I'm not in CA and having to compete so directly with inanities like "fizzy yellow beer is for wussies."

 

Let's call it "The Lemming Effect.®"

 

I actually wish German beer had someone like Jean Van Roy from Cantillon. Overlooking the geeky nonsense, JVR is a hardline traditionalist that isn't afraid to speak his mind. He's good at explaining why he does what he does and what he believes in. There are obviously other Belgian brewers like Frank Boon and Armand from 3F, but none are the mouthpiece he is. I kinda wish someone like Stephan Michel would get noticed like that.
That would probably go a long way toward German beer actually being recognized.

 

Stephan Michel in indeed a great brewer-spokesman:

 

I'll write you a set of standard replies to insert whenever necessary
Seriously, I feel I'm saying the same thing over and over and over like a grandfather everyone tolerates but nobody listens to. Similarly I've (sometimes literally) thrown my hands up and given up. My life time is too precious to keep arguing the same points with waves and waves of zealots thinking they have seen the light...

 

Someone please take @Stahlsturm off the list of "Those Who Have Been Enlightened".

Resistance is futile.

 

You don't want those kinds of beer enthusiasts hanging out at your establishment anyways. Seriously, you don't need a bunch of bros, hipsters, and neck beards who just discovered IPAs five years ago clogging up your beer garden.

 

Thanks. Luckily those were a tiny minority at our opening. As promised, a few pictures. Prost!

 

Will you ship glassware?

 

Will you ship glassware filled with beer?

 

Greta pics. Looks like the sort of place I'd enjoy.

 

Looks like you're in need of some Kölschkranz!

And, as is so oft typical, the stereotype isn't always the norm! Looks like he's enjoying that non-IPA just fine!

 

He is actually a huge fan...and the highest ranking BJCP judge in SC!