Ranking your favorite German breweries.

1. Weihenstephaner
2. Ayinger
3. Aecht Schlenkerla
4. Hofbrau
5. Paulaner

(Some others may crack the top 5 if I had regular access to them.)

 

In the spring of 2017 my wife and I took a 17-day trip to Belgium and Germany, and visited 25 places just in Bamberg, Regensburg, Munich, Heidelberg, Michelstadt, Mossautal, and Frankfurt. I can't create a 'favorites' ranking based on just the experience of the visits or my memory of tasting beers during the trip because it was all so wonderful, so I have to fall back on my numerical ranking of the beers. So, based on the 25 places visited in Germany with anywhere from 1-7 different beers consumed at each place, here's the ranking that I get:
1. Klosterbrau – Bamberg
2. Ayinger
3. Spezial
4. Hofbrau, Michelstadter
5. Paulaner, Andechser, Weihenstephan, Kulturbrauerei
6. Weltenberger
7. Augustiner, Vetter
8. Hacker-Pschorr, Kneitinger, Spital
9. Schmucker
10. Mahr's Brau, Keesmann, Schlenkerla
11. Fassla, Weissbrauhaus-Regensburg
12. Weyerman Malting ( In-house Brewery)
13. Ambrausianum (Bamberg)

Ranks 1-8 all scored 4.0 to 4.38 which shows that the beer quality was very close. The rest were 3.67 to 3.96.

 

I would make a difference here between the newer craft breweries and the classics.

Out of the craft breweries I would list:
1. FrauGruber
2. Fuerst Wiacek
3. Sudden Death Brewing

But the classics is more where it's at in Germany.
My favourites:

1. Weihenstephan (the OG, oldest brewery in the world)
2. Schneider & Sohn
3. Ayinger
4. Schenkerla
5. Klosterbrauerei Ettal
6. Hacker - Pschorr

 

1. Ayinger, Schneider (tie)
2. Weihenstephan
3. Andechs, Schlenkerla (tie)
4. Hacker-Pschorr
5. Hofbrau
6. Spaten-Franziskaner
7. Paulaner
8. Erdinger
9. Warsteiner

I suspect Mahrs, Uerige, and especially Augustiner and Weltenberg would be well up on my list if I could get my hands on more of their beers. I'm not comfortable ranking them based on only trying 1-2 of their beers, though.

 

I lived in Germany for the summer of 2008 and have been there twice since.

But even then I don't think I can really say any of the breweries I drank there would necessarily be a favorite.

Most of the breweries I've tried in Germany I only have had one beer from. I don't think I could really say they're a favorite brewery by only having one beer of theirs. I've only had the Rothaus Pils when I was in Baden. It was great but I don't feel comfortable passing judgement on that.

So. My list is

1. Ayinger
2. Schneider
3. Schlenkerla
4. Weltenburger
5. Weihenstephaner

Augustiner may top the list but I've had less beer from them so I don't feel comfortable including them even though I drank a handful of bottles at my distant relatives house and went to the Augustinerkeller.

 

Spezial is 3 on your list (so between a 4.0 and 4.38) and Schlenkerla was tied for 10th (so between 3.67 and 3.96)?

 

Do you have any German beer bar/restaurants near you? Below is a link to a German beer bar/restaurant near me (Philadelphia) which lists the beers they presently have on tap and available by the bottle:

https://www.brauhausschmitz.com/beer

If I were to travel down there today I would order the following draft beers (in no particular order):

· Schneider Weisse Mein Aventinus (TAP6) Bock – Weizenbock

· Andechser Bergbock Hell Bock - Hell / Maibock / Lentebock

· Weihenstephaner Kristallweissbier Kristallweizen

It has been a while since I have gone to Brauhaus Schmitz and I am little bit surprised to see they now have non-traditional German beers on tap:

· BraufactuM Progusta IPA – International

· Köstritzer Meisterwerke Pale Ale Pale Ale – English

A sign of the changing times?

In the past I was consistently fortunate that they had Traunstein beers on tap (e.g., Zwickel, Dunkel, Oktoberfest,…). At those times they were the beers I ordered.

Cheers!

P.S. I avoid the bottled beers due to bottle age. I once had a bottle of Schonramer Pils in my hand there a few years ago and luckily I had the foresight to ask the bartender to show it to me first (vs. just ordering it). That bottle was over a year old. I brought this age to the bartender’s attention and he just sorta shrugged and said something like “Maybe in the near future we will get a fresh batch in”. He then placed that bottle back into the refrigerator (to be served to the next unsuspecting customer?).

 

Yeah, that's the way the numbers worked out. We visited the brewery on a Wednesday in late April for dinner (our 5th brewery visited that day), and the only beer available was the Rauchbier. I'm not a great fan of rauchbiers, but I gave it a 3.75.

We went back early the next morning for breakfast, and I had the Rauchbier Weizen which I liked better and gave it a 4.0 rating. So between those two beers, a 3.88 score. I liked the vibe and the food so that overall my review came out to 3.99 which I think placed them higher up on the list of the visited breweries.

 

When you start planning your trip, check out the Germany forum for reports from those of us who have gone and then submitted a report. The pics will motivate you to do the planning as well as give you some ideas. Here's a link to the thread that I started with the report starting at post #108: https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/belgium-germany-april-22-may-10.491498/page-3

There are other reports in that forum. Do a search on thread titles for 'report' or other key words like that.

 

1. Becks

 

You'd think so, but I haven't seen a German selection (both imported and home-grown) like PA has anywhere. Hell, they might even have some parts of Germany beat
I feel like the proliferation of American macro breweries probably had some level of impact on Midwestern areas. There are plenty of German imports around and they're available in tons of places...but I usually see the same ones. That's at least been my experience.

 

Top 3 German breweries imported to the US:
1. Ayinger
2. Weihenstephaner
3. Würzburger

These are my top 3 rated German beers:

Ainpöckisch Bier 1378 (draft)
Einbecker Brauhaus AG

Aecht Schlenkerla Fastenbier (draft)
Brauerei Heller-Trum / Schlenkerla

Augustiner Bräu Maximator
Augustiner-Bräu Wagner KG

 

The importer of Augustiner beer is Global Village Imports and they are co-located with my local Retail Beer Distributor about a mile from my house. Unfortunately they refuse to bottle date so I choose to not purchase these beers (even though they are relatively cheap at my beer store).

Cheers!

@ZAP

 

Spent some time in Germany on uncle Sam's dime. The nice thing most people don't realize is that most cities brew their own beers and that is what most locals drink. Some bigger breweries are distributed though. Best experience Hofbrauhaus tent during Oktoberfest. Huge stains of goodness. Park brewing lineup especially Pirminator. Hands down my favorite Schwaben Brau Meister Weizen. Best hefe I have ever had. Don't know why it doesnt show up on this site. Maybe it is because they do not export. Any service member help me acquire any, I would love it. Cheers

 

If you had asked me this question in 80s and early 90s, I would have a good list as I primarily drank German and English beers. However, when early craft (micro) start in the late 80s and early 90s, I started drinking those because they were fresh.

Other than an occasional Andech and collaboration beer with SN, I don't drink German beer because it's not even close to fresh.