The hot new thing in craft beer? Good old-fashioned lager

Germany's big volume brand was Beck's:
"Beck's, it's German for Bier."

But that's in the same boat as St. Pauli Girl, obviously, and no longer an import. So they did have a couple of biggies once upon a time.

 

Definitely a freshness thing imo. It’s a tough match for an imported beer that’s 6 months old vs a local fresh beer. Now guys who are mostly AALs guys and then sometimes dabble in imported beers are at a disadvantage, they may get a fresher one and all’s well, get an old beer and it sucks. Same applies to shelf turds here, the bane of craft beer is old beer on the shelf.

 

One factor here may be that many people who seek out German beers may be getting perfectly serviceable options made locally that keep them from needing to comb through disappointing date codes in the actual import aisle.
I think @AlcahueteJ 's point about advertising is a good one but I'm not sure whether the lack of advertising decreases buying or a lack of buying decreases dollars for advertising.

 

Over the past few years the majority of the German style beers I have purchased have been high quality beers from American craft breweries (mostly locally brewed) due to the freshness factor. I always wonder how many American beer consumers truly check dates before purchasing beer. I would be willing to bet that the vast majority of people purchasing beer do not check.

Cheers!

 

I would agree with that assessment of the average beer drinker, and I think that just helps the local brewers of German styles. Many folks may not realize why their local brewer's marzen or pilsener or dunkel is better than many imports but they find that it is and stick to it.

 

I do talk with customers on occasion, but honestly the second Germany comes up I try to exit the conversation. People have a tendency to say "Germans do ________" without taking into account that Germany is a pretty large country and maybe the way things were at the one brewery they went to are not widely practiced. So many people visit one city for a couple of days or get stationed there for a year and then think they're experts... Not to be that guy, but I really hate when a customer wants to play the part of German beer expert after their one visit to Hofbrauhaus and I have to sit and listen to misinformation and pretend to be interested. For some reason, it seems to always be a one sided conversation that borders on a lecture full of wrong info.

I think that there's a few reasons why more isn't imported. Good European beer is typically a bit pricey within their styles. For example, I love Weihenstephan Original, but I can find other Helles that I enjoy equally as much for $8.99 a six pack rather than $11.99 a six pack.

A lot of the breweries that people get excited about visiting in Germany are smaller breweries. Then you have the issue of freshness and people claiming that the beers are different in Germany than they are in their imported form (which can carry some truth in the case of beers getting pasteurized for export).

 

I remember when AB started advertising their born on dating , many many years ago, and I’m like who cares that’s a stupid thing to do. Lol, no it’s not. It’s only been the last 8-9 years I’m turning over fans to date the stuff.

 

I’m sure it’s quite common to talk with people and customers who’s touched a part of the elephant and believe that’s what it looks like. It’s similar to regional claims of greatness for IPAs that are argued here every three months. Same applies to a very narrow view and a small amount of experience with beer from about anywhere I suppose, be it Germany, or England. Lol, I bet it gets old debating about a subject as you described, but so it goes in retail I suppose.

 

No one told Heater Allen and Sudwerk that lagers weren't en vogue.

 

have you tried any of the hazy IPLs sudwerk has been doing the last few years? Their standard lager styles are pretty tops as far as what I have access to but their hazy ipls seem like they have the potential to really bridge over to the hazebois and put the idea of 'lager' being worth pursuing in their mind. They're honestly about the only packaged hazy stuff I pick up outside of a few locals when their cans are super fresh

 

I have tried a good amount of their stuff, I try to give them a fair amount of shelf space and support what they have going on for the curiously quaffing consumer.

 

Oh right, I forgot about both of those. Probably because they haven't been on shelves for a while now.

I was referring specifically to today's market in the US, but yeah, totally forgot about both of those.

And shouldn't be all that fresh either.

And price is the other factor, along with freshness. Regarding imported beer styles, I see craft breweries tending to lean towards producing German styles. So you now have fresher beer, that's about the same price or even cheaper than German imports, why would you buy the imports?

In the case of beers like Guinness, Heineken, Amstel Light, Molson Canadian, Stella Artois, Corona...etc., these are all styles that aren't produced by craft breweries very often.

And if they are, they'll be more expensive. And the imports in this case move much faster, so they're fresher than their German counterparts.

For example, my store will typically carry Rothaus. I love Rothaus. But it's always quite old, and is ~$16 per six pack. So I'll turn to a litany of craft Pilsners that are now on my shelves instead. However, if I want an Irish Dry Stout, there aren't too many options on my shelves. So if I have a hankering, I'll turn to Guinness, it's very cheap and probably moves fast enough. Definitely faster than Rothaus.

 

Your in Mass, if I looked at old German imports at $16, I’d simply run to JA. Authentic or not they simply make great beers that are easy to drink and enjoy, and at a good price The last Jever I saw on the shelf was dusty and over 16 months old. It should have been pulled and destroyed, not selling at full price. If I lived back home in Pa, between Prima, Trauger, Sly Fox, Stoudt, I really wouldn’t bother with the other stuff unless I was at Brauhaus Schmitz. Why risk my money when I don’t have to.

 

Jack's Abby makes some damn fine lagers, but I do like Rothaus better than any of their Pilsners.

But not if that Rothaus is 9 months old and $16. I can find it very easily and regularly on tap though, so there's that.

 

Why would you buy the imports? When they clearly outclass the locals still, even at 6 to 9 months old. And that's still extremely likely in the US with styles such as Munich Helles and Dunkel.

 

Well, a couple of reasons (and I still do buy imports too).

It's a bit hard to justify buying a 6-9 month old beer for a higher price tag. Even if they MIGHT taste better still.

The other, and more important reason, is that the scene in my area has greatly improved over the years. There's now a decent amount of locals that are coming close to the imports, and in some cases, equaling them. At least the imports that aren't super fresh that is.

I did just buy Mahr's U and their Helles in cans, and I think the U might have already been 5 months old. This is about as fresh as you'll see since these JUST hit my area in cans.

The price tag was $14 for a 4 pack of 11.2 oz. cans. Kinda hard to justify a repeat purchase, especially when I get can get <1 month old Notch and Jack's Abby in my area for significantly cheaper.

But damn those Mahr's were good...

 

Thanks for that info. Now I understand a little better how the tap room market works. Sly Fox Brewing is a "legacy" craft brewer (founded in the 90's) near me, which used to rely almost solely on distribution. Sly Fox is known for German-style lagers, and they probably were having difficulty with recent IPA trends in the market (although they never said that publicly to my knowledge). In the last couple years they invested heavily in several new taprooms. I wondered if those taprooms were really a good investment, because they are mostly still brewing the same sorts of beers they always have and I see hazy IPA this and that everywhere. But now I'm sure I underestimated the difference in consumer preference on- vs off-premises. Sly Fox's tap rooms are playing to their strength in German lagers and other easy drinking styles.