First of All if it does Meeting the German purity laws. Then its Not beer. They can be called other names like Ale, Stout and the like but Not beer. Craft beer is IPA, Pale alles and the like. There as been an up swing of them here. But the are Just specielty beers
That is what the call craft beers. It will never gain alot of trackion. Market is too full of them now and the cost way too much
Over here in recent years, the craft beer market has become so flooded that most craft beers available are only average at best, and that’s being kind. The constant craving for something different plays a significant role. Individuals entering the industry without a solid understanding of craft beer are mixing ingredients haphazardly and hoping for a favorable outcome, along with consumers lacking knowledge about the expected flavors of beer, which is another major contributor. As a result, we have seen a dramatic rise in the number of new breweries making subpar beer, leading to a decline in interest because the quality standard was not being met.
That's kind of sad, given the traditional role of traditional beers in the German culture. But join the crowd - your description is pretty much the same as what we're experiencing in the US. Maybe we're a bit farther along in the craft movement because most of our newer breweries are producing reasonably good beers from the git-go. The problem is that many of them are able to can their beers and, thus, add to the glut on store shelves.
This is super awesome! I'm going to Munich for the first time this fall (too late for Oktoberfest, sadly), and I'll definitely be dragging my wife to a few of the places
One thing about craft beers is that it's really a luxury item. Major supermarkets like Rewe & Tegut put in a craft beer section a few years ago, basically 5 shelves 2 meters long. Then came the economic downturn of the last 2 years, basically caused by a reaction to inflation, but also a stagnation of economic growth causing companies to hold off on investing, expanding and doing much hiring. About 6 or 10 months ago, both supermarkets pulled out their craft beer shelves and stopped selling craft beers. There are still a few six packs of Brew Dog's Punk IPA & 4 packs of Belgian Leffe, but that's it. Sad, but I've had to cut back on my craft beer purchases, too, in favor of drinking my own homebrew, so I get it. However, Edeka, a more upscale supermarket, still has their craft beer section, so not all hope is lost. Actually, this case illustrates how craft beer became a boom, then lost its appeal and can now only be found online or in bottle shops dedicated to craft beers.
Tony, welcome 'back'!!! You made mention of BrewDog in your post and I was wondering if you had any insight on how well (financially) BrewDog Berlin is doing? Stone Brewing could not operate this location profitably in the past so they sold it to BrewDog (at a discount?). Are Germans willing to travel to BrewDog Berlin to drink (expensive) beer on premise? Do you think the majority of their sales (revenue) is via packaged (canned) product they sell elsewhere in Europe (e.g., Denmark, etc.)? Prost! Jack P.S. And I am glad to read that you are still homebrewing. I have a Motueka IPA in the primary now (dry hopping tomorrow), an English Bitter Ale that has just completed bottle conditioning, a Milk Stout about 1-2 months ago, a Belgian Dubbel 3 months ago...
I will be in Berlin this week. One of the BrewDogs is near my hotel. I will stop by and check things out.
There are multiple BrewDog locations in Berlin? I was only aware of the former Stone Berlin brewery. Prost!
The most annoying people in Europe all gravitate to Berlin, so naturally there are several Brodog locations there to cater to them. There are two other bars in the Mitte and Friedrichshain districts as well as the ex-Stone brewery.
When we stayed in the Mitte the Brewdog was close, but we didn't go having found a place named the Castle that became our Lokal. I try not to be annoying.
Nice map Bavarican! I’m trying to remember if any of the (4) Bier Gardens in Englisher Park served “craft beer” Particularly the one by the iconic Chinese Pagoda Tower. With seating for 7,000 people, it’s a very popular place to hang out and have a few beers and get something to eat. It’s been about 15 years since I’ve been there. It may have been mostly HofbrauHaus products though, I’m not sure. I looked at Google Maps description, and it said “Great Beer Selection”, no details though. https://www.englischer-garten-muenc...english-garden/the-chinese-tower-beer-garden/
I have no idea of how well BrewDog is doing financially in Germany, but anecdotally, I have a few remarks. 1st, you can find a few of the mainstay canned/bottled beers in many supermarkets as the only surviving craft brewer on the shelves. My bet is that the shelf space was bought, just like all other large brands do in supermarkets, which goes to show their market clout. Though, to be honest, it's only their Punk IPA but nothing else. Their price is also attractive. Most cans/bottles are around 2€-ish, which is only about 1€ more than regular Germany beer today, so it's not exactly going into the luxury item category. That's much much cheaper than any other craft beer that was on the shelves before, which shows that buying the Berlin brewery from Stone has been a good investment. Also, our local Brew Dog bar/drinking establishment has closed permanently in Frankfurt (FFM). Rumors (from a former employee I spoke with recently) are the food quality was bad and they had high staff turnover, and local indifference. The bar's location was ideal near the main train station and easy to walk to, yet it never really caught on here. There's still a bar in Wiesbaden, which is far tinier city than FFM, about 30 minutes from FFM on the autobahn or 1 hour by suburban train, yet has a gigantic US Army base within spitting distance in Wiesbaden. I've yet to go there, but I imagine that's why it's still around. I'm not willing to go that far, go to Wiesbaden, just to visit a craft beer bar, so going to Berlin solely for them is a ludicrous concept for me, let alone a regular old German. There are enough craft beer bars in FFM. In fact, Naïv, which has probably the most successful place in town, just opened up a branch "bar" nearer my home. They also have staged an annual craft beer fest for the last decade, and they even took over the craft beer fest in Mainz earlier this year, so they're growing.[/QUOTE] Not as often as wish, but I yes, in the last year I've been drinking mostly my own home brews. Some Kveiks, which are perfect to brew in the hottest summer days, East Coast IPAs, etc. Price-wise, they're on par with the BrewDog stuff in the supermarkets. Cheers.
I admit I haven't had much to say here for the longest time. It's completely uninteresting giving the same comments on where to visit in Germany ad nauseam. Most questions here could be simply answered with... "have you even done a search on BA on where to visit?" Second, there's not much to be said for craft vs. traditional beers in Germany. Craft beers have settled into a niche market with some great, some average, and some piss-poor examples of local brewers. Many of the marketing-over-quality/fly-by-night operations have shaken out and the rest are chugging along producing craft beers equal to what can be found in America. However, the craft beers in America are still a step above in variety in innovation due to the mass amount of brewers compared to Germany. Traditional beers are more expensive now due to inflation, so either they're really cheap and bad quality, or getting closer to a BrewDog's prices due to inflation. It doesn't seem to me that much is going on worth writing about here, where most many are focused on vacation itineraries. Anyway, that's my motivation, or lack of it, in posting here for the past few years.
I can confirm that the Brewdog in the north closed a year ago. I am headed to the main one now at the Mitte. We will see.
I heard the one in Frankfurt had closed, is that correct? International bankers must be even more boring than I imagined.
Are they? I am still seeing prices for the big TV beers as low as 12 or 13 euro per crate. That doesn't seem to have gone up more than a euro or two in 20 years. https://www.trinkgut.de/sortiment/bier/
