Is German beer really THAT good?

Agreed. Bogk is not the "problem."

 

“BTW, there are at least a few pro brewers with lots of experience who have publicly stated that brewing a lager is less forgiving as there's no place to hide the faults.”

There is indeed truth to that statement. Before some folks ‘extrapolate’ from that sentence, ‘good’ brewers should be brewing beers of any style without faults.

To use Firestone Walker as an example, I am confident that they brew Union Jack IPA and Double Jack DIPA without faults. Similarly they brew Pivo Pils and Oaktoberfest without faults.

For some BAs there seems to be a ‘mantra’ that US craft brewers brew hoppy beers (e.g., IPAs, DIPAs, etc.) in order to cover their faults.

Cheers!

 

Yeah agree fully with all of this. For me personally I love all types of beer from all countries, and would hate to be limited to one country's beer. I tend to take the Germany/UK side of these arguments partly because I'm British, but mostly just because those are the minority voices on here. If these type of threads tended to bash "gimmicky" US beer and praise "refined" European offerings, then you bet I would put my Stars and Stripes baseball cap on (backwards) and get stuck in against the Euros

 

You don't really live in Antarctica do you?

 

Ah, a Brit who likes a good fight. You just gotta love it!

Cheers!

 

72º S 149º E

 

Yes, it is!

 

I have been drinking beer for over 30 years and German beer is about the best you can get.

 

30?! Man, I'm old.

 

Question for Jack, what's the best scenario and availability of imported beers? Do some beers get here and into distro in say 30 days? Given they don't date exports how do I make an educated guess to age, most likely the retailer won't know either, and I would assume to open a new can of worms, is that I would guess these beers are low turnover brews so they probably sit on the shelf forever. Normally my cutoff is 30 days max for beers that do not age well, fortunately I can do severely better than that. OMB is great stuff and they date the bottles, so I'm not too concerned when I want a good local Pils.

 

German beer is good, when it's fresh. I am living in China right now and they import a lot of German beers. But the problem is they are not as fresh because of the shipping process.

 

“Question for Jack, what's the best scenario and availability of imported beers?” Well, as I posted previously my latest strategy is that I have been mostly drinking German brewed beers on tap. This is based upon the assumption that kegged beer will be handled in an expeditious manner and maintained cold throughout the distribution chain. As I have already reported I have heretofore been pretty lucky here. I do not recall ever drinking a German brewed kegged beer that tasted ‘off’.

“Do some beers get here and into distro in say 30 days?” I have never, ever seen a bottled German beer that had less than 30 days on it.

“Given they don't date exports how do I make an educated guess to age, most likely the retailer won't know either, and I would assume to open a new can of worms, is that I would guess these beers are low turnover brews so they probably sit on the shelf forever.” Well, as I already made mention of in a prior post some German brewed beers do have dates on them. Let’s discuss as an example a purchasing experience I had earlier this year (March 2013) where a local (to me) beer store had some bottles of Fruh Kolsch beer that was dated with a best by time of January x, 2015. Some German breweries use a 1 year best by date so I reckoned this beer was about 2 months old. I made the decision to buy a few bottles and they were indeed in great shape. I enjoyed drinking all of those bottles of beer.

“Normally my cutoff is 30 days max for beers that do not age well, fortunately I can do severely better than that. OMB is great stuff and they date the bottles, so I'm not too concerned when I want a good local Pils.” Well, if you hold true to that criterion then it seems like US craft brewed German style beers is likely the only choice for you.

Cheers!

 

I will definitely agree that the landscape is improving by leaps and bounds, but as we've talked about in the Germany forum for what seems like forever, I still think availability is highly dependent on exactly where you are. Perhaps Berlin, Munich and Frankfurt have decent selection available, but those are definitely the exception, not the rule. My little corner of Germany has one excellent Getränkemarkt within a 15 minute drive, wherein I can choose from a wide selection of exactly 2 IPAs. And I consider myself spoiled for choice...

There's no use even talking about bar or restaurant availability of non-German styles like stouts and IPAs, finding non-Pils or non-Weizens is a hard enough task: I once spent the better part of a week "scouting" around Heidelberg specifically looking for a bar or two that even carried a Dunkel, in bottles or otherwise (it was hard work, but someone had to do it...). As I said, it's getting better, but the next stout or IPA I see at a bar in Heidelberg will be the first. In the meantime, I do what @-N8 or @mjtierney2 mentioned: either drive to Belgium or order online. Or, take the third option: go to one of the German pubs I found that actually has a dark beer on tap, and enjoy the magnificence of a truly world class beer in its native setting!

 

A few words or phrases that come to mind with German beers - "consistent", "spot on" and "quality"..... If I have a craving for a straight up honest hefe, marzen or Kolsch, I know that I can rely on German product to completely satisfy that urge. If you are really into tongue curling IPA's or stouts that can spontaneously combust from the ABV, a traditional German offering (or ANY Euro offering for that matter, save for anything north of a Dubbel) likely won't get you very excited.

 

I don't recall ever seeing German bottled beer - mostly from the Munich area - around here with less than about 30 days on it, and I live a mere 5 hour drive from Munich!

 

Paulaner/HP USA is located about 10 minutes from where I work and I've never seen anything from either that was less than 30 days old. I usually hope for about 6 weeks...which is still pretty good in the grand scheme of things.

 

Are you living in the same country I live in???? Where on earth do you find Stouts, Pale Ales & IPAs other than on the internet and a few stores scattered around the country? Can you get a Stout, Pale Ale & IPA at your local Getränkemarkt? No. Can you get them at your local REWE? No. So where do you find these Stouts, Pale Ales & IPAs your getting? Do you live in the same Germany I do? I can find relatively old SNPA and SN Torpedo at my local Galleria Kaufhof. I can drive 1 hour to Mahrun's in Pfungstadt. Please tell me where you can "get IPAs, stouts and pale ales locally produced in all bigger cities." I live in the banking capital of Europe... and your statement is almost completely untrue.

Please don't mislead our fellow readers with BS. Germany is not anywhere "easy on par with the american now." Not even close.

 

Tony,

I just want to thank you for providing some objectivity here. I understand why lots of BAs view Germany as beer nirvana. I must confess for the sake of transparency that I am personally a BIG fan of many German brewed beers.

There is no doubt that Germany produces a lot of high quality beer but then there are the other sides of the German beer scene:

· The majority of beer by volume which is represented by Fernsehbier

· The issue of diminished beer style availability and distribution within the majority of Germany

· Etc.

I greatly appreciate that as a current long term resident of Germany you are willing to share the whole aspect of beer in Germany.

Please continue to do the things to do.

Cheers to Tony!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Well, let me tell you about my step dad and when they found German beer in Korea............ never mind.

 

Now you see how I feel when people tell me that U.S. "craft"-brewed German styles are easily on par with the originals.