Hello from Stone Brewing Berlin

Many in that camp, too! I rarely, if ever, drink them. But if it takes a Rauchbier Radler to get my in-laws to agree to go to Spezial Keller with me, then I am ALL for them.

EDIT: A Stone Grapefruit IPA cut with some all-natural grapefruit soda might be enough to get our party of 8 to come to the new digs next time I'm in Berlin....

EDIT2: Germans are also notorious for bringing their own food and other stuff to beer gardens. If the Radler are not on offer officially, I could easily see people (my in-laws, for example) bringing their own soda to mix with the beer.

 

Does a brewer stop being an artist if he brews beyond a certain number of barrels per year? I know some brewers from pretty big, what you may term industrial, breweries who put a lot of love and care into their product

anyways, can you give us an idea of the business model for your berlin venture, where will you be pricing your products compared to regular berlin beer?

 

So if my sis-in-law brings a bottle of Limo to cut the craft beer with, we won't necessarily be kicked out? (I'm really not exaggerating when I say she does stuff like that.) Regardless, I guess I should leave my Randall Jr. at home...?

 

Aww come on, you came on here to promote your brand and try to sell beer, im asking genuine questions, the whole business model interests me as a beer uneducated european

 

LOL! Okay, credit where due -- you got me to post in this thread.

 

Can't resist... must comment...

The reason why most Germans drink Radler when they go out is to avoid the alcohol. As most of you know they sit around for hours discussing Fußball, politics and women, and it is not considered "dumbing down" of a quality beer, but simply augmenting it with Limonade so they can chat longer and not worry about losing their drivers license, which now costs quite a bit. Add to that that the proposed location is not within walking distance of Alexanderplatz and you have a destination location.

Agreed, much of Berlin is reachable via Bahn, but even if you are not driving to the brewpub, the concept of adding soft drinks to beer has become very commonplace, if not expected. In the meantime, pre-mixed radlers make up 10% of the market, much like craft beer in the US, not to mention those who mix ad-hoc. Disallowing something like this is making more enemies than it's really worth defending.

But maybe that's the point.

[looks solemnly at blank faces, scratches temple, sips his hefeweizen, disembarks soap box]

 

Maybe that is the point...but as many of us know, Germans have notoriously faulty sarcasm/irony detectors and can be very easily offended. I still remember how enraged some taverngoers got when I -- with a completely straight face -- said that the USA was going to win the 1994 World Cup because "we ha[d] been practicing really hard." I fear not only that the lack of things like Radler and/or syrup for their beer coupled with the tongue-in-cheek marketing is going to confuse a *lot* of people at best -- and truly offend them at worst. But, hey, I'm not a hugely successful "craft" brewer with a growing global company, so until I am, my opinion and approach will remain what it is currently worth: just one guy's $0.02...

 

I agree with the above mentioned post from einhorn. Like it or not, Raddlers are very popular in Germany. During my time here, I find more and more of the average Germans pulling toward the beer/soft drink combo, not to mention the ever gowing collection of alcohol free beers. Just about every larger brewery I can think off makes at least one alcohol free beer. I live on campus here at the Universität Stuttgart, and Raddlers are very, very popular with the students. Bigger, bolder beers seem to be a bit harder to find around here with my experience. I generally find the ABV to top out round 6% with things like Schneider Weisse being the max at 8 to 12%. While Germans like their beer, they are generally concious of how much they drink. I think some of the bigger beers from Stone will find resistance. I guess, all that I am trying to say is, in order to reach the larger German beer drinking crowd, you may have to keep your minds open. I have faith Stone can really kick the craft beer movement in Germany up a few notches, but I would also not be surprised to hear of Germans cutting Stone beers with their own soft drinks.
As for the whole Berliner Wiessebier thing, I think it would be really cool to see a frew new take on this style, but I would not be apposed to the use of syrup ether. I think it just adds something to it, it is part of Berlin culture.

 

Well, more applicable in a city like Berlin is where the roots (and name) come from - being served to cyclists. I'd perhaps point out that Stone makes a session beer, but I suppose it's high enough in alcohol that it almost has as much alcohol as a Berliner Pilsner.

That said, it's worth remembering that Berlin is not really very German in its tastes. What succeeds or fails there often has very little relation to what succeeds elsewhere in the country. You can even find spicy food there, for example! The beauty of Berlin is that people from all over the world offer things on their own terms (or at least perhaps closer than elsewhere). Berlin has some of the best and most diverse food in the country, some of the best coffee in the country (I'd actually place it relatively high worldwide in that regard). It has long lagged behind in beer, but that's changed over the years thanks to the efforts of Germans (I wouldn't want to imply that all of this is happening solely due to outside influences) - but it's high time for there to be more than just Vagabund representing what foreign brewing can do in Berlin. And that's done, in my opinion, by doing what Stone is doing and operating on their own terms.

Whether it succeeds or fails remains to be seen, but frankly the little foothold I've seen craft get here in Bremen over the last year has shocked me. Since moving here from Berlin a year and a half ago I joked that I was going to open a craft beer bar here and be the only customer - but craft bars, bottle shops, and breweries have opened in the last year and surprised me with their success - in large part due to not simply pandering to existing tastes. Germany doesn't lack for options in places you can get a Radler. The underserved market in the country (even in Berlin still, I think) is high-quality, diverse "craft" (I hate that word) beer.

To that end, Greg, I want to see Stone on tap here in Bremen. Make it so! The market here is ready for it.

 

This cracks me up because it's the exact thing I was told by 2 young(ish) Germans at a Munich Biergarten. Of course, they were on their 2nd Radler Maß each, so -- in effect -- they'd had a full liter of beer anyway. Drinker's logic.

 

i have to agree with most of what you said there, for what its worth i think the stone venture will be a success in berlin, theres plenty enough hipsters who'll want a piece of it

 

Some excellent points and insights here. I guess what many people -- myself included -- tend to forget sometimes is that "craft" probably never was meant to be about traditional at all.I've seen the clear split here in the U.S. and am willing to admit that catering to thay split even in an otherwise very traditional market like Germany -- especially from a hipster/expat/tourist outpost like Berlin -- could easily find success.

 

Things are changing that's for sure:

Craft Bier Deutschland Google Map:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zNNQODD_dbLo.kwtUX3Djx4Tc&usp=sharing

This place seem to do ok, and a lot of their beers are not cheap - I dont know how they survive here in Schwabenland !

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mon-Petit-Café-Bistrobar/134374663432791

 

Wait. This map is claiming Schlenkerla as "craft." Them's fightin' words!

 

ergo the silliness of the word, "craft" when talking about German brewing tradition.

 

Yep. Stone is craft; Schlenkerla is not.

 

From Webster:
Full Definition of CRAFT
1
: skill in planning, making, or executing : dexterity
2
a : an occupation or trade requiring manual dexterity or artistic skill <the carpenter's craft> <the craft of writing plays> <crafts such as pottery, carpentry, and sewing>


Yeah, Schlenkerla is Craft.

 

Franconia is full of c....-breweries and has been for ages.