Replication of Authentic European Styles

The times I have had Urban Chestnut's Zwickelbier it transports me mentally to a Biergarten in Bavaria. It probably helps that the brewer is a German.

 

Please share examples of newer ones as described, as I'd love to try them. Most of what I see is innovation, innovation, and innovation with relatively little care to make examples that rival the traditional styles from Belgium, England, and Europe.

 

Yes!!! I love this brewery.... I've never had a bad beer from those guys...

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Aecht Schlenkerla's line-up remains singular and so far not nearly replicated.

 

We have a local brewery in Binghamton, NY, who does very traditional European beers and they are spot on! Water St. Brewery. That being said, I can't think of many other American breweries I can say that about.

 

Their beers are unique, even in Bamberg. The malt is kilned over beechwood fire in house. Spezial kilns their own malt, but their beers are not as smoked. I have had smoked beers at some of the other breweries in the area, and those are not as smokey.

 

There's definitely been a marked improvement over the years. It's more noticeable in brewer's that have been around a bit longer though.

Some lagers coming from newer "IPA breweries" are simply not good.

I would say, on the whole, the imports are still better. They just have that extra something, and you know it as soon as you take the first sip. But the line is becoming blurrier each year. Couple this with the fact that people are buying less and less imports, resulting in old product (at least it seems so based on the horrific dates on the imports I see), and I end up buying more US craft beer overall.

 

I don't know if US breweries will ever be completely on the level of the best traditional German breweries, but there are certainly lots making very good attempts- New Glarus, Urban Chestnut, Old Mecklenburg, Victory, Jack's Abby, etc.

 

...Von Trapp , Metropolitan , Sly Fox ...

 

Haven't had a whole lot from the latter two, but I can't believe I forgot Von Trapp. Their new beer garden in Stowe is a magical place.

 

I echo @AlcahueteJ in that the imports are still superior in most cases.

That said there are still a wealth of great, mostly traditional European breweries here: Dovetail, Lazy Monk, Urban Chestnut, New Glarus, Olde Mecklenburg, Von Trapp, Off Color, Hammerheart, Allagash, Victory, Jack's Abby, Troegs, Metropolitan, Bauhaus, Heater Allen, PFriem, and so on.

I will say that there is no American quad that comes anywhere close to Rochefort 10 for me. That's the biggest gap stylistically, as we have close entries in most other European styles. Now that I think about it, there are also very few great English beers made here like Milds, Bitters, English IPAs, etc.

 

pFriem, Chukanut, and Heater Allen in the PNW are making Pilsner that is as good as any German beer I've had. That being said, 95% of American lagers are flabby, overhopped, garbage.

 

I've long thought that Smuttynose Shoals Pale Ale to be a very nice English style ale. The old Sam Adams Stock Ale was also quite good.

 

The sad thing is that it has become hard to find fresh examples of the German and other European classics as the majority of beer drinkers around me at least are looking for the IPA of the week or limited release stout which results in delicious imports sitting on shelves. It would be great if that meant more great imports for me but usually it means old great imports.

 

Smutty is always a good choice. They're highly underrated I think. Sam can be trusted to do most styles a fair amount of justice. I've never had Shoals, though, so I'll seek both those out.

 

A number of breweries near me have been making high quality German Lagers for decades: Stoudts, Victory, Sly Fox, …

This past summer I took it upon myself to explore the variety of new Pilsners that are becoming available recently and I discussed them in the weekly New Beer Sunday threads under the banner of “Summer of Pilsners”.

Links to a few of those beers:

· Geneses Brewhouse Pilsner: https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/new-beer-sunday-week-593.431995/#post-4877647

· Summit 30th Anniversary Keller Pils: https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/new-beer-sunday-week-594.433764/#post-4891049

· Von Trapp Pilsner: https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/new-beer-sunday-week-594.433764/#post-4891049

· Neshaminy Creek Trauger Pils: https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/new-beer-sunday-week-603.448706/#post-5002131

Cheers!

 

Wow, I forgot Chuckanut. Absolutely worthy of mentioning.