BrewDog Acquires Stone Berlin

As I have posted in another thread recently, Stone has been dead to me for the past two years. Unfortunately, for them, just because they got in early in the craft beer and made good beer doesn't mean that they know how to run a business. As other's have mentioned on this thread, they didn't understand the local market (consumer and distribution).

How is Brewdog going to do better? Lesson learned from Stone's mistake. From comments, the distribution problems in Germany are going to be challenge.

 

Quite the opposite. Many Americans seem to prefer quaint images of Germans in lederhosen and want them to stay that way forever. I'm sympathetic to the Germans who instead want to wear blue jeans but can't yet find many places to buy them.

 

Hmm. Sounds rather ignorant to the culture in my opinion. My 2 friends, mentioned previously, have a great balance between their heritage and the modern world. They often wear blue jeans and sneakers, but love their Weizen and spätzle.

 

Hah! Not that Frank. Unless... (no, the Frank I'm talking about wouldn't know anything about the Phillies)

 

I disagree.

If Germans want true "crap" beer, they can get it by the pallet (and, ironically, in cans) at the discounter stores they generally shop at. The beers Koch lumped in as "crap" are of a much higher quality and are not comparable to U.S. "crap" AALs. Their company practices are comparable, and their prices too; but in terms of basic quality they are still (despite a decline) nothing like anything we see here. Yes, they fall into a light, easy drinking style category...but not one that crosses cultures. If Augustiner Helles...or even Koenig Pils or Oettinger...is not flavorful to your palate or is comparable to Bud, Bud Light, Miller Lite, or Coors, then there's something wrong with your palate. Koch lumped those beers together and bet the house on convincing Germans that their palates were faulty. He failed. And -- in addition to all his other missteps -- for good reason

 

Retail craft is overgrown we also have to many taprooms. A repeat from the late 90's is coming up it could be good for prices.

 

I'll take "the crap" German beer any day.

 

Don't forget plastic screw top bottles, too.

 

Ha! Yep. And isn't it quite the irony that Germans identify true "crap" beer in that it is packaged in this and in...cans!

 

As a professional brewer who takes great pains to make (and serve and handle/preserve) pale lagers properly, I can say yes, those beers -- when served fresh and in the right glassware and with the proper pour, etc, and when brewed in Germany according to the Reinheitsgebot and not in/for the U.S. -- are good and flavorful. Absolutely.

Are they as good and flavorful as they once were: no. But they are still good and flavorful.

As for US AALs, Bud is pretty good IMO, and flavorful. Bud Light is neither nor, nor are Coors Light, Miller Lite, etc.

 

Not at all, I've traveled a great deal and tried a great variety of German beers. I'm sorry, but all I was trying to say was that the average very cheap German beer has a quality that I appreciate and have no trouble drinking. The malt character stands out above American budget beers.

 

To provide a comparison that BAs might better understand: the recent release of Sixpoint Alpenflo. That beer was brewed using some pretty meticulous practices and using some good ingredients. However, in my opinion and to my palate, it was no more flavorful or good than, say, a fresh, properly served Bitburger or (yes) Oettinger. As a brewer myself, I wanted to know why. And the reasons lay, I believe, in some of the things that make brewing pale lagers so difficult: so much depends on freshness, packaging, and even pour, that the volatiles and aromas that might be there during production are lost in the final product. This, in turn, goes back to things like fresh raw ingredients, how often the beer is transferred from one vessel to another, and even what type of CO2 is both in solution as well as used to move the beer around. These German breweries, for all their faults and recent shortcuts, still employ better practices for such things, and so the final product is more likely to retain quality, freshness, and flavor. Especially when served in the proper glassware with a proper pour -- something that ALL German pubs still do...and many of the best U.S. "craft" beer bars don't.

 

Some Warsteiner (and Beck's) here is not brewed/produced/packaged according to the Reinheitsgebot. Are you talking Warsteiner here or the stuff you've drunk there?

 

@Roguer I believe this is what @herrburgess indicated in the above post I linked.

 

Question: do they want or need to?