Introduction to German Beer

And those long best by durations are absolute nonsense! There is no way a Helles* is still 'good' at 12/15 months after packaging.

These long durations are there simply for business reasons (i.e., the CFO's of the brewery and their partner importing companies dictate this crap). Any responsible brewer cringes at this business practice but they are not the folks who have authority here - it is the $ people driving these actions.

Cheers!

* And the vast majority of other German brands too.

 

I do understand, coming by boat and thru customs to distributors takes time, hence the liberal dating times. But I’ll just go buy Red Oak that’s 8 days old and mostly forget it. Except the Weihenstephaner Hefe that’s the only one I regularly check.

 

And Red Oak produces high quality German style beers!

Prost!

 

That they do, wish I could just easily get Old Meck beers too. Fresh counts in these styles, there’s no way a 6 month old import is as good as a properly done local thats true to style. Brewers properly educated and classically trained and who have worked in Germany for a decade do a pretty damn good job.

 

If only that was a universal truth.

 

Well true for Old Meck and Red Oak at least, they’re the standards locally, can’t speak for other breweries.

 

That’s certainly can be true.

But I’d stack a well funded Red Oak Brewery single digits days old vs any similar styled import that’s 6 months old. These styles of beers are delicate, and age isn’t their friend. Just my opinion here, but not all brewmasters are created equal.

 

Im not disputing that. I just used to put more stock in dates until I started comparing beers blind. I was surprised by older beers one too many times.

I do seem to be lucky though and most imports that I end up buying are in the 3-6 month range. Heck, but then again I also just enjoyed the heck out of 8 month old jever cans I purchased for 8$ a four pack. I also compared it to 3 month old Jever and to be honest they weren’t that different.

Since this discussion arose out of interest in German beers I do not want to discourage OP from exploring them. As I have found them to be very enjoyable thanks to many recommendations on here.

 

Depends on whether it’s in a can or bottle to my palate. The cans were far smokier than the bottles.

There is one time of year that we tend to get a lot of fresher German beer...Oktoberfest season. Although you need to start looking mid-late summer for the freshest ones.

 

I’d say your odds would be better in a larger market, but as Jack mentioned he’s in the Philly area and he has problems with really fresh product.

Don’t forget the seasons and the distributors here too, right now it’s pretty moderate, but if beers are in hot shipping containers in July then to a hot warehouse sitting on palates, and then into your store where they’re put on a shelf broken down to Sixers or singles exposed to UV light. Lots of variables here you’d have no knowledge of or control over. It’s why I stick to the better breweries that specialize in German beers only, by brewers who learned, trained for over a decade then settle in here, they also maintain that they’re beers must be refrigerated at all times, as they are in the brewery and in the trucks. It’s what they know. Shrugs, to each their own, and my main exception are Hefes.

 

OK, lots of ‘debate’ about German beer freshness in this thread.

In post #4 I advised @BigIronH : “carefully check the dates on those beers”.

I stand by that statement – make sure to check the dates on German brewed beers to ensure they are not too old.

My personal cut-off is 6 months from the date of packaging and for those German beers that use best by dates you just gotta assume they are 12/15 months from packaging and work backwards (kinda annoying but…).

How well a beer will hold up over time is based upon a number of variables with one being how well was that beer treated in transport especially was the beer exposed to high temperatures during transport since high temperatures accelerates staling.

Another variable is the sensitivity of an individual’s palate to detecting the effect of a beer going stale. Two people could drink the same x month old beer and one will state the beer has started going stale while another may say the beer tastes just fine. Some people have more sensitive palates in this regard. For folks who are insensitive to picking up beer staling maybe consider yourself ‘lucky’.

One thing that hopefully we can all agree on is that a well brewed German (style) beer is best enjoyed fresh. Time in the bottle/can has no benefit here.

Cheers!

 

I've been drinking through a six-pack of Spaten Optimator. Brewed in Munich, bottled in January of this year, on my table in Northeastern Illinois by April of the same year. Tasting damn good to-style.

And if you've never had a stale Hefeweizen, you're lucky. They can actually fall off pretty badly.

 

Surely because they were too busy drinking stein after stein of that wonderful nectar right?

 

I'd quote the comment I got, but I'd probably get banned.

 

I’m picky with my Hefes, only Weihenstephaner will do, but I closely check the codes too. But no I’ve never had a bad one yet, except the domestic versions that imo have sucked so far, I hate bubblegum in my beer.

 

Maybe one day they’ll build faster cargo ships, those I see in ports are massive towers of containers. That’s the only way to get them fresher is if you have relatives in Germany.

 

Maybe they do but you need to pay extra?

Below is what I discussed on this matter in a recent past thread (with emphasis in bold this time):

“If the brewery/importer is willing to pay the expense the beers can be shipped in refrigerated containers. This is allegedly how Pilsner Urquell is imported to the US and they claim they use expedited shipment across the Atlantic (pay the extra expense for fast ships?).”

Cheers!

 

It’s hard to find PU at 4 months old. 6 yes, but it doesn’t work for me at that age, just a strange off taste. Most people who buy PU don’t analyze the date codes. Unfortunately we’re BAs, lol.

 

January in Munich, April in Chicago? What do you want, SST?

 

Yeah, that has only happened for me a couple of times over the past 10-ish years. It is like winning the lottery when it happens though.

I felt like I won the lottery today when I saw The Alchemist Focal Banger in the refrigerator of my local Wegmans supermarket. I bought a four-pack and it was canned on 4/22/21 - just 2 days ago. Woo-Hoo!

Cheers!