German Beer Appreciation Thread (2026)

German beers rule:

 

Do you know which breweries alter their recipes for the beers they export? Is there a 'trend' as to how they alter the beers (e.g., less malt?)?

Cheers!

 

Could that difference be explained by how shipping/transport affects that beer along with age?

A lot (most?) of the German imports at my local beer retailers are quite old. I personally choose to not purchase those old beers and instead purchase German style beers brewed by my local craft breweries. I am fortunate that there are lots of local craft breweries brewing high quality German beers: from the 'old school' craft breweries like Sly Fox, Victory, Troegs,...to more recently opened craft breweries like Human Robot, Sterling Pig, Von C,...

Prost

 

Just enjoyed this fine looking German import. As @JackHorzempa mentioned, I also tend to buy local craft versions of German styles instead of what are usually 9-12 month old room temp imports. Having strong local craft seems mutually exclusive with fresh imports in a shrinking market.

 

My reply was specific to Augustiner.

Cheers!

 

Anything you can find out would be appreciated.

And if I ever make it to Bavaria I will most definitely look you up.

Prost!

P.S. The US Importer of Augustner is Global Village Imports and they rent office space at my local Retail Beer Distributor. I don’t know anybody there but next time I am there maybe I will ask Chris, Todd or Phil to see if they would introduce me to them.

P.S.S. I am drinking a Hofbrau Delicator Doppelbock as I am typing this post. Yum!!

 

You beat me to it but glad to see you were the one who did. Will this be strictly German made beers or will German style beers made outside German be acceptable? Prost!

 

Okay, cool. There was some confusion in the thread I started last year, and I just wanted it clear. My thread intended to feature German made beers but, since we tend to "aged" imports here in the States, I was glad for people to post German style beers made in the U.S. The idea was to elevate the style overall and help BA's find good quality made U.S. versions if German imports are not available. It's all good. Prost!

 

Enjoying a well-aged Rothaus Tannenzäpfle that i picked up while in PA in the early fall. It reminded me of Stroh's that my Pops always had around in early 70's as it has similar herbal hop. Would love to try this with much less age than this bottles best by 1-24-2025 date. Not sure if this would be available on tap but perhaps @PapaGoose03 has come across it in his travels.
Cheers!
Tom
PS: i am hoping the owls will keep the birds and bears off of our porch

 

I've had that when it was less than three months old and I like it a little better than Ayinger Pils. There is a bar somewhere here in Atlanta that frequently has that on draft but I have not had the opportunity to partake.

 

I don't recall having any Rothaus beers on my recent trip. I'll check my notes to confirm.

 

Rothaus is brewed in Baden-Württemberg. Did you visit that state during your recent trip?

Cheers!

 

I drank quite a bit of Stroh's in the mid 70s. I thought Stroh's was an OK American adjunct lager for the time, and I was familiar with many of them. I recently picked up a sixpack of Tannenzapfle that was near expiration. I think Tannenzapfle is a very good pils -- more malt and hops than most German pils beers. It is more assertive, and better, than any US lager that I tasted in the 70s, much better than Stroh's. My impression is that Tannenzapfle is a bigger beer than my favorite 70s US German-style beer, Augsburger. And I think Tannenzapfle might be preferable to the current Pilsener Urquell (U) (although I haven't done a blind comparison; maybe I was influenced by my mental comparison of present-day U with my memory of the late-70s fantastic draft U at the Golden Ox in Chicago).

 

No, but I did have some beers during the week after the organized tour that were purchased in the market by our hosts. My notes say Nein to any Rothaus beers that week.
@CarolinaCardinals