Cantillon

Where will she be?

I ask because generally speaking, those sorts of beers are not sold in Germany and she'd have to go to Belgium. However, the scene does appear to be changing and you will find some specialty shops here and there that will carry Belgian beer, but they are few and far between so it would help to know where she will be.

 

Are you sure about the spelling of that name (Velburg)? Can you link the location?

 

Well I have good news and bad news. German retail, particularly beer retail, is not like American retail. Although Belgium is a bordering country, most German outlets will not sell Belgian beer, instead favoring a combination of mass market German beer (such as Becks and Paulaner) and local brands, probably with some mass market Czech beer thrown in for good measure. I imagine this narrow focus is even more pronounced in Bayern. Sadly, your friends' best bet for Belgian beer would probably be the American commissary.

The good news is that your friends appear to be near Regensburg. They should have no trouble finding very good examples of traditional German styles such as Kneitinger's Edel-Pils and Dunkel. There are other breweries there as well but I know less about them. And Bamberg & environs don't appear to be too far away. If you're open to well made but traditional German styles, you will find lots of goodies. If your tastes skew toward stouts, sours, fruit beers, and hoppy pale ales, Germany won't have much for you, although, as I said, the scene is changing little-by-little and some brewers are now attempting these beers.

In terms of specialty stores, the closest one I know of is in Munich and is called Getranke Oase. I don't know much about that region, maybe someone else will chime in.

 

Velburg is a city of 5,000 people, seemed like an odd place for geographical orientation. I assume that the husband is at Hohenfels.

I don't believe that you will find Cantillon in that area, but you will find lots of great German beer from Regensburg. In the meantime, there may be bottle shops that carry Belgian beer, but they will be few and far in between.

 

Neumarkt (Oberpfalz) is about 1:30 away from Bamberg by train with one change in Nürnberg. Your friends should get on that train at at least once.

 

Your best bet is if they make the short 5-6 hr drive over to Brussels. Otherwise, Cantillon etc isn't easy to get here in Germany. Which is fine by me, as it give a BierAdvocate a chance to really expand the palate to really appreciate the subtle (and not so subtle) characteristics of German beer brewing.

 

She'll be fine with with IPAs once she finds CREW Republic's Escalation IPA and several others.

 

youre less likely to find cantillon or 3 fonteinen in germany than in the US.
the sours ive seen around here are mort subite,lindemans and boon

but its not like belgium is that far away.
and in terms of IPAs theres some good german stuff out there,not in quantity,but quality

 

They aren't that far from Munich - there is at least one shop in Munich (http://www.biervana.eu/produkte/) that carries some Belgian beer, though I don't know if I've ever really seen Cantillon itself in Germany. It's worth the trip to Brussels, the tour of the brewery is fun.

As an aside, if your friends are into coffee, Machörndl in Nürnberg (http://www.machhoerndl-kaffee.de) isn't that far away - I order beans from them and I'm all the way up in Bremen, and they made me the best Cappuccino I've ever had in their shop. Worth a visit if they go to Nürnberg.

 

as above said, Munich is the best bet. biervana carries 3F and other lambics but not cantillon, even though I keep asking the guy to bring some and he seem kin to the idea, maybe soon. they also carry Rodenbach. also some lost abbey and The Braury plus some port brewing, sierra nevada and others. there is also a store called getranke oases (http://www.getraenke-oase-schwabing.de/) they carrie some belgians an american craft beer but mostly german beer. very nice store.

 

If you're ever in Stuttgart, Weinhandlung Kreis has a few things.

 

I was going to mention that place but I couldnt recall the name of it.

 

It looks like they might ship within Germany, so your friends may have to do no more than place the order and wait.