German Beer & Christmas

A personal favorite.

 

Oh, yeah - I got one. Think I might even have two...

Just measured one - it's 118.3 ml (4 oz. to the brim).

 

I am enjoying this. Plowed through two cases already and have two in stock. Get it at Woodman's in Milwaukee for $7.49. At 8.4 ABV and this is a roastie--toastie--malt forward delight at a descent price.

 

It looks like Hofbrau is just killing it with the seasonals. I gotta get me some of that!

 

Same here, I'm waiting for HB Winter Spezial to get to my area.

Plus this:

 

If it carbonates in time, I'll have Oatmeal Coffee Dunkelweisen.

 

Try the Augusteiner Maximator that's a good doppelbock to drink by the fire

 

"wake up to find out that you drank the beers of the world..."

 

My knowledge of German beers is still very limited, but Ayinger Celebrator doppelbock would be perfect. That beer is delicious.

 

Doppelbock
Winter/Weihnachts Festbier (Basically Märzens released for Christmas)

 

Wow....love that label!!

 

Doppelbock. Eisbock for the brave.

 

No I don't think that, nor did I write that. I'm sure there are many Germans who love Samichlaus (it is, after all, a big country). My point is that I don't think it's a ''thing'' in Germany in the way that some people seem to want to believe it is, nor even in Austria or Switzerland for that matter. Go bar-hopping anywhere in Germany in the holiday season and try to order Samichlaus. Try the Christmas markets too. Ask everyone you meet, ask your Germans friends, and I'm willing to bet that at least 9 times out of 10, if not 99 times out of 100, they will have no idea what you're talking about.

Not really. 14% ABV is about twice as strong as your average strong German beer. As for flavor profile, it is very far from what the vast majority of Germans normally drink, and Germans tend to be quite conservative when it comes to beer.

I may have used the wrong term here, what I simply meant was that I think it's an obscure beer all around, even in Europe. Obviously there are people who know about it and drink it, and there are probably more of them in the German-speaking parts of Europe that in Spain or Poland or wherever else. That being said I wouldn't be surprised if more people know about it in North America thanks to the marketing campaigns. I remember seeing it ages ago in Canada, sold as ''the strongest beer in the world'', which really doesn't strike me as an effective marketing strategy for Germany.

 

I've picked three to try

Krug-Brau Weihnachstbier, Tucher Christkindlesmarkt bier and another I can't remember the name of but its another light festbier type . I didn't realise Tucher were owned by the oetker group either, I only see the weizen here usually

 

My personal favorite!

 

My official Christmas beer is Austrian as hell(es) but if I were to drink a nice, classy German bier with Christmas dinner it would be a Weinhenstephaner Kristallweissbier.

 

Thanks for cherry picking my post for the quote...

I've had Samichlaus and find it right in line with flavor characters of Doppelbocks I've had from German breweries (many of them sampled at the sources), so I have to disagree that it's very far from what many Germans enjoy. Again, your point of "vast majority" may not point to Doppelbock drinkers, but "vast majority" doesn't point to most beer drinkers anywhere.

While it may be obscure to most, I'll stick with my opinion that Samichlaus is a good choice as a Wheinachtsbier.

 

If we're talking about a good choice of Weihnachtsbier, then I wouldn't disagree with you on anything, that's a matter of taste.

However the OP asked what style(s) of beer are popular in Germany, not what styles are good:

In that regard, I wouldn't vote for Samichlaus in particular, nor any beer of that strength, because in my experience it is not a popular choice at any time of the year in Germany.

 

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/412/1230/
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/412/11582/
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/72/1934/

 

Ok, I'm not sure what you mean by this? Some German brewers brew a handful of specialty beers that are above 10% ABV among the thousands of others that are below? Yes, and there's one that's even over 50% ABV. That doesn't mean they are representative of what people drink in Germany during the holiday season. Besides which, none of these beers have a particularly large number of reviews, and of the 20 first profiles on each beer, not a single one was from Germany.