German craft beer

It's not only not too offshoot the locals, that's my point.
Kölsch is legally defined by the Kölsch Konvention, not ony geographically but also style-whise, in a very narrow set, and all beers i mentioned go aiganst it in one point or another. Kölsch has to be pale, top fermented, filtered, around 11.3 degree plato and 4.8% abv. And while this tight ruleset limits what can be called Kölsch legally, it also limits the category in brewer's and consumers' heads alike.
I mean, the Konvention doesn't say anything about the hops you can use,yet still, there is no beer with new world hops called "Kölsch" coming from cologne... But with Alt for instance, there are more modern influenced examples on the way, and they stick to the "traditional" naiming. There is Schuhmacher 1838 for instance, dry hopped with Cascade and Galaxy! And still called "A very special Alt!"Still waiting for a Kölsch brewer to put Galaxy,Cascade or Citra in their beer and still call it "Kölsch" and not "Sonnenhopfen"..........

 

Here's something you don't see every day. At Denver Collaboration fest (an event where mostly local breweries brew a beer together), Ale-Mania from Bonn will be collaborating with our local Wit's End.
Scott Witsoe, who owns Wit's End, has a lot of family in South Germany and spent some time over there this past summer. He was contacted by Fritz from Ale-Mania out of the blue and I guess they're working on this remotely and it might end up being a blend of two beers brewed on different continents.
I thought it was neat and super unusual as both are very small. I had a couple of Ale-Mania beers this summer and thought they were pretty good.

 

Funny story about them - they used to be Fritz Ale but apparently got threatened with a lawsuit by Fritz Cola so they changed their name to Ale Mania. Great to see the beer styles aren't the only aspect of craft beer spreading from the US!

 

I remember Fritz as one of the first people who made us inspired "craft" in germany. He has his own brewery now,right?
Back in the day he mainly made IPAs of very high quality at the Siegburger Brahaus,which were very rare. Wow. Time flies by. Never would have guessed back that that one day he'd make a Gose, in a can!

 

After trying 2 of the 3 "Crafty" LIDL Beers i must say,they stomp a mudhole in those crappy Beck's ones.

Also picked up a Weißenoher BA Doppelbock

 

That I'm not sure about. Not sure if you've ever checked out Siegburger's beers, but they have a pretty killer Schwarzbier, probably my favorite for the style. Actually, I'll be back living in Bonn from January to March, and that's coincidentally the time of year that they have it. I'll have to make sure I take advantage. Thanks for the reminder!

 

Yay, surely I know the Siegburger Brauhaus, always liked the beer. I grew up like 10km or so away from it
And yes, Fritz now has his own brewery set up, just checked. Since 2014. Really weird to see things finally moving in germany after all those years of silence.
I have to admit I am not a huge fan of his Gose though- not sour enough!

 

Tried all 3 LIDL "Craft" beers now.

Exotic Zwickl i found average.Too many flaws (Diacetyl,DMS)
Barrique Style was a really good Doppelbock.Seriously smelled as if it was BA.
Barley Blanc i found really good as well.Aroma of a wine BA Bock.Some Diacetyl keeping me from calling it great.

 

Still refuse to buy em. I rather buy local Kirner Schinerhannes Bock Hell- cheaper,PLUS the brewery stands behind their product. No off flavours,very good pale Bock..and no stupid marketing!

 

Still living in the area? Happy to meet up for some Schwarzbier at Siegburger if so.

 

Just having a Riegele Noctus 100. My last one is way too long ago. It is a really tasty Imperial Stout and I think the best deal in the Riegele craft line up- i mean for a 0,66l bottle i payed I think 4,50 € or something like that. Which isn't too bad seeing it has 10% abv, and most of the other riegele "craft" stuff is priced basically the same..
What annoys me personally though is the distribution, I can only get it at one store in my town, which is a bit out of the way for me, and sometimes they only have the APA Simco or only the Dulcis... And I don't get why they are all equally priced. I mean the much weaker Robustus costs the same. Why? How is this justified? And how does this teach the potential consumer value of different styles of beer? Feels weird.......

 

Really?
The "Riegele Biermanufaktur" series Beers are available in pretty much any shop with a craft beer section up here.
Not to mention,theyre all over the online shops.

Why are they all equally expensive?
Marketing, i guess

I actually enjoyed all Beers from that series to varying degrees.The Noctus 100 is still my fave german Imperial Stout (non-BA)

 

...That's exactly my point, from a marketing perspective, it makes no sense if you want to teach the costumer the value and diversity of beer through pricing when a 5%abv session ale is the sameprice as a 10% imperial stout...... Imagine a Mercedes S class would cost the same as a Smart..

 

The cost of materials in a beer (not including packaging) is a small portion of the retail cost of a beer. I'm a homebrewer and I can easily make a 5.0% beer for under $0.60. That's with paying $8 for yeast. The commercial breweries have to be well under $0.30. Going from a standard beer to an Imperial Stout really wouldn't be that much more, so maybe they shouldn't charge much more.

 

Regular Beer isnt that much different.
The Price difference between Riegele's Herren Pils and their Speziator Bocks are a few cents.
Their "Biermanufaktur" series is clearly marketed as "Deluxe Bier"I guess they want to keep uniformity within the Series by leaving the price the same.

 

When it comes to Riegele, I am very critical. Their classic doppelbock, called "Speziator", is available for around 1 € per bottle (0,5). The new de-luxe doppelbock, called "Ator 20", costs 4,50 € (bottle of 0,66). You can call that big rip-off.

 

The thing is, it is a rip-off , but people are willing to pay those prices........
For me, it's like the breweries in germany tested what they can charge for craft beer. Like when the first big bottles of fancy german beer hit the market (Wernecker Hopfenfluch, Pyraser Herzblut series, etc) they were totally overpriced, like 15€ for a big bottle...the radeberger braufactum series was a bit cheaper (still more expensive than it is today..) I think Maisel's of bayreuth were the first bigger brewer to price "craft" at a level where it is now with riegele, braufactum and others- sill high, but a price people are willing to pay (4-6 euros for a big boittle). And yes, it surely still is a "rip off" of sorts, because they show themselves that they can brew traditional and craft cheaper (they have now a pale ale in small bottles for slightly above 1 EUR..).
Thing is, when you complain about "craft" prices in germany, you always come off as a cheapskate now in "craft circles"- "good beer has to cost good money" and "those beers are more expensive to produce than traditional stuff" is what I always hear. The latter I highly doubt btw- I'm not a brewer, but I have the suspicion that some of my favorite beers from small franconian brewers are more expensive to make than the craft stuff bigger brewers are making..

The amazing thing for me aigan is- local wine in good quality is CHEAPER than "craft" beer. Which makes me drink more wine and less beer these days...

 

I think that really depends - I know many in craft circles that are pretty critical of some of the prices. Certainly it's obvious that a big IPA or stout or BA beer is going to cost more than a Helles - the ingredients cost more/time to production is longer. Hops for example are very expensive - and of course different varieties have different costs - unsurprisingly some of the hot new hop styles in Germany are more expensive than the traditional ones. A big stout may have a much bigger grain bill. Often times new and smaller brewers have higher recent costs investing in equipment, and their labor costs are going to be higher (less automation). Also the levels of sales, you obviously can lower your per unit profit margin when selling a lot more and still make a lot of money where as you need to build a bit more in per unit when your sales are low or else they're not going to make very much.

But those reasons have their limits, and there are definitely some brands where most people I know feel like they're just trying to rip people off by getting in on a trend. Braufaktum, Hans Müller, etc - I don't think anybody is going to blink an eye if you say they're a rip off.