Why does Germany = Beer?

Oh... don't forget Schnapps! And I don't mean the candy-sweet dreck that calls itself such here in the U.S., I mean the well fermented, great accompaniment to a good beer that you can only find in Germany (well, unless you look very hard over here -- Asbach has always been a favorite).

 

Not a true Hefeweizen. Pretender, nay -- fraud to the name!

 

I'd rather have America brew my beers and Germany make my cars.

 

If it weren't for the class 6 store at Vogelweh I would've been a sad camper. All that Andeschs there made up for it. Local biers not near as good as the stuff in Bavaria, although Bischof did a passable Dopple & Kellerbier.

 

There's plenty of dreckig candy-sweet stuff in Germany too- I went to a party and someone had a bottle of bright, neon green Waldmeister "schnapps". Pretty awful.

Also Korn. Need I say more there?

Anyways, at this same party, I ended up having about six bottles of Erdinger Hefeweizen (certainly not the best, but it sure beat the Hasseröder they had instead) and stuck to Akvavit for Schnäpse. Good time, and woke up king of the world the next day, being the only person without a headache.

 

Exactly. But if you are going to call your beer that, Im going to judge you by real hefeweizen standards.

 

I agree, but don't let it taint your opinion of the real thing!

 

Ugh. I guess I was lucky enough to have bar-tenders who wanted to educate and enlighten, not pollute!

As in Apfelkorn? I don't mind that so much -- not my favorite, but drinkable. Some of the Bierschnapps I was lucky to try was very good too.

Now you're talkin', but that's more Danish than German, no?

 

I was there two years ago as a college student when sugary, fruit-flavored, neon colored drinks are all the rage.

No, as in Korn. Imagine vodka but only 3,50 EUR a fifth and worse.

Akvavit is just general Scandinavian, from my understanding. It's pretty delicious though. The only purely German schnapps I had was Kirschwasser, which was also pretty tasty. I don't count Jägermeister, since that's pretty ubiquitous.

 

ny

You must have been in Franconia. I lived in Hessa, where one place in 1000 may have made beer on the premises. There are not that many breweries in Germany vs the number of restaurants. Fact.

Edit - it may be more like 1/10000 or more in Hesse. There are many Weingut though.

 

Getting back to the original question I would just say:
1) Many breweries are near 1000 years old so ....and
2) Taste anything by Weihenstephaner or Ayinger or Augustiner and you'll see why Germany = beer

 

Well, yes I forgot Schnapps. Probably because I don't like it. Maybe because it's candy sweet dreck. But...Compared to Scotch, Vodka, etc., Schnapps is in the minor leagues.

 

I'm pretty sure somewhere along the line, Disney has to come into play. They always do.

 

You need to try it on the other side of the Atlantic, far from minor league (and not, as I said previously, the sugary dreck -- at least, not the good stuff).

 

Anheuser and Busch dont sound german to me.....

 

The Schnapps I drink over there has nothing to do with the crap you get here (peppermint, peach, etc.). Basically the stuff over there is 80-proof clear liquor, often with fruit added in the mash for just a hint of aroma (mostly plum, pear, or cherry).

 

I also saw Johannis- and Holunderbeere Schnapps pretty frequently, though plum, pear and cherry definitely far outpaced those.

 

Germany makes world class beer. No argument there. So do the Brits and Belgians. Americans do too. If truth be known, there's probably some unknown survivor on a tiny rock in the Pacific that has learned how to blend coconuts, bugs and a Wilson soccer ball together to make a beer that can blow us ALL away.

 

Someday it may happen.

 

When I think of Germany, I think of bratwurst.