Home brewers could save Germany's sacred beer tradition

ahansler · 04-23-2009, 03:53 PM

Home brewers could save Germany's sacred beer tradition - The Local

**Schlenkerla** · 04-23-2009, 04:02 PM

Those German home brewers are late in getting into the game.

One might say that Germans have more choice in beers unlike us here in the US so the motivation is not that great to start making your own.

Late is better than never.

Like Vince Shlomy says, "You know those Germans make good stuff!"

I'd like to walk into a German homebrew shop!!

**arturo7** · 04-23-2009, 04:33 PM

Slightly OT

I have a work buddy who grew up in a small German town named Zusenhausen, population 2,000. They have a regional brewery that has been in business since 18-thirtysomething.

For a high school science project, he and a couple of his classmates homebrewed a 50L batch of lager. The brewery donated the yeast.

He said the taste wasn't so good but it didn't go to waste.

ewbish · 04-23-2009, 05:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Schlenkerla

Those German home brewers are late in getting into the game.

One might say that Germans have more choice in beers unlike us here in the US so the motivation is not that great to start making your own.

Late is better than never.

Like Vince Shlomy says, "You know those Germans make good stuff!"

I'd like to walk into a German homebrew shop!!

More selection....huge numbers of local/regional breweries, home delivery, decent beer cheaper than bottled water, Biergarden every 15 feet with a nice atmosphere/no karoake/good beer/quiet/good selection........heck, it's amazing Germans would even think about home brewing!

I lived in a little town called Gebrunn, outside of Wuerzburg, for nearly 4 years. The local beverage shop delivered a case of beer to me every friday morning......and I got a bill in the mail every month. The initial cost was 30 dollars (roughly, I actually paid in DM) for the bottle/case deposit, and about 12.00 to 18.00 dollars for the beer itself (usually 20 x .5 liter bottles). There was no delivery charge within the town itself. As long as you leave the case w/ the bottles on your door step, you never pay the deposit again until you cancel the service, then you get it back after you return the case/bottles. Any time you bought a case at the shop, you paid the deposit, plus the beer cost, and it was returned when you brought back the bottles/case. The cases were nice hard plastic crates. I didn't get a lot of deposits back.......and hence I have several of those awesome german crates and hundreds of flip tops for my home brew.

One may note that in GE.......you very rarely see broken glass or tossed bottles......they are flat out worth to much. I've often thought that America took a massive wrong turn with the twist off non reuseables. The germans don't "recycle" their beer bottles......they reuse them. They clean/sterilize and replace the gasket on the flippers if applicable, then refill and ship. I think this system alone has helped keep the price in check and it certainly cut down on wasteful disposal, trash, energy use.....etc.

Catch-22 · 04-23-2009, 05:27 PM

Did anyone read the title of the second news article under the first paragraph?

llazy_llama · 04-23-2009, 05:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Catch-22

Did anyone read the title of the second news article under the first paragraph?

British fascinated by Nazi Super Cows? How could I miss that!

McGarnigle · 04-23-2009, 05:38 PM

LOL:

* Man gets off for sleeping with underaged prostitute - Society (23 Apr 09)
* British fascinated by Nazi 'super cows' - National (22 Apr 09)
* Hookers offer discounts amid limp sex trade - Society (17 Apr 09)

**Whiskey** · 04-23-2009, 08:16 PM

The "declining variety" the article alludes to probably has something to do with most of the smaller and some of the bigger breweries, (even the ones that had been in continuous operation for hundreds of years), are being bought by larger "corporation" sized breweries. The names stay the same, but regionally it is getting hard to find beers that taste different. Where a few years ago, you could get a different Hefe just down the street, you now find the same tasting, differently labeled beer.

This is a somewhat recent development.

@Ewbish I also lived in Weurzburg for a couple years.

ewbish · 04-23-2009, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Whiskey

The "declining variety" the article alludes to probably has something to do with most of the smaller and some of the bigger breweries, (even the ones that had been in continuous operation for hundreds of years), are being bought by larger "corporation" sized breweries. The names stay the same, but regionally it is getting hard to find beers that taste different. Where a few years ago, you could get a different Hefe just down the street, you now find the same tasting, differently labeled beer.

This is a somewhat recent development.

@Ewbish I also lived in Weurzburg for a couple years.

When were you there? Army?

CBBaron · 04-23-2009, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ewbish

One may note that in GE.......you very rarely see broken glass or tossed bottles......they are flat out worth to much. I've often thought that America took a massive wrong turn with the twist off non reuseables. The germans don't "recycle" their beer bottles......they reuse them. They clean/sterilize and replace the gasket on the flippers if applicable, then refill and ship. I think this system alone has helped keep the price in check and it certainly cut down on wasteful disposal, trash, energy use.....etc.

The difference between the German system and the American system is that in GE most beer is brewed locally and therefore the transport of beer to the consumer and returnable bottle to the brewery is all local. In the US brewerys are national and the bottles are often shipped across the country. A reusable bottle would increase costs considerably as the heavier bottles would increase the shipping costs to the customer then you would also have to ship the heavy bottles back to the brewery. Then you still have to pay for cleaning and inspection. Its not practical for a national brewer.

I like the German situation better.

Ofcourse nearly all of my bottles are reused many times, and local means the basement.

Craig