Slate article on the state of German Brewing

[jeffmeh]

http://www.slate.com/id/2286897/

 

[unionrdr]

That was a good read. While I can see how the old purity law isn't working anymore,they need to preserve those traditional styles. And come up with new styles that are the German take on popular American new age styles. Why nor have both? I'd hate to see the German breweries dissapear like they already are now. That's truly sad.

 

[McGarnigle]

Definitely a worthwhile read. I like that the beer universe includes both traditional countries like Germany and innovative ones like the US and Belgium, but apparently that isn't working for the Germans right now.

 

[unionrdr]

Albeit slowly,anyway. I guess it's going to take a while for the young Germans to get around to trying these new styles. Then maybe the older folks will follow suit. Time will tell. Change or die,eh?

 

[Revvy]

Interesting read. I thought it was going to get into how American BMC envy had cut into the regional marketplace, like it is in places like Ireland, choking away great traditional beers in favor of being like the Americans.

I was surprised to see how much it's own Reinheitsgebot has choked off much of the innovation and creativity, while we in America are truly becomming the beer mecca of both innovation and honoring an maintaining more traditional german styles.

Funny in my case, for all the innovation and experimentation that I'm into, I also get geeked about learning about, tasting and then coming up with my own recipes for more traditional beer. And a few of them are more traditional german dark beer syles. My first one was the vienna Lager in my pull down. I tasted several commercial versions, researched the history and brewing techniques of the style, and then went on to begin brewing my own recipe.

Just before my surgery, I was doing that with the "Traditional" bock as well. And I'm sure I'm not the only one.

It seems that if the trend continues in Germany, it will be the American craft and home breweing which may be keeping these styles alive over here, while they dissapear in their home country.

But at the same time, if the Reinheitsgebot starts to loose favor over there, and some of the trad styles fall by the wayside, we could see a whole slew of innovation coming from over there, as those brewers have the creative shackles removed and are allowed to go crazy...hopefully they won't be making just american style over the top IPAs and stuff like that, but will evolve some of their traditional beers with non Reinheitsgebot approved ingredients. You could be getting creative even with standard trad styles like Bocks....you could get fruit bocks or spice bocks, or even I guess hoppy bocks even.

And then after a period of time of going crazy with experimentation there will be a backswing to and an interest in the trad styles again.....then there will be a balance like there is here in the US theses day.

 

[unionrdr]

Good point,revvy. I hope that it happens for them before it's too late. I guess all these new age brewing trends aren't always a good thing. There are some styles/brands over here that we all liked at one time or other that have fallen by the way side.
Maybe the day will come over here where some of these beers will be revived.

 

[Pearlsnappro]

Good article. thanks for the post

 

[Revvy]

Good point,revvy. I hope that it happens for them before it's too late. I guess all these new age brewing trends aren't always a good thing. There are some styles/brands over here that we all liked at one time or other that have fallen by the way side.
Maybe the day will come over here where some of these beers will be revived.

If you think about it, in the uber millenia of brewing around the world, but at least since recorded history how many recipes have fallen by the way side, how many styles of beers have been all but forgetten, or nearly forgotten but were re-surrected.

Two styles in my own discovery were both bought back from the brink of extinction that I fell in love with were the Belgian Wit and the Vienna Lager...both of those, if you read up on the fascinating history were nearly forgotten, and ressurrect by craft or homebrewers.

 

[Shooter]

Porter's another one that has really surged back and I hear it's hard to find an English mild in many of the English pubs.

A brewer in my homebrew club is researching the Gose style and has brewed up some really interesting examples of this odd, salty, brew.

 

[MeatyPortion]

Great article.

The comments are odd.

Chip
The problem is you cannot legally call "Bier" at something that is not beer, that is hops, malt and water. That's good, you cannot call "chilaquiles" at something without chile and tortilla and that's ok. Of course you can add flavors and everything you want but it's not longer a beer or chilaquiles. In Germany they don't have 20 styles of beer, each town over 1000 people have its own beer and it taste different and people is different than the las town that is 5 km away. I've tried more than 20 styles of beer there and all of them were unique in the flavor and "feeling" of the beer. I agree they don't drink as much beer as before but that's only to blame in the decline of the population, if you don't have young people, you can't keep the beer sales and also the culture of it. Foreigners make enjoy and learn the beer culture (as me), but since the majority of young people is from inmigrants from islamic countries, alcohol is out of their business. I have a nice advice for Germans, just have some kids, teach them and give them beer instead of milk like they used to, and one of the best beers of the world will be saved (Belgium beer is also amazing but you really need to get used to it, some of them are very heavy...) Prost!

 

[Misplaced_Canuck]

One of the things I've always been amazed at in Germany is that styles of beer that are very popular in one area/town are not even KNOWN OF in other parts of Germany.

I spent a good 15 minutes explaining what a "rauchbier" is, to a friend of mine from Oldenburg (somewhat north of Germany). He had never heard, seen, or tasted it.

I really think young Germans may be stuck with the mentality of "this is how it's been done since 1500 and it's also your father's beer".

It's a bit like trying to change the recipe for plain white bread. I've always had a good laugh in the last 10 years when I chat with Germans about beers brewed in the US and how we have more breweries than they do... They still think we're stuck with BMC here.

M_C

 

[arturo7]

What a crock of shvt.

To blame the decline of the German beer industry on Reinheitsgebot is fragging ridiculous. Even in the US, a significant majority of craft beer consumed would be allowed under this law. As for BMC, beers with corn and rice adjuncts are not popular in Germany, purity law or not.

I can't offer any alternative reasons for the decline, but it certainly isn't Reinheitsgebot.

 

[Revvy]

What a crock of shvt.

To blame the decline of the German beer industry on Reinheitsgebot is fragging ridiculous. Even in the US, a significant majority of craft beer consumed would be allowed under this law. As for BMC, beers with corn and rice adjuncts are not popular in Germany, purity law or not.

I can't offer any alternative reasons for the decline, but it certainly isn't Reinheitsgebot.

I think the article doesn't state it's the sole reason...there's also changing demographics, global economy, golbalization and other other things, but I can see how it could be a major contributing factor....if there's little creativity in german brewing because of the law, than you probably are going to be losing a percentage of the beer drinking populace to "imports" from countries where more variations are available....

 

[jeffmeh]

What a crock of shvt.

To blame the decline of the German beer industry on Reinheitsgebot is fragging ridiculous. Even in the US, a significant majority of craft beer consumed would be allowed under this law. As for BMC, beers with corn and rice adjuncts are not popular in Germany, purity law or not.

I can't offer any alternative reasons for the decline, but it certainly isn't Reinheitsgebot.

I would speculate that its not Reinheitsgebot per se, but the beer culture that created it is naturally slow to innovate. That is also reinforced by the "local" nature of the styles (we are from Koln, we brew Kolsch, we are from Dusseldorf, we brew Alt). Then throw in the demographics, and we have a trifecta. That being said, I cannot imagine the culture rejecting a variety of good styles once the brewers go that way, but what the hevv does this ugly American know?

 

[two_hearted]

Albeit slowly,anyway. I guess it's going to take a while for the young Germans to get around to trying these new styles. Then maybe the older folks will follow suit. Time will tell. Change or die,eh?

Interesting how young Americans went abroad during the dark days of beer in the US and got a taste of full flavor lagers from Germany, ales from England and Belgium creating the microbrewery boom. It'd be interesting to see Germans come here and see what we were inspired to create and take that back to Germany.

 

[KCBrew]

The most pertinent part of the article is that the number of microbreweries in Germany has dropped by over 1300 in the last 20 years (ballpark). The exact opposite of whats happening here in the USA. Why? That's obviously debatable, but the reality sucks.

 

[Weizenwerks]

I was surprised to see how much it's own Reinheitsgebot has choked off much of the innovation and creativity

Pretty obvious to me. If you limit industry with regulation you prohibit innovation and the growth potential of the industry.

 

[o4_srt]

Pretty obvious to me. If you limit industry with regulation you prohibit innovation and the growth potential of the industry.

Reinheisgebot is not a law anymore, according to the article, but a majority of brewers still follow it as tradition. There is nothing stopping them from experimentation and innovation other than their attitude as it applies to what they think beer should be.

 

[rjwhite41]

The most pertinent part of the article is that the number of microbreweries in Germany has dropped by over 1300 in the last 20 years (ballpark). The exact opposite of whats happening here in the USA. Why? That's obviously debatable, but the reality sucks.

This is happening thoughout Europe as well. It has absolutely nothing to do with Reinheitsgebot in my eyes. I rarely drink any beer that wouldn't be allowed under that law other than the "artificial" carbonation provision. In my eyes a lot of the innovation that they speak of is turning beer into some sort of alcoholic juice. I don't drink any of that, I drink beer. Adding insane amounts of hops is allowed under their former law, they just never did it.

The real culprit here is something that Revvy alluded to; macrobreweries are taking over the world and have been for a long time. I'm not just talking BMC but all the large breweries in the world. Bud is owned by InBev which is a belgian company (does that mean it qualifies as belgian beer). Big breweries buy small breweries or they put them out of business by questionable business practices (such as temporarily lowering prices). It happened in this country to and only recently have microbrewies reversed the trend.

I don't want to see them putting rosemary in beer, I want someone to come along and say I brew a better Pilsener than you and I will prove it by letting the customer decide. Now if there is only one beer in town then there will be no competition to get better. Personally, I love German beer. I love almost all "traditional" beer styles (I include Belgian and trappist as traditional) and brew them exclusively. I always study up on a particular style of beer before I first brew it, I find that sh!t interesting.

 

[mpruett]

I can't offer any alternative reasons for the decline, but it certainly isn't Reinheitsgebot.

The article basically said that young Germans are Euro-trash who go to clubs and drink vodka & red bull and crap like Bacardi Breezers and similar sweet, fizzy drinks, instead of good, solid beer.

That's probably 90% of the problem- I doubt beer consumption has gone down among older folks.

 

[cfonnes]

I liked this statement from the article.

"No one wants to go back to the Dark Ages when beer was murky, dark, sour, and smoky, sometimes fattened up with roots, bone, ash, or squawking fowl."

Now that sounds like "traditional" brew that some home brewers would be very interested in.

 

[arturo7]

"No one wants to go back to the Dark Ages when beer was murky, dark, sour, and smoky, sometimes fattened up with roots, bone, ash, or squawking fowl."

I want a murky, sour ale that tastes like chikin!

 

[EricScott]

One of the things I've always been amazed at in Germany is that styles of beer that are very popular in one area/town are not even KNOWN OF in other parts of Germany.

I spent a good 15 minutes explaining what a "rauchbier" is, to a friend of mine from Oldenburg (somewhat north of Germany). He had never heard, seen, or tasted it.

I really think young Germans may be stuck with the mentality of "this is how it's been done since 1500 and it's also your father's beer".

It's a bit like trying to change the recipe for plain white bread. I've always had a good laugh in the last 10 years when I chat with Germans about beers brewed in the US and how we have more breweries than they do... They still think we're stuck with BMC here.

M_C

This is on the money. I lived in frankfurt for 2 years recently, not military (meaning, closely intermingling with germans) and was shocked to find how un adventurous, un informed, and sadly close minded most of them were when it comes to beer.
Bamberg is just 250 km from frankfurt yet none of my collegues had ever heard of rauchbier much less been there. I needed to order it online because it wasnt sold anywhere in the city.
To me, it seemed the attitude was "If it isn't brewed within 5 km of the bed I was born in, I don't know about it and don't want to know about it."
One disclaimer: apflewein is the drink of choice in frankfurt so my experience there might have been even more skewed away from the "lets try los of beers" attitude that's fueled the craft brew explosion in the US than I would have had in another german city

 

[doctorRobert]

It sounds like the opposite story of the US. Lots of craft brewers being taken over by the big boys. As a result beer quality decreased, and therefore consumption. I wonder what the distribution channels are like in Germany? Maybe the small brewer can't distribute. Or maybe not interested, the towns brewery should only sell beer in town, that is until beck's light has a big display at the food store.

 

[ArcaneXor]

Most Germans outside of Bavaria drink a national or regional lager and/or a local ale or lager. They get used to one or two styles of beer from childhood, and stick with it for the rest of their lives.
Take Cologne and Duesseldorf, for instance - The cities are almost adjacent to each other on opposite banks of the Rhine river, but it used to be nearly impossible to find a Koelsch in Duesseldorf or an Altbier in Cologne (though that has changed a bit over the last few years).
The problem is that many young people are going straight to mixed drinks (alcopops over there aren't malt-based, they actually contain real spirits) or even hard liquor these days, skipping over the relatively "boring" beer their grandparents drank.
Whenever I have had friends from Germany visit the U.S., they almost universally found American craft beer styles unpalatable - especially pale ales and IPAs. Those styles would have a very difficult time getting established in Germany.

 

[kcold0403]

Very interesting article, thanks for the post. My best friend is German and lives in Berlin and he has mentioned how cannabis has really been getting more popular. Not just the stoners who smoke every day, but instead of getting drunk people will smoke a joint and have a beer rather than slamming 6-7 beers down. Probably not the big reason for the decline but maybe one of the many little reasons.

 

[KCBrew]

I know a German guy, in his late 40s, who will only drink German Pilsners and wheat beers. And he's lived in the US for a long time, and likes to drink.

 

[unionrdr]

It's surprising that they don't like our pale ales. Maybe ours are way to hoppy for their traditional tastes? fine,more for me...lolz. I'm thinking their situation might improve if all the styles they still make would be shipped all over Germany. Get people to try beers from all over Germany,not just the town they live in. Then maybe they'd be open to a Germanic take on our craft beers?...

 

[MeatyPortion]

This is on the money. I lived in frankfurt for 2 years recently, not military (meaning, closely intermingling with germans) and was shocked to find how un adventurous, un informed, and sadly close minded most of them were when it comes to beer.
Bamberg is just 250 km from frankfurt yet none of my collegues had ever heard of rauchbier much less been there. I needed to order it online because it wasnt sold anywhere in the city.
To me, it seemed the attitude was "If it isn't brewed within 5 km of the bed I was born in, I don't know about it and don't want to know about it."
One disclaimer: apflewein is the drink of choice in frankfurt so my experience there might have been even more skewed away from the "lets try los of beers" attitude that's fueled the craft brew explosion in the US than I would have had in another german city

When my wife and I were in Munich we would sometimes hang out at a local bierhaus qhere we met and talked to a couple of regulars. One of them really loved Augustienr but disliked most other beers in the area. I mentioned that we were thinking of going to Beligum for a couple days to try the beer and he said he'd actually never had any of Belgian beers. I mean, they're pratically right next door...

 

[rexbanner]

The most pertinent part of the article is that the number of microbreweries in Germany has dropped by over 1300 in the last 20 years (ballpark). The exact opposite of whats happening here in the USA. Why? That's obviously debatable, but the reality sucks.

The most pertinent part for me is that America rules. AMURRRKAA!!

JK. But it's nice whenever I hear the old view of American beer as swill compared to beer in Germany to be able to say "Actually we have more of a beer culture here." IMO, we also brew better beer.

On some weekends I'm one of those club-going, vodka and redbull-drinking people this article is referring to. I'm pretty into trance and house music, and there is a lot of European snobby attitude in the culture. I get pretty tired of hearing how uncultured America is. Just to be clear, there are trashy, low-class people everywhere.