Comments on: Germany and Rate Beer 2010

By: Ron Pattinson

Ron Pattinson — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 12:07:15 +0000

There’s no need to drop the sugar to make a Reinheitsgebot Tripel. As it’s a top-fermented beer, sugar is allowed.

By: Jeff Alworth

Jeff Alworth — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 20:37:50 +0000

I interviewed BridgePort Brewmaster Karl Ockert for their 25th anniversary last fall. He had a fascinating anecdote I think is highly germane. I don’t think I posted this one my blog, so it’s sort of an Appellation Beer exclusive:

“Where the brewing world used to completely dismiss American hops–and now those American aromatic hops are highly sought after by brewers from all over the UK. The ones in Europe are a little bit stuck because they’ve really painted themselves into a corner–this is what pilsner tastes like. This is the problem with lager beers; they’re so well-defined. When you make a pilsner, everyone knows exactly what it should taste like. When you start putting Cascades and Amarillos and Simcoes in there, it’s not a pilsner anymore–it’s something weird. You better call it an ale at that point, because nobody’s going to know what the hell it is.”

“I went to Schneider brewery a couple weeks ago and the lab guy was showing us through, and he absolutely loves this kind of stuff. I sent him a case of our IPA, our Hop Harvest, and our Hop Czar. I just got an email back from him and he said, “Oh my God, this stuff is just great–it’s like nectar. Right now we’re all sipping your Hop Czar, and it’s like nectar.” They can’t get that.”

By: Sean Inman

Sean Inman — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 23:31:56 +0000

Every time I look at a Beer Advocate or Rate Beer “Best” list, I skip over who is number one and what styles dominate and try to dig a little deeper. Is there a brewery with multiple top beers across the style spectrum? Which “out of favor” beer (IE Pilsner or nut brown) has made the list? Any newcomers? There is pertinent information to be gleaned form the list but the horse race doesn’t interest me at all.

Two of my favorite all-time beers are German. fresh Gose from the Bayerischer Banhof and Hefeweizen from Landskron. I would take an ounce of either before a bottle of Dark Lord or Black Tuesday.

By: Tom from Raleigh

Tom from Raleigh — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:46:00 +0000

Great article from AAB. This all makes me think Stone should open a brewery in Germany and shake up the German beer market.

By: Stan Hieronymus

Stan Hieronymus — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 17:41:07 +0000

Sorry, Andrea. As I wrote I was being flip. I meant to imply were you to read only the Rate Beer Top 100 you might think (with the exception of Ayinger) Germans no longer brew great beer – so sales are suffering.

I’d much rather drink a (good) helles, dunkel or weizen than the 33rd best imperial stout on whatever list.

BTW, we saw busloads of Italian tourists throughout Bavaria (and in different seasons, given the weaving nature of our trip last year) knocking back German beers.

By: Andrea Turco

Andrea Turco — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 17:27:44 +0000

In my opinion Ratebeer simply doesn’t care about German beers. The ratings are more focused on “American philosophy” or exotic beers. But how can we define “boring” the German beers? Ok most of them are Helles, Dunkel and Weizen, but there are a lot of wonderful breweries, that make amazing beers. There are a lot of regional rarities…
I can’t see a link between Ratebeer rankings and the trend of beer sales in Germany

By: Stan Hieronymus

Stan Hieronymus — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 16:51:37 +0000

Oops. Thanks, Tim.

By: Tim

Tim — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 16:39:43 +0000

You seem to have missed the one German beer on the list, Ayinger Celebrator. I don’t think it affects your point though. That RB list is irrelevant to normal people.