Why would a German beer drinker pay the equivalent of $4.20 for a 12-ounce bottle of Brooklyn Lager? It’s an excellent beer, but that’s quite a markup over what it costs in the United States and considerably more than Germans pay from any of several outstanding beers.
I don’t have an answer.
Maybe it is somehow related to the fact Berlin Is a Haven of Hip. Consider this from a Washington Post story that got a lot of attention last week: “At a recent tasting in one Berlin bar, guests sipped craft beers out of special vessels shaped like wineglasses that helped concentrate the aromas of the brew. The bar was furnished in a decidedly Berlin style — it was a subterranean lair where beakers of bubbling fluorescent liquids served as decoration, the tables appeared to be made from welded-together car parts, and fake stalactites hung from the ceiling.”
Not quite like drinking beer in Franconia.
That’s not actually what struck me first when I read the story, and compressed a bunch of words into something almost meaningless on Twitter. It was the simple arrogance of this.
“The German beer industry has to reinvent itself in a hurry, or it’s going to be a small fraction of what it is now,” said Eric Ottaway, the general manager of Brooklyn Brewery, which has been expanding in Europe and has been exporting its beer to Germany through Braufactum, which sells a 12-ounce bottle of Brooklyn Lager in upscale grocery stores for the equivalent of $4.20 — almost three times its typical American price.
And this.
“This was simply to fill a void,” he said. “We feel as if we’re teaching a lot of Germans things about their own beer culture that they’ve forgotten.”
He is Matt Walthall, one of three American expats who have launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise enough money to open a brewery.
German drinkers sure are lucky those guys showed up.
OK, that was snide. Steam blown off. A lot of good in that story, and to be fair, Ottaway has a point. Reinvent itself is a bit strong, but German brewers need to make changes. Oh, wait, some are. Those particular ones just aren’t in this story. So a few links to fill in the gaps:
– Sylvia Kopp’s excellent story from five years ago in All About Beer magazine: Ruled by the Reinheitsgebot?
– The (Real) Beer Nut’s up-to-date report from Munich called The shape of things to come.
– An article in the 2012/2013 edition of Hopfen (a pdf) about the Bier-Quer-Denker workshops gives you a good idea of who well attended they’ve become.
We should start exporting Deesko to Berlin.
“The German beer industry has to reinvent itself in a hurry, or it’s going to be a small fraction of what it is now,”
Yeah, at $4.20 a bottle!
There’s been a lot of discussion about this on the German forum at BA. From my view it reminds me of the small revolution youth in England went through back in (IIRC) the early ’90s; “We don’t want to drink our grandfather’s beer.”
Then you add the internet to it and these young Germans see all of the “interesting” beers available in the U.S. and I think they’re feeling left out.
To me (as a codger) I see the loss of tradition in good German brewing, but many say it’s just evolution. Nonetheless, I have good sources in the old country who tell me there is still tradition to be had in many places.
I’d be sad to know I couldn’t find a good Dunkel in Munich anymore and have to settle on some odd incarnation of an Imperial Stout.
thread hijack (although I’ll try to find some way to relate it to the topic at hand…)! Steve, I think I recall you saying here or elsewhere that you were a Baderbrau fan back in the day and could remember what it tasted like — what do you think of the new version? (And my apologies if I’ve mistaken you for somebody else… I’m getting old in ways both positive and, um, not-positive) I like it a lot, even as I have no idea if it resembles what I drank years back. To relate it to this thread — psychologically, I accept paying a few dollars more for American craft ales and their imported counterparts, because when they arrived on the scene, they were in essence brand new — other than Guinness, there was nothing else like them. But when American craft lagers start coming in at $10+ a sixpack, I resist, even as I’d pay that for American craft ales — because the large-brewery equivalents cost significantly less. I’m enjoying Baderbrau (or brews by Metropolitan, or Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold or the Kolsch-style brew by New Holland) a lot more than, say, the American version of Beck’s or cheaper Czech/German brews whose freshness is suspect… but the price comparison keeps me from making them a regular brew. So when I see folks in Germany willing to pay $4.20 a bottle for Brooklyn Lager… wow.
Bill, (fortunately for Stan) I haven’t tried the new Baderbrau — hell, I haven’t even seen it anywhere. I’ll keep looking.
Hey, I ‘d like to try it again, too. Although, honestly, don’t think I could pick it out in a crowd.
I meant “fortunately for Stan” because we wouldn’t take up too much of the thread…
Oh…
😉
I think currently it’s just at Binny’s locations and in bars/restaurants.
That’s nothing. I saw Sierra Nevada pale ale for $7 at a well known Toronto beer bar. What is being exported appears to be hype based inflation. And monoculture. No dunkles? How many normal unbarrelled dry stouts can you find in US craft brewery listings? How many 5% brown ales? What got us here?
Can’t speak for TO but here in Ottawa any craft bottle at a bar will cost at least 6 bucks. Hell, you pay 7.50 for a pint of nothing more than Keith’s in some places. The LCBO prices make markup of this level necessary for profitability in bars and restaurants, the sad truth is that many craft beer bottles start at 2.50 in the LCBO and just go up from there.
Steve – Perhaps it is overly optimistic, or even Pollyana, but I don’t think this means that traditional flavorful beers need disappear.
For instance, the ongoing growth of IPAs, sour beers, whatever, has not slowed sales of Victory Prima Pils. There are a lot of technically sound, but pretty boring, beers in Germany. Those are the ones the new generation isn’t interested in drinking. Do the others suffer from guilt by association? Maybe. But if the conversation turns to flavor, then I think the dunkels you like will do fine.
Of course, I’m often wrong.
There is a complex story behind this story, and a far better one. I don’t think anyone really argues that Germany has come to a crossroads. Beer sales are way down and there’s a reflexive expectation among drinkers about what beer is that stifles innovation. I heard this from at least four German brewers and a couple German immigrants who now ply American waters because it’s such a wide vista (both still largely brew German styles). But the article’s tone and those quotes you highlight–they’re the classic example of the toxic blend of hubris and ignorance that so often afflict American craft brewing.
Stan, you directed me to Schneider and the remarkable work of Hans-Peter Drexler. His imagination was originally sparked by a visit to the US, and he now makes hoppy and barrel-aged beers. But that doesn’t mean he wasn’t able to beforehand. These are really old techniques not alien to the world’s most knowledgable brewers. (How many Americans actually go to brewing school before hanging out a shingle.)
In the span of 30 years, Americans rediscovered the art of small-batch brewing and the traditions of breweries in England, Belgium, and Germany. Somewhere along the line they forgot that it was a rediscovery–too many seem to think they discovered it first.
As a Brit beer blogger living in Germany, I’d say you’re about right on all counts. It’s instructive that, as I understand it from talking to Schneider & other brewery reps, the innovative stuff is really just for export outside Bavaria – ultra-conservative Bavarians won’t buy it and the breweries are wary of trying to sell it there.
Ha, Brooklyn Lager’s a good beer, but there are plenty of German lagers that are just as good and probably a lot cheaper. There seems to be a certain amount of disdain for German beer from the craft beer scene, which I don’t think can be justified.
And beer sales are down everywhere, aren’t they?
But, Jeff, why is the brewing of “hoppy and barrel-aged beers” by Germans the indication of any innovation? It’s just more copycatting and narrowing of the market. Now if someone were to innovate on the theme of a dunkle, now that would would be both indigenous and innovative.
Interestingly, the Vorläufiges Biergesetz, which is the current law of the land in Germany, allows sugar adjuncts and all kinds of malt in ales. It still limits lagers to barley malt only for domestic beer, but exporters can use adjuncts.
Why German brewers don’t make more esoteric brews, well, some do, like Stan mentioned above. Historically, north German brewers made beer very similar to the ales currently made in Belgium (Kirschenbier, Zitronenbier, misc. beers from the Berliner Weisse/Gose/Witbier family).
Some of the German homebrewers I know are very, very into American craft beer. One guy I know only brews and drinks IPAs. I have a feeling, German beer today is like American beer was in 1990, and homebrewers will support and develop the nascent “craft” beer industry in Germany.
As an Irishman living in Germany, Braufactumm the importers for Broolyn and other brands, irritate me as they put a huge premium on everything they sell (including their own beers, brewed in the Radeberger group family, and generally very tasty indeed), aimed towards the “gourmet” market. A few German brewers have followed suit, with 750ml, barrel-aged IPAs, at eye-watering prices, but there are many other doing interesting things at decent prices (Hopfenstopfer, Freigeist, FritzAle, etc…). I can’t complain about German brewers taking a leaf out of the US/UK scene, even if playing catchup, as there’s plenty of room for different flavours, but ripping people off with imports and “gourmet” isn’t my idea of fun, and does nothing to help address the decline in consumption here.
Thanks for chiming in, Barry. I’ve heard great things about Braufactumm beers, but I haven’t had a chance to try any. I’ve also noticed – perhaps in your blog – the prices indicate they consider them rather precious.
The story mentions Germany being 30 years behind America. That’s an overstatement, but it does bring to mind that Anchor, Sierra Nevada, Sam Adams beers were more expensive than mainstream beers, for obvious reasons, but they were aimed at as broad a market as possible. Treating beer as a luxury rally narrows the market – although perhaps it increases the chances the Washington Post will write about your beer.
Imports are always more expensive, probably because of transport expense. It’s not necessarily some calculated move. Most retailers have a “standard” markup and don’t think too hard about price positioning.
Schneider’s Tap X Mein Nelson Sauvin costs $19.99 at Springfield’s Wine Center. My friend in Munich can buy it for 8€. A bag of Weyermann Tennenmalz costs 28€ in Germany, but my LHBS sells it for $80.
Nate – Even at $20 for Mein Nelson Sauvin (which I think I last paid $18 for) that’s less than double the price (figuring 8€ is about $10.40), but Boston Lager costs more than three times what it would in the States.
Maybe just for some perspective, the price in the article is clearly bar price. Braufactum sell Brooklyn Lager for $3.88 (current exchange rate) online, compared to $2.97 for Sierra Nevada Pale Ale or Flying Dog Doggie Style, sold by another online retailer. Imports I expect to cost more, for sure, but these guys do add quite a markup to suit their own branding. But I suppose they at least they do it across the board, as their own, locally brewed beers, a Weizen Pale Ale, for example, will cost you $7.78 for a 330ml bottle. It’s a lovely beer, but you’re paying for the style and “gourmet” branding. Anyway, my point is that imports can also be reasonably priced, taking into account transport etc, and good US beer is available at decent prices here in Germany too.
I can also by a case of 24 bottles of Tannenzaepfle for just over $18, which I do, often, but there’s always room for a little more variety 🙂