Trouble in Deutschland part 3 – No beer no joy

July 6, 11:21 AMBeer ExaminerCharlie Papazian

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I was at a recent convention in Hamburg, Germany.  Hamburg is far removed from Bavaria, but still reflects the mood and direction to which German beer culture is drifting.  A dozen German breweries were represented and serving their beers.  Almost every single one of them served pilsener.  Did they taste that different?  Mostly not.  Even the German beer enthusiast brewers were grumbling about the lack of diversity. “Here is Einbeck, a wonderful brewery that has a very interesting variety of beers.  They are only serving their pilsener and Ur Bock.  What a shame they don’t take pride in the diversity of beers they brew.” 

I was drawn to the Duckstein (owned by Carlsberg) booth, having had their deliciously complex dark lager a year earlier.  Now the dark has turned to amber and there is very little interesting malt complexity.  It is just another amber/dark (dunkel) lager, similar to most others. 

I did take a degree of delight while enjoying fresh Bitburger Pils, a beer that still engages hop flavor and aroma in their beer.  It was the only beer to do so, served at this convention.

Hamburg is an interesting city with dozens of museums, excellent food and entertainment.  It is the second largest port in all of Europe.  We dined at a very good restaurant.  It boasted of a long wine list.  The beer was practically non existent.  There was only one brand of beer served in the entire restaurant.  It was an international brand of pilsener, boring and very uninteresting.  Beer with dinner?  “It is assumed that you would never consider such a thing!” I was told by a German.  The beers came in only one size – 0.3 liters (that’s about 10 ounces) in a glass that was not beer clean.  What a shame.

The next evening we visited a small German “brewpub” called Groeninger Brauerei. There we had our yearly “fix” of crispy roasted pig knuckle (schweinhaxen).  This too was a small beer oasis in the city that is adrift with light international lager.  A mug of “Pilsener” which was actually an amber lager with rich toasted malt character. It was not at all a pils style, but I was not complaining nor disappointed.  It had a fresh brewed and herbal hop personality both in flavor and aroma.  A clean finish with a pleasant linger of hop bitterness.

From there I dove into their Maibock, an earthy low carbonated malt accent lager.  Excellent hop character with evidence of increased alcohol.  It was actually lighter in the finish than the pilsener.  I didn’t care what they were calling their beers, I was loving their distinctive flavors and balance, no where to be found elsewhere in Hamburg.

The red-light district is a really interesting place to roam, but not for beer.  Corona, Heineken, Miller Lite, Holsten (owned by Carlsberg) and other international brands predominated.  I searched and inquired, but found no evidence of any place serving a variety of German beers of interest.

You would have better luck finding diversity and interesting character in French, American, Chilean, Argentine or even German wine while in Germany.  But I’m not giving up.  I’ll always seek those small German breweries that have recognized the value in their independence and preserving the unique beer character that defines their brewery.  They are not easy to find.  If I can’t find them I am usually so disappointed that I prefer water to drinking uninteresting international-style light lagers, which to me simply don’t seem like beer. 

If you don’t know what you’re missing, seek and you will discover.  Sadly I don’t think there are enough of us beer adventurers who appreciate the past traditions and heritage of German beer to help stem the tide that is eroding German beer heritage.

Also see
Trouble in Deutschland part 1 - German beer culture in doubt
Trouble in Deutschland part 2 – German beer quality unsurpassed