# real beer **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 1, 2004, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-beer/231854 "2004-03-01T04:03:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![crass33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ac8455/32.png) [@crass33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crass33)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-beer/231854/1 "2004-03-01T04:03:49Z")
Why is it that you can’t buy real german beer in the U.S.? The alcohol content is higher than domestic beers, but they can sell hard alcohol. Is it because Budweiser know’s they aren’t the king of beer? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-beer/231854/2 "2004-03-01T04:17:18Z")
Depends what you mean by “real beer.” At the local liquer shop there are dozens of German brands on display. The smaller German microbrews probably don’t have the financial clout to export stuff oversees. ---
**Author:** ![TitoBenito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2acd7d/32.png) [@TitoBenito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TitoBenito)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-beer/231854/3 "2004-03-01T04:19:11Z")
Who say’s you can’t buy real German beer in the US? There are also many domestic beers that have more alcohol than many German beers. Make sure when you check alcoholic content that they are using the same system if you want to compare. Per weight and per volume are different things. ---
**Author:** ![crass33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ac8455/32.png) [@crass33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crass33)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-beer/231854/4 "2004-03-01T04:25:59Z")
There are plenty of german ‘brands’. most beer has a german name, but i’m talking about the ones that are brewed in Germany. The alcohol content is around 15 %. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-beer/231854/5 "2004-03-01T04:51:37Z")
> [@crass33](#): > > There are plenty of german ‘brands’. most beer has a german name, but i’m talking about the ones that are brewed in Germany. The alcohol content is around 15 %. What are you talking about? German beer alcohol content is generally around 5-6%. Yes, the stuff they sell in Germany. ---
**Author:** ![crass33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ac8455/32.png) [@crass33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crass33)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-beer/231854/6 "2004-03-01T04:56:04Z")
have you been to Germany pulykamel? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-beer/231854/7 "2004-03-01T05:05:27Z")
> [@crass33](#): > > have you been to Germany pulykamel? About twenty or thirty times, so yes. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-beer/231854/8 "2004-03-01T05:09:58Z")
OK, it’s nay impossible to get an alcoholic content of 15% in beer. Here’s something I found on the world’s strongest beer: > [@](#): > > The local brewery in Einbeck still produces an excellent bock. With the prefix to proclaim its originality, this is labelled Einbecker Ur-Bock. A good few miles to the south, through Hesse and into Bavaria, the EKU brewery of Kulmbach, not far from Bayreuth, produces a doppelbock of 13.2 per cent, which is the world’s strongest beer. > > This is no mean feat, since an alcohol concentration of much over 11 per cent kills even the most patiently tenacious of brewing yeasts and thus arrests fermentation. The EKU brewery’s answer to this is to refrigerate the beer until ice starts to appear. Since water freezes before alcohol, the removal of some ice strengthens the beer by concentration. The result is astonishingly potent but too thick to be very agreeable, even when its syrupy quality is offset by chilling. Read here on alcoholic contents of beers: [http://www.theraven.com/beer.html](http://www.theraven.com/beer.html) The stronger German brews, such as Spaten, only go to between 6 and 7 per cent. ---
**Author:** ![crass33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ac8455/32.png) [@crass33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crass33)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-beer/231854/9 "2004-03-01T05:10:42Z")
So you’re telling me that when you buy a Beck’s in Germany, it’s exactly the same as a Beck’s in the U.S.? ---
**Author:** ![crass33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ac8455/32.png) [@crass33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crass33)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-beer/231854/10 "2004-03-01T05:15:09Z")
n/m, it must be another ingredient…maybe more barley, i just looked it up on a website…ok, new question: why does beer taste better in Germany? ---
**Author:** ![Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-beer/231854/11 "2004-03-01T05:15:35Z")
No. He’s saying that neither is 15% alcohol. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-beer/231854/12 "2004-03-01T05:18:26Z")
> [@crass33](#): > > So you’re telling me that when you buy a Beck’s in Germany, it’s exactly the same as a Beck’s in the U.S.? Whether it’s exactly the same, I can’t tell you. The alcoholic content, though, should be about the same. Export Becks should be around 5% by volume. From what I remember, the bottled stuff in Germany actually tastes a lot like what you get in America. If you want to try German beers, I’d stay away from Beck’s. Try Spaten, Hacker Pschorr, Paulaner, Munchener Kindl Hefeweizen, etc. You’ll get up to 7.5% alcoholic content on those, but, still, they will generally be in the 5-7% range. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-beer/231854/13 "2004-03-01T05:19:31Z")
> [@crass33](#): > > n/m, it must be another ingredient…maybe more barley, i just looked it up on a website…ok, new question: why does beer taste better in Germany? Draft beer does taste better closer to its source – that’s for sure. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-beer/231854/14 "2004-03-01T05:26:57Z")
I don’t know if this could be a source of confusion, as it pertains more to Czech and Slovak beers, but beers from this part of the world come in varieties ranging from 6-19%. This does not refer to alcoholic content but rather malt extract. For example, in Slovakia you can 9%, 10%, 11% & 12% Zlaty Bazant (Golden Pheasant), but they all have an alcoholic content of under 5%. ---
**Author:** ![crass33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ac8455/32.png) [@crass33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crass33)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-beer/231854/15 "2004-03-01T05:29:57Z")
I was going by the myth that one german beer is equivalent to 3 american beers, which at the time seemed very plausible. And i did drink at an EKU bar in mannheim. So, sorry about the stupid question, but after living in germany, i realized how crappy american beer is. ---
**Author:** ![crass33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ac8455/32.png) [@crass33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crass33)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-beer/231854/16 "2004-03-01T05:38:44Z")
Thanks pulykamel, that would explain the taste. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-beer/231854/17 "2004-03-01T05:42:14Z")
The strongest beer in the world is brewed in America, at 24% . [http://www.beeradvocate.com/news/pr\_arch\_read/173/](http://www.beeradvocate.com/news/pr_arch_read/173/) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-beer/231854/18 "2004-03-01T05:52:28Z")
The problem with a lot of the American macrobrews is that they cut the barley with other grains, such as rice or corn. The German beer purity law states that beer should only be made of three ingredients: malted barley, hops, and water (and yeast nowadays.) Cutting the malted barley with other cheaper grains does little for the flavor, and gives the big-brewery American beers a much less malty and lighter taste. That said, there are plenty of good American beers to be had if you know where to look. People rave about microbrews, but there are A LOT of microbrew beers which are only marginally better than their mass-produced counterparts. But any big metropolitan area should have a decent brewery. In Chicago, the Goose Island brewery actually produces quite a lot of good beers, and if you can get it on tap, even better. The Honker’s Ale is crisp, malty, and has the unmistakeable hint of grapefruit in its flavor. As for bigger brewers, I contend that Sam Adams is a very good beer – in fact, with the exception of a Pilsner Urquell from tap in the Czech Republic, my favorite lager. It’s much better than Beck’s or Warsteiner or Hofbrau. The American market is slowly getting better educated in beers, and I think the popularity of Sam Adams has a lot to do with that. Go to a decent bar with a good selection of beers on tap, and try some of the local stuff. There are excellent American beers out there. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-beer/231854/19 "2004-03-01T05:54:07Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > The strongest beer in the world is brewed in America, at 24% . > > [http://www.beeradvocate.com/news/pr\_arch\_read/173/](http://www.beeradvocate.com/news/pr_arch_read/173/) AHHH!! You know, I thought I had seen that before somewhere. Wonder what it tastes like… ---
**Author:** ![crass33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ac8455/32.png) [@crass33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crass33)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-beer/231854/20 "2004-03-01T05:57:06Z")
well, i guess i’m glad i asked this stupid question. Now i have to find that Sam Adams beer. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-beer/231854.md?page=2)