Tell me about German Style Beer

Cafe Society
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It’s September, and around this time of year I frequently find myself wishing that I knew more about the German style beers that are available for purchase at my local BevMo. As a rule I drink mostly ales in my home, but with Oktoberfest coming up I have been wanting to try some quality Pilsners or Lagers, really anything a little different and vaguely Bavarian. I know nothing about them though, so I turn to the SDMB for help.

Who makes quality German style beers? They need not actually be from Germany (though an import recommendation would be appreciated). What should I be on the lookout for if I am looking for something that is high quality? What should I know about the differences in the basic styles?

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Though Utah is sure as hell not blessed with a BevMo (putting it mildly;)), I have been to a couple in my time, and if you have one of the 5 liter mini-keg systems, there are some excellent choices to be had, including

Krombacher Pils
Paulaner Hefe-Weisbier
Konig Pilsner
Spaten Oktoberfest

I don’t know if it is just me, but in my opinion, German beer does not travel too well (in fact IMHO, most pilsners–my personal favorite style of beer–are not great when shipped across the Atlantic, at least in bottles, kegs and mini-kegs are usually OK) but by getting the mini-kegs, the beer is much tastier and you also seem to have many choices and brands that are not offered for sale in bottles in North America.

While Czech pilsners are excellent, I have never had a German pils that I didn’t love—I just wish that I had access to a place with a selection even 1/10th as good as BevMo…

3

There really aren’t that many styles of german beers.

Ales: 2 kinds

**Alt: ** German style ale- not like most other ales though. Dark, malty, medium body, bitter, slightly funky)

I can’t think of any examples.

**Kolsch: **Sort of like a Pilsener fermented with ale yeast. Light in color, medium body, somewhat bitter, refreshing.

St. Arnold’s Lawnmower is supposedly a Kolsch.

Lagers: several kinds

**Pilsener: ** Light colored, fairly bitter, no roasted malt flavor, malty flavor. Kind of like Budweiser’s ornery big brother on steroids. German adaptation of Czech Pilsner style.

Konig Pilsner, Warsteiner, Paulaner Pils are all decent examples.

Dunkel: Traditional Munich beer - dark, very malty, sweet, not particularly bitter.

Paulaner and Spaten both make good examples.

Helles: Munich’s attempt at a pale lager- light, very malty, sweet, not particularly bitter.

Spaten Light is the most common Helles you’ll find.

Dortmunder: Light lager between pilsener and helles in terms of bitterness and body, slightly darker.

Dortmunder Union used to be available sometimes. Shiner Frost was a seasonal Dortmunder by the Shiner brewery in Texas.

Schwarzbier: Black lager- malty, roasty, almost opaque, drier than a Dunkel, not terribly bitter

Kostritzer, Shiner Black Lager

Oktoberfest/Marzen: Malty, copper colored, somewhat bitter.

Paulaner, Spaten, Hacker-Pschorr, Warsteiner all make Oktoberfests that are available.
Wheat beers:

Hefe-Weizen: Fermented with special yeast that gives it banana, bubblegum and clove flavors. Cloudy and pale in color.

Paulaner Hefe-Weizen, Franziskaner

**Dunkelweizen: ** Dark wheat beer- same yeast as Hefe-Weizen

Franziskaner Dunkel

Berliner Weisse: Fermented with cultures that make it distinctly tangy.

Never had one; never seen one!

4

A lot of the time the Berliner Weisse is served with a shot of raspberry syrup poured directly into the glass—I enjoyed it, but some of the others in my group were not impressed…

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Hmm, I thought a beer thread would get a little more action than this one has (thanks to bump and MPB for their contributions so far).

Since it seems that German beer doesn’t import well, are there any companies making good German beers in the US? We can leave off Hefe-Weizen’s since I know lots of micro-brews that make those. Although comparisons of American versions to the German originals are welcome.

Um…if this thread is way too narrow we could open it up to just talk of anything that isn’t a standard ale. I hate it when my threads die on the vine. I am mostly looking to try something a little different than my usual brown ale or IPA and the coming of Oktoberfest got me thinking of Germany.

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Mmmm, Oktoberfest is my favorite style of beer. Of all the craft Oktoberfest beers I’ve had, my favorite is Becks. But also up there is Spaten and Rogue’s Maierfest (brewed in Colorado).

Personally I’m not a big fan of anything by Sam Adams other then Boston Lager. Everything they make is so distinctly Sam Adams I don’t bother. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some Boston Lager, but if I’m having an Oktoberfest, I don’t want to drink an Oktoberfest flavored Sam Adams.

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I think I’m gonna print out your whole post just to have as a quick reference! Just to add one to the wheat beers, there’s also the Kristallweizen which is like a hefe but the yeast is filtered out of the final product so it’s clear, while the hefe is cloudy.

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If we’re expanding from German beers, I can heartily recommend Ayinger Brau-Weisse. Yes, it’s a hefeweizen, but it’s a really GOOD hefeweizen, unlike most (but not all) American microbrew hefeweizen. Very yummy on a crisp autumn day.

If you really want to try something different, go for a Flanders Red Ale of some sort. My favorites are Monkand Duchesse de Bourgogne. Not a beer for everyone, but boy-oh-boy I sure do like 'em.

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I just finished off a case of Bitburger, a German import. We liked their “Bitte ein Bit” slogan on the box/bottles so much that my gf and I began using it. If one of us were headed for the basement (where the beer refrig is) the other would shout, “Bitte ein Bit”. Which is why the case only lasted a few days.

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I’ve been to that brewery in Germany!

I hate to have to say this, but if you want to drink German beers, you have to go to Germany. I don’t know if we require pasteurization for import or what, but the beers you can buy in the US don’t taste anything like they do in Germany. The only way I can think of describing it is the difference between bread right out of the oven and the same loaf a day later.

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Surly Brewery in the Twin cities makes a seasonal german beer, Surlyfest. And also a much darker German lager, Smoke.

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And of course, yes it is German. For some reason I was thinking it was Belgian. Someday I am going to perfect my device that doesn’t allow me to post before two full cups of coffee and we will no longer have these kinds of mistakes.

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Someone’s already mentioned Shiner, no need to go any further :smiley:

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You could certainly do worse. And most Shiner varieties are available in California.

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Agreed in spirit. You can get some very good german imports, but they are all better in Germany. No surprise, I am sure that any quality American beer (and there are many) will be better at the source compared to having it shipped halfway across the world.

The best german beer I ever had was at a local brewery on the Neckar River - we were taking a ferry up the river and stopped at a local no-name brewery beergarten. It was the middle of June, hot, and the hefeweisen was FANTASTIC - easily the best I have ever had. Unfortunately, they don’t ship - so I need to go back there.

The Flanders red ales are great if you have a taste for them, but in keeping with the thread, they are Belgian, not German.

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I took the OP up on his offer of "Um…if this thread is way too narrow we could open it up to just talk of anything that isn’t a standard ale. "

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It’s got vinegar and bacon in it???

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Speaking of weiss beers, Hacker Pschorr makes a terrific one which is readily available 'round these parts. It (like most wheat beers) is cloudy since it’s not filtered. Really, really tasty. Just pour it into the glass carefully - it’s very hyper due to the added yeast.

Otis Campbell knows a thing or two about brewski.

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A few German beer types were left off the list. More were left off than this—I’ll let someone else tackle Rauchenbier, for example—but it’s a shame that Dopplebock wasn’t mentioned. A subset of the Bock family of lagers, Dopplebocks:

Paulaner’s Salvator (the grandaddy of them all) Spaten’s Optimator, Ayinger’s Celebrator: all are very good, and few beers are better at knocking back the chill on a cold fall day than dopplebocks. Though you could add this to the Wheat Beer list, Schneider Weiss’s Wheat Dopplebock, Aventinus is widely available in the U.S. and is excellent. Contra the wiki reference above, Aventinus is not an Eisbock, though they do make an Eisbock version of it, and it is excellence squared.

If you’re near Beverages and More, then perhaps you live near the San Francisco Bay Area. If so, Gordon Biersch makes tasty examples of Germanic beers (I like their Marzen most of all.) with multiple brew-pubs. If you don’t like their beer, at least try their garlic fries. I find the beer much better at their brew-pub than in bottle, but YMMV.

If you’re in the Davis, CA area, Sudwerk makes excellent Germanic beer, with my favorite Pilsner style beer anywhere in the U.S. It’s locally distributed at retail as well. I’ve not been, but I drool at the thought of visiting Bell’s or New Glarus breweries, both of which are supposed to make great bock-styled beer.

De gustibus and all that, but I’m not a fan of Shiner at all. (And oddly, Shiner Bock isn’t really a bock, according to the definition) To me, it tastes like they started with good beer and then muted the flavor some how. The tour is, however, a lot of fun. They are very proud of their beer, and the copper brew kettles are gorgeous.

Saint Arnold Brewing Company, OTOH, makes pretty good German style beers, as was already mentioned by bump for their Kolsch-style Fancy Lawnmower. They are doing a draft-only version of their Lawnmower, as well as several others, with Bavarian hefe-weizen yeast. This limited edition of Lawnmower is known as Weed Wacker. I’ve had it and it’s noticeably different. Heavier, which isn’t necessarily what you want in a lighter style lager, but still quite good. Looking forward to the others in the series, as well as their next Divine Reserve.

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A better article on the Moveable Yeast series from Saint Arnold. And another vote for Ayinger as a somewhat-easily found in the U.S., producer of good German wheat beer. Schneider Weiss’s other products are excellent too. The product of their collaboration with Brooklyn Brewery, Brooklyner-Schneider Hopfen-Weisse, is well worth your time and money to try.