Beer in Germany

A Kranz (wreath) of Kölsch beer.

Beer is a major part of German culture. For many years German beer was brewed in adherence to the Reinheitsgebot order or law which only permitted water, hops and malt as beer ingredients until its repeal in 1988. The order also required that beers not exclusively using barley-malts such as wheat beer must be top-fermented. Since 1993, the production of beer has been governed by the Provisional German Beer Law which allows a greater range of ingredients and additives.

The Germans are behind only the Czechs and the Irish in their per capita consumption of beer.

Reinheitsgebot

Main article: Reinheitsgebot

The Reinheitsgebot (literally "purity order"), sometimes called the "German Beer Purity Law" or the "Bavarian Purity Law" in English, is a regulation concerning the production of beer in Germany. In the original text, the only ingredients that could be used in the production of beer were water, barley, and hops. After its discovery, yeast became the fourth legal ingredient. For top-fermenting beers the use of sugar is also permitted.

There is a dispute as to where the Reinheitsgebot originated. Some Bavarians point out that the law originated in the city of Ingolstadt in the duchy of Bavaria on 23 April 1516, although first put forward in 1487, concerning standards for the sale and composition of beer. Thuringians point to a document which states the ingredients of beer as water, hops and barley only, and was written in 1434 in Weißensee (Thuringia). It was discovered in the medieval Runneburg near Erfurt in 1999. Before its official repeal in 1987, it was the oldest food quality regulation in the world.

Styles

Wheat beers

• Weizenbier and Weißbier are the standard German names for wheat beer - "Weizen" is German for "wheat", and "weiss" is German for "white".
• Weizenbock is the name for a strong beer or bock made with wheat. 16-17° Plato, 6.5-8% ABV.
• Roggenbier — a fairly dark beer made with rye, somewhat grainy flavour similar to bread, 4.5-6% ABV.
• Berliner Weisse — a pale, very sour, wheat beer brewed in Berlin. 9° Plato, 2.5-5% ABV. The beer is typically served with raspberry- or woodruff-flavoured syrup.
• Leipziger Gose — an amber, very sour, wheat beer with an addition of salt, brewed around Leipzig. 10-12° Plato, 4-5% ABV.
• Hefeweizen — an unfiltered wheat beer. 'Hefe' is German for yeast.
• Kristallweizen is a filtered wheat beer.

Pale beers

• Kölsch — pale, light-bodied, beer which can only legally be brewed in the Köln region. 11-12° Plato, 4.5-5% ABV.
• Helles — a pale lager from Bavaria of 11-12° Plato, 4.5-5% ABV
• Pilsener — a pale lager with a light body and a more prominent hop character. 11-12° Plato, 4.5-5% ABV. By far the most popular style, with around two thirds of the market.
• Altbier — a dark amber, hoppy beer brewed around Düsseldorf. 11-12° Plato, 4.5-5% ABV.
• Export — a pale lager brewed around Dortmund that is fuller, maltier and less hoppy than Pilsner. 12-12.5° Plato, 5-5.5% ABV. Germany's most popular style in the 1950s and 1960s, it's becoming increasingly rare.
• Spezial — a pale, full, bitter-sweet and delicately hopped lager. 13-13.5° Plato, 5.5-5.7% ABV.
• Bock — an amber, heavy-bodied, bitter-sweet lager. 16-17° Plato, 6.5-7% ABV.
• Maibock — a pale, strong lager brewed in the Spring. 16-17° Plato, 6.5-7% ABV.
• Eisbock — a freeze distilled variation of Doppelbock. 18-28° Plato, 9-15% ABV.
• Märzen — medium body, malty lagers that come in pale, amber and dark varieties. 13-14° Plato, 5.2-6% ABV. The type of beer traditionally served at the Munich Oktoberfest.

Dark beers

• Schwarzbier — a bottom-fermented, dark lager beer with a full, roasty, chocolatey flavor. 11-12° Plato, 4.5-5% ABV.
• Dunkles — dark lager which comes in two main varieties: the sweetish, malty Munich style and the drier, hoppy Franconian style
• Dunkler Bock — a strong, full-bodied lager darkened by high-coloured malts. 16-17° Plato, 6.5-7% ABV.
• Rauchbier — usually dark in color and smoky in taste from the use of smoked malt. A speciality of the Bamberg region. 12-13° Plato, 5-5.5% ABV
• Doppelbock — a very strong, very full-bodied lager darkened by high-coloured malts. 18-28° Plato, 8-12% ABV.

A mug of unfiltered Eichbaum Kellerbier

Unfiltered beer

• Kellerbiers are unfiltered lagers which are conditioned in a similar manner to cask ales. Strength and colour will vary, though in the Franconia region where these cask conditioned lagers are still popular, the strength will tend to be 5% abv or slightly higher, and the colour will tend to be a deep amber, but the defining characteristic is the cask conditioning. Kellerbier is German for "cellar beer".

• Zwickelbier was originally a sample amount of beer taken by a brewery boss from the barrel with a help of a special pipe called a "Zwickelhahn". Zwickelbiers are unfiltered lagers like Kellerbier, though with a slightly different conditioning process which gives the lager more carbonation. Zwickelbiers tend to be younger, lower in alcohol and less hoppy than Kellerbiers. A very similar beer is Zoiglbier.

Brands and breweries

While the beer market is weaker but more centralized in northern Germany, the south has lots of smaller local breweries. Almost half of all German breweries are in Bavaria. In total, there are approximately 1300 breweries in Germany producing over 5000 brands of beer. The highest density of breweries in the world is found near the city of Bamberg, in the Franconia region of Bavaria. The Benedictine abbey Weihenstephan brewery (established in 725) is reputedly the oldest existing brewery in the world (brewing since 1040). In 2004 Oettinger replaced Krombacher as the best selling brand in Germany.

Top ten of Germany's best selling beer brands.

Brewery	Output in 2008 in million hectolitres	City
Oettinger	6.61	Oettingen
Krombacher	5.45	Kreuztal
Bitburger	3.86	Bitburg
Warsteiner	2.98	Warstein
Beck's	2.93	Bremen
Hasseröder	2.63	Wernigerode
Veltins	2.56	Meschede
Paulaner	2.17	Munich
Radeberger	1.79	Radeberg
Sternburg	1.64	Leipzig

Alcohol content

The alcohol-by-volume, or ABV, content of beers in Germany is usually between 4.7% and 5.4% for most traditional brews. Bockbier or Doppelbock (double Bockbier) can have an alcohol content of up to 16%, making it stronger than many wines.

Glassware

• 
  Elaborate earthenware beer steins
• 
  Common half-litre Humpen or beer mug.
• 
  Decorative glass humpen
• 
  A weizen glass
• 
  Warsteiner glass
• 
  Dunkel beer in a glass
• 
  A stange
• 
  A Maßkrug of Augustiner Bräu.
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  German "Beer boot"

Weizen glasses

A weizen glass is used to serve wheat beer. Originating in Germany the glass is narrow at the bottom and slightly wider at the top; the width both releasing aroma, and providing room for the often thick, fluffy heads produced by wheat beer. It tends to be taller than a pint glass, and generally holds 500 millilitres with room for foam or "head". In some countries, such as Belgium, the glass may be 250 ml or 330 ml.

Wheat beers tend to foam a lot, especially if poured incorrectly. In pubs, if the bottle is handed to the patron for self pouring, it is customary for the glass to be taken to the patron wet or with a bit of water in the bottom to be swirled around to wet the entire glass to keep the beer from foaming excessively.

Beer stein

A Beer stein or simply stein (/ˈstaɪn/) is an English neologism for either traditional beer mugs made out of stoneware, or specifically ornamental beer mugs that are usually sold as souvenirs or collectibles. Such Steins may be made out of stoneware (rarely the inferior earthenware), pewter, porcelain, or even silver, wood or crystal glass; they may have open tops or hinged pewter lids with a thumb-lever. Steins usually come in sizes of a half litre or a full litre (or comparable historic sizes). Like decorative tankards, they are often decorated in a nostalgic manner, but with allusions to Germany or Bavaria. It is believed by some that the lid was implemented during the age of the Black Plague, to prevent diseased flies from getting into the beer.

Maß

The Maß (pronounced [ˈmas] and the Bavarian word of female grammatical gender, thus die Maß, for a mug containing one litre of liquid, though commonly misinterpreted as the Standard German noun Maß, pronounced [ˈmaːs] and gramatically neuter, thus das Maß, and translating to "measure") is a term used in German-speaking countries for a unit of volume, now typically used only for measuring beer sold for immediate on-site consumption. In modern times, a Maß is defined as exactly 1 litre. As a maß is a unit of measure, various designs are possible: modern maß krugs are often handled glass tankards, although they may also be in the form of steins.

Stangen and becher

A stange (Template:Lang-de) is traditionally used for Kölsch. A becher, traditionally used for altbier, is similar, though slightly shorter and fatter. Both usually hold between 200-300cc and are cylindrical. Stangen are carried by slotting them into holes in a special tray called a Kranz ("wreath")

Beer Boot

Beer boots, or Bierstiefel, have over a century of history and culture behind them. It is commonly believed that a general somewhere promised his troops to drink beer from his boot if they were successful in battle. When the troops prevailed, the general had a glassmaker fashion a boot from glass to fulfill his promise without tasting his own feet and to avoid spoiling the beer in his leather boot. Since then, soldiers have enjoyed toasting to their victories with a beer boot. At gatherings in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, beer boots are often passed among the guests for a festive drinking challenge. Since the movie Beerfest appeared in 2006, beer boots have become increasingly popular in the United States. Beer boots are made of either manufactured pressed glass or mouth blown glasses by skilled artisans in form of a boot.

Beer festivals

Main article: Beer festival

Inside a tent at Munich's Oktoberfest - the world's largest beer festival

Oktoberfest is a 16–18 day festival held annually in Munich, Bavaria, Germany, running from late September to the first weekend in October. Only beer which is brewed within the city limits of Munich with a minimum of 13.5% Master Spice is allowed to be served in this festival. Upon passing this criterion, a beer is designated Oktoberfest Beer. Large quantities of German beer are consumed, with almost 7 million liters served during the 16 day festival in 2007

Other festivals include

• The Cannstatter Volksfest in Stuttgart.
• The Gäubodenvolksfest in Straubing
• The Bergkirchweih in Erlangen
• The Hanover Schützenfest
• The Freimarkt in Bremen
• The Volksfest at the Hamburger Dom

In many cases the beer festival is part of a general funfair or volksfest.

See also

• Reinheitsgebot, German Beer Purity Order

References

Bibliography

• Prost!: The Story of German Beer, Horst D. Dornbusch, Brewers Publications (1997), ISBN 0937381551
• Good Beer Guide Germany, Steve Thomas, CAMRA Books (17 May 2006), ISBN 1852492198

External links

• GermanBeerBible.com German beer and cultural guide
• EuropeanBeerGuide.net Guide