Eating in Germany

German Beer
The Germans have a reputation as a true beer-loving nation. In Germany you will come across an amazingly wide range of beer varieties and brands, both local and foreign. Beer is reportedly a German’s favourite drink, according to the results of a representative survey:

• 79% of German adults drink beer regularly.


• 67% of German women and 91% of German men drink beer at least once a month.

History
The history of this yellow drink can be traced back to ancient times when a people called the Sumarians stumbled across the fermentation process. That happened around 6000 years ago. From then on, the Babylonians, the Egyptians and even the Romans tasted the drink, although the latter considered it a drink for barbarians. However for the ancient Germans called the Teutons, beer was a sacrifice to the gods.

During the Middle Ages, beer flourished due to monks and monasteries. This was when beer began to be brewed scientifically and it was the Barbant monasteries which first began experimenting with flavouring beer. This was how the Barbant king, Gambrinus, came to be the patron saint of beer.

Nowadays beer is immensely popular all over the world and is thus an important economic factor. The brewing process has been greatly refined and is an art in itself.

German breweries produce an immense variety of beer styles which vary in their ratio of ingredients, brewing temperature and technique, alcoholic content, aging time, color, and, of course, taste. This “hops-barley-water-yeast” blend is not as simple and straightforward as it seems!

The beer styles available in Germany include
Altbiers
Berliner Weisse
Bocks
Dopplebocks
Dortmunder Export
Dunkler Bocks
Dunkels Weizen
Eisbocks
Hefe Weizen
Heller Bock
Kölschbier
Kristall Weizen
Munich Dark
Munich Hells
Octoberfest/Märzen
Pilsner
Vienna
Weizenbocks

In Germany, Pils (Pilsner) is the most popular beer variety, with Export taking a distant second.

When going for a beer in Germany, it is best to be a little more specific than just ask for a plain beer. Here is some vocabulary that will come in handy:

Dunkles Bier - dark beer
Helles Bier – light beer
Grosses Bier – large beer
Kleines Bier –small beer
Bier vom Fass – draft beer
Eine Flasche Bier – beer in a bottle.

Here is a list of popular local German brands to look out for next time you come to Germany.

Krombacher
Warsteiner
Bitburger
Oettinger
Veltins
Hasseröder
König
Holsten
Radeberger
Beck's
Paulaner
Diebels
Jever
Karlsberg
Kulmbacher
Henninger
Erdinger
Licher
Berliner Kindl