What brands of beer should I taste in Germany? :)
 

As the title suggests, I'd appreciate any recommendations. I'll have around 3 days in Germany so will I have to drink 24/7 in order to try them all? :p

Some of my picks....

Bitburger
Erdinger
Dinkelacker
Loewenbraeu
Paulaner

And, if you get a chance, remember the best German beer is Austrian..... :D (ducking)

Gosser
Zwickel
Hopfenkoenig

mmmm, beer
 

I think what you can sample will depend in large part on what region of Germany you're going to be visiting.

For example, in Bremen, you will find a majority of places have Becks and Haake Beck beers, but in Munich, it's difficult to find Haake Beck. Becks is like Budweiser, you can pretty well find it anywhere.

If you can say where you'll be, I'm sure we'll have opinions. :D

Having said all that, try to find Schlenkerla. It's a smoked beer that you have to try to believe. Haake Beck Krausen is also on my sample list.

Keep this in mind...you can always bring some bottles back with you and continue the party at home!

If you're in Frankfurt, beer isn't really a choice. The locals prefer ebbelwoi (apfelwein in the local dialect) or wine.

Helles Hefe-Weizen
 

I love the light hefe's over there (as opposed to the dunkel [dark]). Franziskaner for me. Lowenbrau is good stuff too.

The worst was the stuff at the Hofbrau Haus in Munich....hangovah.

1. Try the local/ regional beer wherever you are in Germany.
2. In Bavaria: Weihenstephaner, the oldest brewery.
Ludwig Thoma
3. Anywhere in Germany the Czech Pilsner Urquel is available, and one of the world's best.

And if you're in the Rhineland, hie thee over to Duesseldorf for the Alt. There are nine or ten brands of them, they all taste somewhat different, and a day or two will enable you to try every one to decide which you like the best. My favorite is Schluessel.
Then you can take the train over to Cologne, where it is not much to walk around the city itself trying out the Koelsch. I have not had enough experience with the Kolsch to have an opinion.

Koelsch is wonderful stuff. Trust me. Well worth a trip to Koln from Frankfurt.

Oh yes, I liked the Koelsch that I tried very much, but what I meant was that I had not tried enough of them to have an opinion of which was the best to my taste. I only was in Koln for a few hours the last time and was not able to check out more than a few of them.

wouldn't a better question be which ones not to drink!??!

Enjoy!

All koelsch are the same, remarkably little variation between brands (all good, and an interesting difference from other beers). A few hours is enough time to drink 8 beers (unless you aren't pulling your share, or heaven forbid driving).
An interesting development in Germany is the rise of microbreweries, many of which don't bottle their beer (you can only drink onsite, from the tap, or bring a thermos and they fill it up). Some of the best beer is in this category (perhaps not surprisingly).

You totally put yourself in the hands of anybody over there you can explain it to and have them understand you. Some of the local beers are quite good, ask the server what they would recommend.

You couldn't possbily drink all the beers offered, so pace yourself and enjoy them.

Hey, I am the king of beer tastings :D

Let me know when you are in Germany and I will show you around Frankfurt a little bit and show you the local beers. Maybe we could visit a brewery if that is of interest :cool:

Best
Christian

I'm not a big fan of Kolsch or Bitburger - too 'gassy' for me and too pale. I like beers with a little colour to them

I do love the Schlosser Alt in Dusseldorf - and I'd agree that stopping into any local microbreweries and getting the local brew is generally a great idea.

Where are you going to be, and when?

For instance, right now in Munich there's the festbier, later the Christmas beer, later the March beer, then the strong beer, etc. All are different, and all are worth trying.

If you're in the Rheinland, Kölsch (Cologne area) and Alt (Düsseldorf area) as mentioned above;

If you do get to Bavaria (and if not, why would you come to Germany anyway?) be sure to try:

If in the Munich area, you must try the Augustiner Edelstoff (what they call "export" and we would call Lager). Bottom fermented, crisp, clear, delightful. But the *best* beer in Munich (not sold outside Munich, so far as I know) is Unionsbräu, sold on tap at the brewery in Haidhausen (Einsteinstr. 42); you'll not regret it!

If in the Regensburg area (or in Munich, if you know where), try the Roggenbier (Thurn und Taxis is the best brand). It's rye beer, top fermented, pretty fierce (alcohol around 5.5+), and quite good (but filling).

In the Stuttgart area, try the Schwarze (black) beer.

If outside Bavaria, try the various Weissen (wheat) beers. They are top fermented and quite good. Mainly you have three choices:

- Krystal (clear) Weissen (often served with a slice of lemon "mit Zitrone");
- Heffe (yeast) Weissen - since it has the yeast still in solution, it's cloudy;
- Dunkel (dark) Heffeweissen - as the name implies, darker wheat beer with yeast left in. My experience has been that Americans like these all, but seem to prefer the Dunkel best.

In Bavaria, for reasons beyond me, the beer is called Weissbier (whitebeer), and you cannot find (without a lot of effort) any Krystal, just the Heffe.

What you might want to consider is this: You'll find FlyerTalkers almost everywhere in Germany, and most (in fact, all I've run into) are more than happy to show off their town/city and the local beers, and also to make suggestions about what to eat, and local castles, cathedrals, and other sights. When you know when you're coming, and where you'll be going, put a note in the CommunityBuzz forum and someone will be almost certain to volunteer to assist.