Or Pfungstaedter...yuk! (Although they do have to get an honorable mention as a town for having the self-proclaimed largest beer store in the world.)

I've had the dunkles from Schofferhofer and will agree that it is not AS bad.

I have a question for the beer thread. We have family in Dortmund, and every time we visit them, they say that Dortmund is the #1 beer city in Germany. I have always found this a little hard to believe. I know the city has a rich beer history, and many local breweries, but is it really the #1 beer city in Germany? (I hope this isn't like opening a huge can of worms!!)

It will certainly open up a huge can of worms. I am confident Dortmund is/was at least the beer city #1 in terms of production quantities. There were/are several huge breweries located in Dortmund. As you are aware of, Beer is a rather local thing in Germany and I believe that there are only two historical centers of beer in Germany, Munich and Dortmund. However, the area around Dortmund is the home of several million people and the huge Dortmund breweries serverd them all. Names like Ritter, Dortmunder Union, Dortmunder Aktien, Wick�ler and others are to a certain extend only history now and even the flagship Dortmunder Aktien is owned by the Radeberger Group today (as most of the Munich breweries are owned by brewing gigant too)

Very interesting Flying Lawyer. So at least I know they aren't on total crack! I figured it was much like here in the US, where I'm sure there are at least 10 cities that claim they are the #1 BBQ city, just as an example.

I talked to colleagues from the Dortmund area at lunch break during a meeting about the breweries in Dortmund. They pointed me to a page on Dortmund's homepage, which is as far as I know only availabe in German. There is a a sentence of breweries in Dortmund:

The breweries produce in 1913 1.7 Mio Hectoliter of beer (increased from 1870's from 140000 to 1700000 Hectoliter). And they think Flying Lawyer is right, they have been number 1 at least till late 80ies, not sure, if Dortmund is still German's number 1.

Its a very interesting observation about Dortmund producing so much beer. Through my travels in Germany, DAB doesn't seem to be prominent anywhere but around the Dortmund region. It is also extrememly difficult to find in my area of the US.

Interestingly, one of the more popular German beers sold in America is Bitburger Pils. Bitburg is a very small town somewhat close to the Luxembourg border, and yet its beer is found all over Germany, as well as fairly common in the US. Now, having driven through Bitburg once, the brauerei itself is huge, but the town is quite small, and happens to be right outside of a US airbase (maybe one reason it became popular in America).

Is the Dortmund region so large and thirsty for beer that the consume most of what they brew? I'm guessing the answer must be yes, because much smaller areas in Germany seem to export quite a bit more beer.

I think you'll find this website might be quite interesting for your discussion.
www.europeanbeerguide.net
Prost !

Being born in Stuttgart and living in the Schwabishe Alb, I too enjoy the Rothaus. Not too common of a beer outside the region though.

Its popularity is rising, you'll get it in Berlin, Cologne and Hamburg. It's no longer "only for insiders".

Bitburger managed very well to establish itself as a world-wide premium brand. They are amongst other premium brands in Germany (König Pilsner, Veltins, Stauder, Radeberger, Wernesgrüner, Becks and others) and managed to get known nationwide. Going global was nothing but a wise step.

The Dortmund beers had a certain reputation to be working class product and the breweries served more or less the Ruhr area - eight million thirsty people. Remember: Beer is (Beside these premium brands) a local thing and certainly was even more in the big days of Dortmund Breweries.

I agreee DAB is not well known even in Germany outside this area but hardly anybody knows that the group today, named after the premium brand "Radeberger" is the number one brewing group in Germany belonging to the Oetker empire. Germany produces about 50 mio hl of bear, this group is responsible for 15 mio hl, a nice market share.

http://www.radeberger-gruppe.de/cms/...rands/214.html

If you scan through their brands, you might be surprised. Plenty of brands you might consider as local brews belong to Radeberger.

The number two group should be Brauholding with plenty of Bavarian Brands and owned bei Schörhuber and Heineken, number three might the the Bitburger Group or Inbev, I am not sure. Suprisingly Anheuser Bush (they are neither allowed to market "Bud" not "Budweiser" in Germany) and South African Breweries (Yes, they own Miller) seem to keep away from the German markt.

You don't expect one single German to drink that stuff, do you?

(From somebody who likes Kronenbourg and Heineken)

are there any FlyerTalker who want to share a beer at Stuttgart on Sept 8th?

Interesting thread! I was actually born in Bitburg, Germany and half of my family still lives there so I was quite suprised to see Bitburger Pils not mentioned until the second page of this thread. The brand is very popular in Germany and has been marketed very well in Europe. They have always done a lot of advertising during motorsport and soccer events so that has helped their popularity. In addition they went on a buying spree a couple of years ago and acquired several other breweries to add to their growning list of brands. (including Köstritzer, Licher, König Pilsner and Wernesgrüner) I generally do not have a hard time finding a Bit (as it is usually refered to in Germany) here in the US. They must work with a decent importer because I also see their water brand (Gerolsteiner) in several stores here in the US.

If it were a week earlier, you would catch me in MUC.

I have seen Budweiser in some of the Getr�nkemarkts, though. I think it is sold as a 'specialty' beer. It is a similar situation here in the states, where Budweiser Budvar from Czech is required to be sold as 'Czechvar' due to copyright laws. Its a shame that Anheuser Busch has so much influence here as to make a brand that had the name first change it in order to sell it in the US. Don't get me started on what is allowed to be named and sold as champagne in the states.