by Betsy Young

Created on: August 19, 2007   Last Updated: November 07, 2008

German Beer brings to mind singing, dancing, and Oktoberfest, but there is so much more. With three thousand years of brewing experience beer is quite literally entwined into the culture, daily lives and very soul of Germany. It boasts at least sixty distinct styles of beer. Germany has never experienced a time of prohibition so its laws regarding beer are consistent from region to region and straight forward.

Germany is the birthplace of the Lagering or bottom fermenting technique. Discovered aroun1100 AD quite by accident it was not perfected until the 1840's. Gabrial Sedlmayr spent about ten years traveling Europe and Great Britain learning all he could about brewing. He then perfected the lagering techniques used worldwide today at the Spaten brewery where he was the brewmaster. Shortly afterwards several brewpub owners in Pilz opened a commercial brewery and perfected the Pils style of Lager. Today Pils makes up about 60% of the beer consumption in Germany.

The Popularity of distinctive styles of beer varies from region to region. Many beers are available only in or near a particular brewery. Beers from the north tend to be more heavily hopped and beers from the south are generally maltier. Bavaria is the leading beer making region and boasts more styles than any other. When ordering a beer in Germany order by style not brand as each restaurant or pub is typically associated with only one brewery.

The laws controlling beer are pretty straight forward. The restrictions are liberal as to age and beer is available in vending machines in public places. The distribution laws are not restrictive either and beer can be delivered from the brewery to doorstep. Deeply entwined in the culture of food, beer is often available in work place cafeterias. Purity laws do restrict beer to four ingredients, water, malted grains, hops and yeast. Any flavorings must be added by the consumer.

Ale is found mostly in the Rhineland area. Elsewhere in Germany Pils, Hefeweizin or Helles are the dominant styles and make up 99% of beer consumed. Pils refers to pilsner, Hefeweizen to wheat beer and Helles as to beer with high quality hops or premium beer.

The consumption information for this article comes from the site listed below. It also contains a wealth of information on all sixty styles of German beer, beer festivals and brewery tours. Have fun on your tasting adventure and bring back this poor writer a brew.

http://www.germanbeerinstitute.com

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