American Craft Beers Invade the German Market, Appealing to German Beer Drinkers Who Are Tired of the Limited Range of Flavors Permitted by the Beer Purity Law of 1516

“It’s easy to get decent beer in Germany. We call it boredom on a high level," says one German beer drinker.

The problem standards is that sometimes they become standard.

Interesting article from the WaPo, and maybe yet another reason for American chest-pounding. We beat the French at wine and now we're going to beat the Germans at beer.*

[U]nlike the United States, where in recent years many supermarkets have expanded their beer selection to include dozens of styles from the far reaches of the globe, most German stores have remained resolutely unvaried, almost always offering just a handful of manufacturers and only rarely throwing a non-German beer into the mix.

Now Rauschmann and others are proselytizing, traveling Germany to spread the gospel of unusual tastes. His company, Braufactum, is owned by German beer giant Radeberger, which Rauschmann said was trying to help spark a new beer culture in the country where it has been a major producer since 1872.

For some beer businesspeople, that change can’t happen fast enough.

“The German beer industry has to reinvent itself in a hurry, or it’s going to be a small fraction of what it is now,” said Eric Ottaway, the general manager of Brooklyn Brewery, which has been expanding in Europe and has been exporting its beer to Germany through Braufactum, which sells a 12-ounce bottle of Brooklyn Lager in upscale grocery stores for the equivalent of $4.20 — almost three times its typical American price.

* Bottle Shock with Jeff Daniels and Chris "Captain Kirk" Pine was a pretty good based-on-true-events Rocky-style movie about an upstart California vinter entering a France vs. America wine competition. It's not great, but it's good. It used to be free on Netflix.

posted by Ace at 08:05 PM

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