LIVING GERMAN BEER CULTURE

The froth, the head, the delicate foam is the first and prime indication of the overall quality and taste of the brew. The English don’t want a head of foam, and the Americans don’t think twice about it. In Germany, though, beer without foam might as well be beer without hops. It’s not beer.

The regulars’ table, or Stammtisch, is an informal gathering held on a regular basis at the neighborhood pub. Traditionally every local haunt has a large, round table reserved for a regular group of friends who meet to discuss politics, philosophy, local gossip, or simply to pass the time with a friendly game of cards.

In their everyday lives, Germans are very aware of the distinct beer styles available to them. Few other countries boast as many brewing styles as Germany – the place with the strictest beer law in the world. In fact, you could drink a different beer everyday for 15 years and not have the same beer twice.

Germans take glassware very seriously. There is a specific glass for each type of beer, and for good reason. The shape and size of each glass is designed to do justice to the taste and flavor of each individual brew. To a German, it’s just wrong to drink a Weizen from a Pilsner glass or an Ale from anything other than a chalice (or goblet).

In the olden times, clinking your glasses was a matter of life and death – quite literally. This tradition started when getting poisoned by harmless drink was a real threat. By clinking mugs, some of the liquid would spill in the other person’s mug – ensuring that if the brew was poisoned, your enemy would be dead as well. Here’s to your health: Prost!

The Party Begins with a Hammer: FassansticH

With a swing of the hammer and the exclamation “O’zapft is!”– it’s tapped! Let the party begin!

Making its way from the United Kingdom in the 1870s, the sport wasn’t very popular until the first clubs were founded in Germany in the 1880s. Today, it’s by far the most popular sport in Germany. Whether it’s on the local youth team pitch or in the stadium with 75,000 like minded fans, soccer is in our blood.

Different town, different taste. Each German beer has a home.
Germans have been brewing beer according to the Reinheitsgebot for 500 years. Today you can try over 5,000 different brands, handcrafted in more than 1,300 breweries all across the country.

Or the Importance of Eye Contact. When toasting with friends in Germany, it is crucial that you maintain eye contact. Legend has it that if eye contact is not sure and steady, you won’t just suffer bad luck, but bad sex – and seven years of it to boot! Needless to say that no German will ever blink during a toast.

If there is a better way to enjoy a beautiful summer’s day than to sit at a long wooden table in the shade of an old tree, and enjoy a friendly conversation over an ice-cold beer in a German Biergarten, we sure haven’t heard of it!

Once a year, Munich turns into a giant party. The world’s largest celebration of German beer draws over six million people from around the world.

This great German word describes a state of warmth, coziness, friendliness and good cheer. Sun, friends, and beer in a German beergarden are closely associated with Gemütlichkeit.

Coming soon…

Leave it to the Germans to equate beer with seriousness. The adjective ‘Bierernst’ – ‘beer-serious’ – does just that: it describes someone who’s just a touch too somber, even by German standards.

‘Feierabend’ is the German word for the end of the work day. When the bell rings and the day is done, hard-working Germans head to their local pub and celebrate with their friends and their favorite brew.

Prost!

Germans are generous. One of our finest traditions is picking up the next round. Treating your friends is considered a matter of honor.

Germans have a charming ritual of meeting friends before midday to share a tasty brew. And while it varies from region to region, the Frühschoppen is usually a kind of brunch that doesn’t necessarily involve food. In its native Bavaria, though, it definitely does. Here, the Frühschoppen is a specific kind of brunch consisting of Weisswurst, sweet mustard, pretzels, and wheat beer.

To promote their beer, the entrepreneurial brewers of Berlin started their first marketing campaign in 1900, stocking 102 advertising-decked trucks with crates of liquid gold to be driven around town. They succeeded: the whole city fell in love with their brew and sales increased tremendously.

The brotherhood drink is a time-honored expression of deep friendship. Two friends will elaborately embrace while drinking from the same vessel, even giving each other a friendly kiss to symbolize their deep bond. The ritual has its beginnings in feudal times when knights would swear vows to each other before going into battle.

The expression ‘when all hops and malt are lost’ is still used to this day. When Germans abandon all hope, they exclaim: “Da ist Hopfen und Malz verloren!” Another fine example of how much Germans love their beer: no hops and malt means no beer. No beer, no hope.

Every year on the 11th day of the 11th month at 11:11 AM the city of Cologne goes crazy. It’s Carnival! Starting in November, Carnival reaches its high point at the beginning of February. Needless to say this involves abundant and rather conspicuous consumption of the city’s favorite beer: Kölsch.

Oktoberfest is generally thought of as the biggest drinking celebration in Germany. Hence the country’s Father’s Day celebrations are often overlooked, even though they involve the spectacle of oddly dressed men pulling carts filled with beer into parks and drinking with their friends.