Stuff to do in southwest Germany

[Rumline]

That makes sense. Are their hops more mild than ours, and/or do they use a lot less of them?

But I swear that most of the hefeweizen's I've had here have the coriander/orange flavors more like Belgian witbier versus a German hefeweizen.

[Circuits]

That makes sense. Are their hops more mild than ours, and/or do they use a lot less of them?

But I swear that most of the hefeweizen's I've had here have the coriander/orange flavors more like Belgian witbier versus a German hefeweizen.

They typically use less than we do, and their hops have less floral/citrus components than most American-grown hops varietals. Typical Deutsches-Hefe has sweet malt notes with "banana" floral nose, and slight bitterness to offset the sweet.

American Citra or Cascade hops are much spicier, with more orange/citrus nose. The citrus notes, especially, are what make American hops more closely resemble the citrusy lemon and orange notes in Belgian Witbiers.

Some American wit-style beers do flat-out add flavorants, though - like coriander and allspice in New Belgium's wits and abbeys, or "grains of paradise" used in Blue Moon. But those are wits/whites, not true hefes.

[Rumline]

Very cool. Thanks for the info!

[fitz19d]

Sooo.... any suggestions for beer here that is more German style then after that little beer lesson? I hate hops at least american and all the citrus/spiceyness. Granted I like 1554/Abbey ale, but want something more like what I had over there.

[Martinjmpr]

American microbrewers seem to add all sorts of flavors I guess because they're afraid people might not like the taste of ... beer?

I dunno. My time in Germany was almost 30 years ago (actually now that I think about it, it was 30 years ago - I got to Germany in July of 1987) so it was before the big "micro brew"craze here in the US.

When I was there, the one thing I noticed was that you didn't order by "brand" the way you do in the US (bud, coors, fat tire, etc.) Most of the bars only served one brand and that was whatever was brewed locally. In Ansbach, where I was stationed, the local brewery was Tucher. So you'd order whatever TYPE of beer you wanted, i.e. Pils (pilsner), Hefeweizen, Kristaller Weizen, Bock, etc, and they'd bring you the local variant of that type.

Kristaller Weizen was my favorite. It had the same flavor as Hefeweizen but where Hefeweizen was thick and cloudy, Kristaller was light and clear (hence the name.) Kristaller Weizen was normally served with a slice of lemon (Germans love lemons, they put it in lots of stuff and even mix lemonade half-and-half with beer, a drink called "Raedler.")

But other than the lemon slice (and that was only in Kristaller Weizen - no other beers got the lemon) there were no additions to the beer. It was just beer, and man, was it good!

During Lent (being as how we were in Catholic Bavaria) the monks would fast and to support their fast they would brew "Weizen Bock", which was almost as heavy and thick as syrup and black as night. But it was filling (we called it "liquid bread.")

[ChunkyMonkey]

German chicks...

EEW

[Circuits]

Sooo.... any suggestions for beer here that is more German style then after that little beer lesson? I hate hops at least american and all the citrus/spiceyness. Granted I like 1554/Abbey ale, but want something more like what I had over there.

You looking for a traditional german/bohemian pilsner (those have hops notes)? Or you want darker, stouter beers?

A good german dunkel makes for a satisfying quaff.

The classic pilsner would be Pilsner Urquell, though Trumer Pils is a worthy substitute. For a dunkel, I'd recommend Warsteiner Dunkel.

[fitz19d]

Anything. Bad at fancy terms. At gabf i enjoyed a really dark oatmeal stout but most stouts since then not a fan. Think i dont like most pills, so I imagine a more true hefe. Did at gabf love some btands imperial hefe. Most hefes from new belgium, sam adams etc are certainly different from the weibe biers I remember a couple decades ago.

Basically hate hops/excessive citrus or spice. Prefer more light easy drinking stuff. I remember having no issues just xhugging stuff there vs here the carbonation or strong sting i guess gets me and i end up just sipping.

[ray1970]

Sooo.... any suggestions for beer here that is more German style then after that little beer lesson? I hate hops at least american and all the citrus/spiceyness. Granted I like 1554/Abbey ale, but want something more like what I had over there.

I don't know if there are still any around (I know they closed down the one near me) but see if there's a Cheeky Monk somewhere and try their beers. Lots of stuff from Belgium, Germany, Austria, etc.

[fitz19d]

I get intimidated by just the normal giant pick 6 type wall. Too many choices to try side by side without getting into like total beverage oddbal 16/bottle imports.