Guide to German Beer

Here’s my guide to German beer. One of the joys of traveling for me is to enjoy a traditional meal in whatever country I may be traveling in and to experience the local beers. Germany can sometimes feel like heaven when it comes to beer. However, understanding German beer can be difficult because it is nothing like what you might experience in North America or even in the UK. In fact there are so many different varieties it can be difficult to keep up. First I would like to break down German beer into two general categories.

Ales

Lagers

Afterwards I’ll talk about the beers and their regions.

In the Ale category you’ll find the following varieties:

Variety	Color	Flavor	Region
Alt	dark amber	hoppy	Dusseldorf
Gose	amber	sour	Leipzig
Kolsch	pale	light	Cologne
Weizen	white/cloudy	sweet	throughout
Berliner Weisse	dark	sour	Berlin

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In the Lager category you’ll find the following varieties:

Variety	Color	Flavor	Region
Bock	amber	heavy	throughout
Dunklesbock	dark	heavy	throughout
MaiBock	pale	strong	throughout
Doppelbock	dark	very heavy	throughout
Dunkel	dark	sweet	Munich
Export	pale	malty	throughout
Helles	pale	malty	Bavaria
Marzen	pale/amber/dark	malty	throughout
Pilsner	pale	Light/hoppy	throughout
Rauchbier	dark	smoky	Bamberg
Schwarzbier	dark	chocolaty	throughout
Spezial	pale	bitter-sweet	throughout

German Beer Regions

Generally, German beer is Maltier in the south and hoppier in the north. Bavaria in the south tends to be considered the beer capital of Germany. Bavaria has the most varieties of beer with different tastes and colors. The Pils style of beer, which is the world’s most popular, comes from the Czech region of Bohemia which is just to the east of Bavaria so people who live in this region along the border tend to be Pils drinkers. In the Rhineland area you’ll find more of the German ales and ancient German beer making ccan be traced back to this region In the north you’ll find hoppy Pils and a variety of wheat beers.

I hope my guide to German beer will help you while you're planning or on your European vacation.

SBI!