Braumeister Syndrome

A friend told me recently about a conversation he had with some craft brewers that he met at a local brewery. My pal is a German Braumeister and introduced himself to his fellow industry colleagues as such. Apparently, they retorted with something along the lines of: "Braumeister is an outdated concept and we don't like …

Walking the 5 Seidla Steig – a beery day hike in Franconia

On my recent trip to Nuremberg I spent a day hiking in the fränkische Schweiz - a rural, particularly picturesque region of the southern German Franconia - following the 5 Seidla Steig hiking route. Seidla is Franconian dialect for a 500ml mug of beer and yes, that's right folks, it's a beer hike. This is one of the …

Transparency in German contract brewing

Transparency is, in my opinion, a key factor that sets small breweries apart from macro breweries. Transparency manifests itself in numerous ways, whether it's a brewery that offers tours to its visitors or whether we consider transparency as an open and honest dialogue between brewers and drinkers about the brewing process, raw materials and industry …

Golden Pints 2017

So this seemed like a fun way to sum up a beery 2017 and reflect a little on what's been in my glass. (Apologies that Golden 'Pints' doesn't quite seem so apt in a German context but any potential alternatives would most likely lead to confusion.) Best German bottled beer – Schönramer Helles Perhaps the …

A couple of things CAMRA and the Reinheitsgebot have in common

In my time working in beer in the UK and Germany I’ve had some interesting dealings with customers and industry folk alike regarding CAMRA and the Reinheitsgebot. When working at the BrewDog bar in Bristol, we’d often get real ale traditionalists who would come to the bar and turn their noses up at the broad …

A conversation with World Champion Beer Sommelier Stephan Hilbrandt

I recently sat down and had a beer or two with Bonn resident Stephan Hilbrandt, the current World Champion Beer Sommelier. In September 2017, Stephan won the beer sommelier competition run by the Doemens Academy, Munich that is held every two years. He competed alongside 69 other beer sommeliers from 15 different countries to win …

Hopfendankfest at Bäm Bäm Bräu in Cologne

German brewers take their hops seriously and this festival was organised to celebrate the 2017 hop harvest. Bäm Bäm Bräu is a nano-brewery collaborative in Cologne Ehrenfeld run by 6 incredibly passionate home brewers. They kindly invited Ale-Mania to pour beers last night at the third annual hop harvest festival and to get a little …

Lingener Bierkultur festival, September 2017

When we were invited to pour Ale-Mania beer at the annual beer festival in Lingen the first thought that crossed my mind was where the hell is Lingen? With the help of Google Maps and Wikipedia I learnt that Lingen is a small northern German town in the federal state Lower Saxony, not far from …

Brewing in a former Gemeindebrauhaus

So it is no secret that I am a huge fan of Franconia and during my time living and working in Germany I am becoming increasingly fascinated by this region and its unique beer culture. One aspect of this that I came across recently is the Gemeindebrauhaus concept, which dates back to a time when …

Warm, flat English beer in Germany

In this globalised beer market there is a fluid exchange of beery knowledge and brewing expertise and this is undoubtedly a great thing. The Bavarian brewer Gabriel Sedlmayr II first introduced the Brits to bottom fermented lager beer in the 1830s (which came decades before foreign, premium lager was commercialised and subsequently bastardised in the …