@Thomas Stearn I was born in Darmstadt. My dad was a GI and my mom was German, but now a U.S. citizen.
Haven't been there since I was three. Being Jewish, my mom's family mostly died during the war. She spent most of the war in England. When back in Germany, she worked for the Americans as a translator since her English was perfect by then. Thus, meeting my dad. She has no nostalgic feelings about Germany and said she wanted to see it again.
Thank you. I did. Nice picture. I also had a look at the link about charming small towns in the US and liked it. I also love the north of Germany, particularly the coastal regions with their dialect, culture, architecture. Holsten does not only stand for Luebeck's old town entrance but also for a well-known beer. (Well, Bremen's Beck's is even better and my personal number one but it's also one of the higher-priced premium beers in Germany. ) Spent my holidays at the coast for a couple of years. Also went to Luebeck which accommodates the Thomas-Mann-House (Buddenbrook-House), a German novelist. I wouldn't be able to read Thomas Mann at any time but I did read him when I was young. When strolling through the city I thought visiting the Buddenbrook House could be interesting after the house had been fully restored and the Buddenbrook novel had been reproduced by furnishing two rooms on the Beletage, where the Manns lived, as a walk-in story. I didn't regret it. @Bess Barber So there's another one on this forum with German roots, even more recent ones in your case.
@Thomas Stearn ".....Bremen's Beck's is even better and my personal number one"..... Speaking of Beck's, a Czech guy I got to know in Phoenix told me both Becks and St. Pauli Girl are brewed in the same building in Bremen. He had been there. St. Pauli is my all-time favorite. Beck's recently changed it's label, stating it was made by the German formula, brewed in St. Louis, Missouri. Still conforms to the Purity Act. Anheuser-Busch is headquartered there, and I wonder if they bought out Beck's. A shame if it's so. Ever hear of a brand named "Duplikator Stark Bier"? Frank
@Frank Sanoica Sorry for the delay. The Czech guy is right, I think. My own research confirmed that St. Pauli Girl beers are brewed and bottled by the St. Pauli Brauerei, which is located within the Beck's brewery in Bremen, Germany. I'd never heard of St.Pauli Girl beer before I read you post and I also found out why not: The beer is only produced for export and is not sold in Germany. Yes, Anh-Bush eventually took over Beck's Brewery. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Pauli_Girl What does Beck's new label look like then? Beck's has run several campaigns allowing artists to come up with new labels and, more recently, the brewery even invited its customers to "Create their own" label. I wrote about it here in SOC some time ago. The label you can see here is the same standard label they use in Germany and I like it more than any other newly created ones. A judge says that Beck's brewed in St. Louis is not a German beer and the company must stop charging import prices for it. Consumers who kept their receipts could even get a refund of up to $50. https://www.npr.org/sections/thesal...eceptive-becks-beer-packaging?t=1564995584664 As for conforming to the Purity Act, I might also have mentioned in one of my earlier posts that such a claim has to be taken with a pinch of salt nowadays if you are particular about it. Yet, if at all, this act is infringed way less than in other countries. No, I haven't heard of "Duplicator Stark Bier" but the suffix "-ator" sounds very familiar to me because there are all sorts of stouts with that suffix. Even when I was a young boy I'd heard of "Dessator" brewed in my home town under this name although it was not a stout but a lager. Anyway, Duplicator Stark Bier is a predecessor of today's "eku-28" and had been brewed by the Kulmbach Brewery/ Franconia. https://www.eku.biz/en/our-beer-specialities/eku-beers/eku-28/ Historically, Stark Bier was brewed in the "Fifth Season" between winter and spring or between Mardi Gras and Easter by Bavarians in order to sweeten the meager Lenten season. Cunning Minims had found out that "liquid bread" did not break fasting. They had their beer trademarked as "Salvator" forcing rivalling breweries to name their Stark Bier "Duplicator" "Triumphator", "Maximator" etc. There are more than 160 different stouts today. BTW, EKU beer was the first beer freely available in my region after the wall had come down and even before the monetary union, i.e. it could be paid for with "Aluminium Chips" (the East German currency). The clever Franconians wanted to leave an imprint on prospective East German beer consumers knowing they'd pay with hard currency (sooner or) later.
@Thomas Stearn "What does Beck's new label look like then?" I've bought Beck's only a few times recently, less often after seeing the "St. Louis" reference on the label. Without scrutinizing it, the label appears largely the same to me. Thank you for the informative post! Frank
That scene reminds me of the beautiful Saxony city of Dresden, Germany, which was firebombed on Valentines Day 1945, with the destruction of the glorious Frauenkirche. Up to 25,000 German civilians were killed during that night raid, and after the Lancasters and B-17's left the city a smoking ruin, American P-51's flew low over the city strafing those survivors who were trying to escape. This was a crime, considering Germany was going to surrender less then 3 months later. Hal