BEER I find it interesting and remarkable that during my lifetime US beer has gone from mediocre to the best in the world. This started in the 80s with the advent of the craft beers. I actually joined friends and neighbors and brewed some myself. I studied in Austria in the 60s, and have spent time in Germany. During the last decade wife and I have been able to travel quite extensively in Europe, some in Latin America, both European and Pacific Russia and Japan. Beer in all of these countries is good; certainly better than our pre craft beer era. But why am I posting this screed? I wish our bars and restaurants would learn how to serve it. I know that this is nit-picking, but it does bother me. So what's my problem? BIER MUSS EINE BLUME HABEN!!! (Beer has to have a blossom!) When I had my first drinks in Austria (6 decades ago), I noticed that beer glasses, along with wine and distilled drinks, have a line the content up to the line. The “Eichstrich” on beer glasses leave enough enough space above for die Blume. In Berlin they seem to go overboard on this. There is frequently some shelves above the beer tap. The glass is first blown full of foam, then put on the top shelf. When the foam settles a bit, blown full again, then on to the next one down. And so on. The saying is that it takes seven minutes to properly serve a beer. As I say, this might be overdoing it a bit, but it bothers me to watch bar keeps to scrape the foam off the top and filling the glass to the brim.
I like and enjoy beer and am not picky about how it is served. In recent weeks I have enjoyed Thai. Mexican, Japanese and American beer Welcome to the forum Jim
Ditto, except it has to be COLD. I like a Corona or Shiner Bock, straight from the refrigerator in the bottle. :gasp:
Sometimes a cold beer tastes good but before I've finished a quarter of one, I'm tired of it. I haven't had any in about thirty years, although I had some red wine a couple of years ago.
Give me a Guinness, or give me......... water! Save the involved serving shtick: Tilt an ice cold, glass stein, fill it from the beer tap, give me a very thin head on it, and get it within my grasp. That's it.......
@Beth Gallagher And I thought hardly anyone else had heard of Shiner! Among the best beers I've tasted. Of course, originated by a Czechoslovak! Headquarters, Shiner, Texas Retired paper thin brew kettle See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoetzl_Brewery
While I agree to your description, it's basically a cultural thing and any attempt in any one country to change it would be a dead duck. Why should it change at all? Beer will be consumed in any country the way local people like it and are used to. Hardly surprising, I love it the German way and I don't like craft beer. For me, it has to be a beer brewed according to the purity law. Why would Berlin "go overboard" on tapping a beer? It's pretty much the usual way a beer is tapped anywhere in Germany or Austria. Part of the German beer culture also is to have clean beer glasses preferably with a handle. It needs to be glass, no beer stein, because the latter wouldn't allow you to appreciate the color and clarity of the beer. The litmus test revealing a clean glass is how long the head remains stable and how solid its structure is. In a glass not sufficiently clean the foam head of even the best beer collapses rather soon and finds it hard to form. Most of the foam should still be there even after you've taken the first long drink. German beer is refreshing and allows for big swallows; it's not for sipping. Here's an example of what it should look like after the first gulp. Also nit-picking, I know, but in my book, Bier muss eine Blume haben, would be Beer has to come with a (foam) head , not blossom, which would be Blüte. Further down in your post you used foam yourself, didn't you?
I agree, Thomas. Craft beers do not appeal to me at all and I hope this is simply something most will just use as a personal choice instead of a continuing industry. Back in the middle 50s I lived in Burbank, CA. Next door were a couple of Aeronautical Engineers from Lockheed Corp. Well, these guys made their own beer and we could hear caps popping all over the place at night. They'd offer to the entire apartment house gathered around the pool. If you could get it past your nose, it was powerful stuff. I think they made it with jet fuel. We called it skunk beer. Later in the year after I'd gone to Europe and flew into Germany, had some of their beer, wow, what a pleasure. Good stuff for sure. There is a tavern near me that serves more types of beer from every country imaginable and it is interesting to visit and sample these. Some good, some awful.