Koebler.net Blog

For those of you who like real beer, you know it not as easy as it seams to pour a beer.

Now what is the definition of a real beer?
Other than the Belgian, who have the most different flavoured beers in the world or the US-Americans, who like to drink their beer without a head but with ice cubes from a plastic cup, the Germans have very strict idea what a beer is. The so-called “Reinheitsgebot” (literally “purity requirement”) determines, what a beer is. In it’s traditional version beer contained only barley, hops and water. Today there are different versions of the law, like the German version or the Bavarian version, from where this law originated around the time Columbus was hanging out on his sale boat while crossing the Atlantic to find a new trade route to India.
So for centuries beer has been brewed in a similar way in Germany and it’s a deep part of the German culture. Take a view of the list of breweries ONLY in Bavaria. If you realize what importance role beer has in the German culture, can you image how pissed the Germans were, when Budweiser bought the exclusive rights to sell their so-called beer at the Munich stadium during the FIFA soccer world cup 2006.

Bavarians take things really seriously, when it comes to beers. You’ll see kids growing up drinking beer and later they will be making friends with tourists at the Oktoberfest in Munich, which is only 2 weeks a year, not all-year-round like Disney World. Girls drink beer and you’ll have some beers with colleague on Friday afternoon. You’ll find people discussing what is the best beer, as well as people give back their beer, if it has been poured poorly (without a head or not up to the mark on the line printed on the outside of the glass).

The Germans love to watch tourists pour a German beer, since it takes a bit of skill. If you pour it too slow, you won’t hit the mark on the glass. If too fast, the beer foams too strong and the head will go over rim of the glass. Pouring a perfect beer is like hitting a golf ball perfectly with a club. It just feels great.

This is an example of a perfectly poured “Weizen” (Hefeweizen)

I saw this example of how not to pour a German beer live on TV and I had to laugh so hard. I searched this on YouTube so you can see a perfect demonstration what not to do. Enjoy!