Belgian V German

BeerNut

PWEI wrote: »

I lived and worked in both countries, 4 years in Germany and 1.5 in Belgium so I'm fairly familiar with both.

The problem with Germany is that the beer scene tends to be incredibly localised. You don't really get know German beer without travelling the length and breadth of the place. Not that I have, or anything.

PWEI wrote: »

Quite simply because of the purity law,German beer doesn't have any chemicals and Belgium beer does.Beer brewed according to the Purity Law in Germany should only contain the basic few ingredients so the brewing process is a lot more detailed and sensitive.Belgium beer is full of chemicals and artificial flavourings.

This is one of those myths the Germans like to put about. For one thing, the 'gebot isn't actually law, and there are some German brewers, thankfully, who will openly put other things in their beer. It also allows for hop extract which lots of German brewers use and isn't exactly all-natural.

I'm not sure what chemicals you're thinking of in relation to Belgian beer, but most good beer anywhere will list its ingredients on the label. With the Belgians the only really common adjunct is candi sugar, and that's generally to bump up the alcohol in the stronger beers.

PWEI wrote: »

You would never get anything like this from any of the Bavarian beers for eg.

Well I wouldn't, 'cos I find hangovers are solely down to how much alcohol I've ingested rather than the provenance or recipe of the beer, but some of the Paulaner non-fan club here might disagree with you.

Edit: ooops, both barrels from the ICB heavies. Sorry PWEI.

the beer revolu

PWEI wrote: »

I lived and worked in both countries, 4 years in Germany and 1.5 in Belgium
so I'm fairly familiar with both.There's no doubt about it that Belgium has the
largest selection of beers in the world,they practically invented the stuff but
if given the choice I would pick German beer any day.Quite simply because of the purity law,German beer doesn't have any chemicals and Belgium beer does.Beer brewed according to the Purity Law in Germany should only contain the basic few ingredients so the brewing process is a lot more detailed and sensitive.Belgium beer is full of chemicals and artificial flavourings.Proof of this is the hangovers that you get from drinking some of their beers.
I remember going out for a quiet night and drinking only 3 or 4 small glasses of beer but still getting a massive headache the following day.You would never get anything like this from any of the Bavarian beers for eg.

Your beloved Reinheitsgebot "law" restricts the ingredients that go into a beer but makes no stipulation about the quality of the ingredients.
For example the barley could be really cheap additive rich 'as far as you can get from organic' but can still be used.
Same for hops and even water.
It also brutally curbs the variety of beer in Germany.
Good beer is good beer - no matter where it comes from and despite the so called purity law, there's plenty of extremely good and extremely bad German beer.

Ronan|Raven

BeerNut wrote: »

More reason to keep going back

The two brands we see most here are Gaffel and Früh, of which the latter is better, IMO.

We can get früh kölsch in Ireland? Please tell me where!

I love going back to the relations in Köln and making a pig of myself on Kölsch.

mayordenis

I've seen kölsch in plenty of places but will keep an eye out for it,
Again after several trips to Germany and Belgium in the Last few years, I ended up in Amsterdam at the weekend and there really are some phenomenal Dutch Beers, Brouwerij T'ij in particular having a host of excellent Brews.
But again I found myself all over any belgian beers that were on offer alot.
I was drinking one in particular that was the highlight of the lot, Adrian Brouwer Dark Gold. I cannot for the life of me locate it now.

edit:
maybe if I'd learn to spell things would improve a bit
http://www.belgianfamilybrewers.be/site/brewerdetail.php?l=en&br=roman
This was on tap I was drinking not bottled btw and it was drinkable to say the very least.

oblivious

Ronan|Raven wrote: »

We can get früh kölsch in Ireland? Please tell me where!

I love going back to the relations in Köln and making a pig of myself on Kölsch.

Redmonds of Ranelagh is know for certain, but I find that the bottle kölsch can be a little to carbonated

BeerNut

Ronan|Raven wrote: »

We can get früh kölsch in Ireland? Please tell me where!

Most of the specialist beer shops do it, and the Bull & Castle and Porterhouse both stock it as a regular.

Ronan|Raven

Thankyou for the replies. Im up in Dublin next week for a few days but will get a few bottles. Not as good as freshly pulled but it will do. Just a shame one b ottle will cost almost as much as a case over there