Franconia Beer Message Board

There IS a beer fest in Erlangen on Sunday.
Posted by Jason on 2017-09-04 02:52:54
Well I do actually agree about pricing and market forces etc BUT the point is that the quality of the product does not always reflect the price. The lack of 'craft beer' experience here in Germany and, significantly, a history of bottom fermented beers (exceptions aside) means that the brewers are often considerably lacking in expertise and the consumer even less. Therefore they cannot judge whether the product justifies the price. And thus traditional market forces are skewed.

This is what I refer to when I say 'cynical way to make money'. As an example, last night I was at the Spezi Keller with Mat and his friend Scott. Scott very generously shared a big bottle of Weiherer Bock aged in Bourbon barrels with us. I'm not sure of  the price but I'm guessing EUR15-20. It was drinkable, but had I paid that money for it (or even half) I would have been very disappointed. Who puts a pale bock in whisky barrels? A dark bock, yes, that could work. Of course brewers are doing all sorts these days, many of which don't make sense, so it's certainly not just Weiherer. But this illustrates my point perfectly. Can you imagine an inexperienced wine maker planting some grapes in Bordeaux and selling his wine for EUR20 a bottle from the off? Of course not. But the number of brewers now setting up and foisting their half baked (brewed?) products on sometimes ignorent consumers is quite remarkable.

I am sure that not all brewers are trying to rip us off - and that same lack of expertise that restricts the products quality also means that the they don't know they are charging a disproportionate amount. They just see an opportunity - fair enough, but it's not something I want to spend my money on. How the brewer at Brauhaus Coburg (who I saw tasting his beer on Saturday) felt that it could be classified as anything near beer is beyond me - and that was supposed to be a typical German style beer - it made Wagner in Oberhaid seem positively delicious.

As always, I exercised my right as the consumer. Each to their own.
 
Followups:
             There IS a beer fest in Erlangen on Sunday. by Andrew H on  2017-09-04 08:28:21
             There IS a beer fest in Erlangen on Sunday. by Euromannn on  2017-09-04 08:32:39
               There IS a beer fest in Erlangen on Sunday. by Jason on  2017-09-04 09:06:11
             There IS a beer fest in Erlangen on Sunday. by Doug on  2017-09-04 10:55:41
             There IS a beer fest in Erlangen on Sunday. by Mark Andersen on  2017-09-05 06:12:02
               There IS a beer fest in Erlangen on Sunday. by Nick B. on  2017-09-05 07:53:14
                 There IS a beer fest in Erlangen on Sunday. by Nick B. on  2017-09-05 07:56:41
                   There IS a beer fest in Erlangen on Sunday. by Nick B. on  2017-09-05 08:14:26
                 There IS a beer fest in Erlangen on Sunday. by Mark Andersen on  2017-09-05 08:36:29
                   There IS a beer fest in Erlangen on Sunday. by Jason on  2017-09-05 11:40:36
                     World of Craft Beer and local breweries on the Cape by Mark Andersen on  2017-09-06 06:23:21
                       World of Craft Beer and local breweries on the Cape by barry on  2017-09-06 11:45:08
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