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9 best German beers - Introduction

Fill your stein with a traditional Oktoberfest ale
Clinking steins of beer, raucous singing, noisy oompah bands, plates of sausages and well-
worn lederhosen: if you want to tick off German clichés then get yourself to a German beer
festival because they’re all very much in evidence. These big, boozy bashes are now such a
hit with fun-seekers they’re replicated the world over.

The most famous of all beer festivals, Munich’s much celebrated Oktoberfest, has strict beer
entry criteria: breweries must come from the city and uphold the 500-year-old Reinheitsgebot
beer purity law, meaning that booze must contain only water, barley, hops and yeast to be
officially sold as beer.

Some modern brewers may curse its restrictive measures, but centuries worth of brewing
experts have adhered to it and created a vast range of beer styles. Often unique to a particular
town or city, each particular beer is likely to invoke a great sense of regional pride.

Only six breweries make the grade for Munich’s celebrated knees-up, but for those of you
who fancy creating an Oktoberfest in your own home your only restriction is availability. And
while supermarkets are well stocked with weissbiers, for a greater choice you’ll have to seek
out some specialist importers.

Handily, we’ve done the donkey work for you, so for maximum German beer enjoyment you
could do worse than enlist the help of this collection, showcasing some of the most popular
styles throughout the country. Lederhosen optional.

(…)

The verdict:

It seems a little disrespectful to attempt to pick a “best beer” from a country with so many
world-class brews as Germany. But if you’re looking for a taste of the Oktoberfest then the
obvious choice from our list, to sit alongside your wurst and sauerkraut, is the Hacker-Pschorr
Märzen. Prost!