Foreign Exchange

American Beer Styles, Brands Capture Attention of Drinkers Abroad.

- Bryan Roth

Ben Beinhardt has lived in Germany all his life, surrounded by hundreds of years of brewing tradition and some of the most iconic brands the world has known. He still fondly recalls his first Ayinger Celebrator Doppelbock, made at a brewery that’s been around since 1877, and his excitement at drinking a beer steeped in Bavarian heritage. He also favors Augustiner-Bräu, which started brewing in 1328, and its Edelstoff and Lagerbier Hell brands. 

But honestly, he wouldn’t mind an American IPA, either.

“I think it’d be great if we had new beers coming into the country and you get younger people to drink them,” says Beinhardt, 35, a resident of Stuttgart in the country’s southwest Baden-Württemberg state. “Developing a new beer culture in Germany would be tremendous and help our beer scene, but it would also take a lot of time and money.”

Maybe something like the $25 million Stone Brewing spent to open its production facility in Berlin? Beinhardt isn’t sure yet, but after a trip to the United States in 2014 when he visited breweries like Colorado’s Crooked Stave, Great Divide Brewing Co. and Ska Brewing Co., he hopes brands like Stone IPA or Stone Go To IPA catch on in his homeland, prompting an influx of more American beers to add options beyond the bocks or hefeweizens he can find anywhere in his home country.

“Any time I come to America , I see how many beers there are and how many flavors and realize Germans have no clue of the variety,” Beinhardt says. “But teaching Germans a new way of drinking alcohol? That’s pretty hard to do.”

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