Das Boot

The country badge for Germany. Have 5 German brews to get level 1. Germany is well known for its many beer styles, festivals and traditions.

Germany is arguably the home of beer, with styles such as Hefeweizen, Dunkel, Bocks, Kolsch, Kristalweisen, Schwarzbier, Radler, Roggenbier, Gose, Altbier, Märzen, Helles, Kellerbier and even Berliner Weisse all coming from Germany. Incidentally, all of those styles have their own badge on Untappd.

You can’t talk about beer in Germany without mentioning Oktoberfest. The world’s biggest beer festival, each year around 8 million litres of beer is served to the six million people who attend the festival.

The beers served at Oktoberfest, like most German beers, comply with the Reinheitsgebot or Purity laws. Passed in 1516 they restricted beer to only contain water, barley and hops. This was later extended to include other malted grains, such as wheat. While they are no longer as strictly enforced as they once were, compliance with the Reinheitsgebot remains a powerful marketing tool for German breweries.

Germany has a rather decentralised beer industry with an extremely large number of breweries. The top ten breweries in Germany are: Oettinger, Krombacher, Bitburger, Beck’s (owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev), Warsteiner, Hasseröder (also Anheuser-Busch InBev), Veltins, Paulaner, Radeberger and Erdinger.