German Drinks

This post can pretty much be summed up in one sentence: the Germans like their fizz!

Seriously.

When I was stationed there and ate out in restaurants, I missed being able to order plain old uncarbonated water. Servers would look at me like I'd sprouted a second head if I tried to ask for it. So I often had to order juice, and even then, I had to enunciate loudly to emphasize that I wanted apple JUICE, not apple Schorle! 

What is Apfelschorle? It's a drink my son has grown to love, made simply by mixing apple juice with carbonated water. Aside from the bubbles (which I hate), it's not bad-- it's a good way to reduce the sweetness of apple juice, and it's better than plain fizzy water!

During our August trip, I thought I'd see if the drink options had expanded in the past 15 years. Well, sort of. They did have ordinary water available, but it was the bottled kind and it cost more than plain old juice! I learned that the hard way and stuck to ordering apple juice from then on.

German beer seems to have a reputation for being really good. I wouldn't know, as I don't really drink beer (most types are too bitter for my taste, and way too carbonated. Belgian Whites are about the only thing I can stomach), but obviously it beats out your average Bud Light. These days, though, American microbreweries are coming up with some really interesting and flavorful concoctions, and the tides are turning. At least, that's what I hear from friends who are more the "beer connoisseur" type, including Germans.

From what I understand, it's because in Germany you can't call it a "beer" unless it conforms to a strict definition, which includes certain ingredients and possibly even proportions of said ingredients (someone correct me if I'm wrong). This, of course, ends up restricting just how creative one can get with a recipe and still call it "beer". Still, when you consider the many varieties of German beers out there, it's pretty impressive what one can come up with on a restricted list!


Apfelschorle and Bier. Two things that immediately come to mind when thinking of uniquely German drinks!

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