As author of “Prost! The Story of German Beer,” as well as two technical books on German beer styles, Horst Dornbusch is intimately familiar with the history, traditions and tastes of German and German-style ales and lagers. Here Dornbusch, who also is president of Cerevisia Communications, discusses the upcoming Oktoberfest season.
What to your mind is the greatest misconception about German beer?
Definitely it is that there is only one German beer style, represented worldwide by a handful of well-known but generally uninspired pilsners. In reality, there are about 60 to 70 beer styles in Germany, almost all of them virtually unknown over here.
So how does one learn about all these styles?
At the risk of sounding self-serving, I have a website,
Beyond that, I recommend also
Of all these beer styles we don’t know about over here, which do you think hold the greatest sales potential?
Kölsch, a German pale ale, is virtually unknown but has huge potential. Similarly, altbier, a northern German style of dark ale, could do very well, as could all styles of dark lager, from dunkel, [a dark Bavarian lager], to schwarzbier, [a black lager from eastern Germany].
What do you think are the biggest stumbling blocks operators face in putting together Oktoberfest promotions?
They think it has to be a kitschy, clichéd German festival, with oompah-pah and lederhosen and all. Oktoberfest doesn’t have to be rowdy and raucous. The “Chicken Dance,” for instance, is not the height of Oktoberfest expression.
It should be about ambiance and good cheer, with room to sit, good food and beer, and lots of opportunity to socialize.
If you were to put two and only two German beer styles on tap, what would they be?
I’d reserve one tap for Munich helles, the pale lager that’s the Bavarian “quaffing beer,” and the other for a true Oktoberfest beer.
