bierfest

   Friday, August 6th — We hopped on the train at Charlottenburg, transferred at the Mitte, and stepped off at Strausberger Platz to reaffirm what, in my eyes, makes Germany the beer capital of the world. My parents had no idea what we were stepping into, since I looked up all the info on my own, but were equally excited to see what makes Germany Germany at the international Berlin Beer Festival. Zoë was mainly excited to be 15 and walking around with a mug of beer in her hand and no one giving a shit; That excitement didn't wear out for her. I had a mission when we got there, and my mission was accomplished within 30 seconds, because the first beer stand we walk to served IPA, something rarely seen in Germany I think because of the German Beer Purity Law, which allows only four ingredients to be used in beer...although it still seems possible to make IPA with those. Happy to have my IPA, which wasn't too shabby either (www.brewdog.com), we continued on with the Biermeile (Beermile, and I dunno why it's not a bierkilo but that made me feel more at home).

   We strolled down Karl Marx Allee in the former East Berlin (its really evident in the East Block Architecture), passing beer stand after beer stand, bratwurst stands, currywurst, crepes, pretzels and general stands of festivities. There was also live music every few hundred meters, which we'd stop at and grab a beer to watch with. The beer started getting pretty expensive so we were sparingly buying beer here and there, and sharing it...until we realized there was this sign on most of the stands that said "Pro Bier Krug" 1,50€. There was a special Mug that you bought at one of the festival stands ("Pro Beer Mug") and all the vendors would fill it up for super cheap. So we bought the mugs and then it was a true beer fest from then on.

   We stopped every other stand to try the different beers, and as I began to get faded, I thoroughly enjoyed drinking beer after beer, but was never that impressed with the German beers. The Pils were always crisp and refreshing for sure, but it never varied very much, and the Dunkels and Hefeweizens all tasted the same...but it was cheap, so I wasn't complaining. Everyone once and while we'd stop at a bratwurst stand where they were cooking loads of bratwursts, grab a cheap wurst, enjoy our German roots and enjoy the band.

   Then, in my drunken stupor, it hit me– I realized how cool America was. Not because we have good IPA's, and not because we're cocky enough to call ourselves "the Americans," neglecting all of South America, but because for the fourth time walking down the beer fest, just after finishing some classic rock song, like Sweet Child o'Mine, a band started playing Sweet Home Alabama (with a hint of a german accent). Now maybe I was just in a "America, Fuck Yea" sorta mood, which was mainly evident because I never thought that song was that tight, and I've never even been to Alabama, but being at a German beerfest, I couldn't help but wear a fat grin thinking how cool everyone must think the US is, to have them rock out to our music at one of their long-famed Beerfests. Yup, everyone one wants to be an "Ami."

   So some fun facts: the German Beer Purity law has been around since 1516. Germany actually is 3rd in per capita beer consumption behind the #2 Ireland, and #1 Czech. The US consumes 67.5 billion beers a year, compared to the 26.9 billion per year Germany consumes...but we're still way behind in per capita. All this data was found at a very reliable site. So in all, Germany has awesome beerfests and while I did highlight the funny American music and my amazing realization, there was actually also good german folk music in smokey tents, with long tables of old people singing german folk songs.