Shout out to you too, Argentina/Quilmes. German immigrants eh?

There is an indisputable difference between making a beer, then putting adjuncts like cola, tang, or kook-aid in it; and brewing a beer who’s process includes the addition of fruit.

The German “beers” in question, by virtue of the Reinheitsgebot, are NOT BEER. The German beverage is beer, with stuff put in it, thereby nullifying it’s status as “beer”. Lambics, Krieks, et al, are beers who’s brewing process allows the addition of fruit (an organic, raw, product unlike coca-fucking-cola) as an ingredient to be as essential to the brewing process as hops, barley, and yeast.

Putting cola in your beer is like putting ranch on your carrot sticks: you’re making the good stuff tolerable to the philistines by covering it in crap. These beers are a by-product of the modernization, consolidation, and corporatization of the beer industry. Cultural tastes aside, it’s disgusting really, and indicative of the lack of concern for quality and greed for profit that so many of these companies lust for. Then again, the Germans just might really need to get chicks and Jr. High Schoolers drunk.

On the other hand, folks have been brewing with fruit since beer was invented. Fruit ferments in the natural world and animals eat it to get drunk! For reals! I don’t see animals lapping up fermented high fructose corn syrup.

If you truly cannot see the difference between the two then it is you who are in fact narrow minded. Beer + cola = shit. Beer brewed with fruit = awesome.

The only anal fixation I’ve seen is one’s penchant for being a name caller. You need to lay off the ‘roids bro.

“Kriek” spans a wide range of things, from authentic very sour kriek steeped for months in real cherries to sweet kriek made with cherry juice and sugar.

A “Berliner Weisse” in itself is a rather sour wheat beer. It is customary to drink it with added raspberry or woodruff syrup but in stores the beer is also sold unmixed by itself.

As a German, I fully agree with oakes’ assessment. We laugh at the Belgians for drinking sweet fruit beers while Cola-beers like “Mixery” are extremely popular here. Total hypocrisy.