Beer is no longer "cool" even in Germany

Germany and beer have long been synonymous. But that is changing. With Monday's closing of two large breweries, the crisis facing the industry appears to be deepening. An aging population is partly to blame. But beer, as it turns out, just isn't cool anymore.

I lived in Germany for two and half years the late 60's and early 70's. One of the joys of living in Munich was beer, lots of beer. I got over the initial shock of people have beer for breakfast and some of my best memories are sitting in a beer garden on a warm summer night. Well Der Speigel reports that With Brewery Closures, Germany Faces Brauereisterben(brewery purchases).

The threatening new word made its appearance on the German media stage in the mid-1990s. Brauereisterben. Dubbed after the term for Germany's dying forests, the word predicted the decline of the nation's breweries. The frothy favorite of thirsty Germans, the beer brewing industry started warning 10 years ago, was heading for a crisis. More and more beer-swilling Teutons seemed to be turning away from hops and malt and towards a healthier lifestyle of designer water and juice. To traditionalists in Germany and abroad, for whom the words "Germany" and "beer" belong together like sauerkraut and bratwurst, it's a horror come true.

It's a sad day indeed. Germany without beer is like Hungry without paprika.