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German beer
德国啤酒
Pure, cheap and a bit dull 酒体纯净、价格低廉，口感单调
Brash Americans plan to froth up Germany’s staid brewing business
爱出风头的美国人打算让德国保守的酿酒业冒沫
Jul 26th 2014 | BERLIN | From the print edition of The Economist
译者：veep
Quality, quantity but not much variety
质量好、分量足，品类不多
THE dirndl-clad waitress bringing huge mugs to Lederhosen-wearing revellers at Oktoberfest is an image that, like none other, shows how central beer is to German culture. The national brewers’ association declares Germany “European Champion”. It brewed 94.4m hectolitres last year, beaten only by China, America and Brazil.
慕尼黑啤酒节上，有一个画面是其他地方见不到的，身着紧身裙的女服务员给穿着皮短裤来狂欢的人端上大杯啤酒，这说明啤酒是德国文化的中心。德国酿酒商协会宣布德国夺得“欧洲冠军”。去年德国酿造了九千四百四十万升啤酒，产量仅在中国，美国、巴西之后。
But the truth is that Germans are going off their ale. At unification in 1990, annual consumption averaged 148 litres per head; last year it was just 107 litres. Instead, they are turning to wine, which has a higher status. Connoisseurs think there is another reason for falling sales: that so many German beers are bland and indistinguishable. The country has many tiny breweries whose ales can only be had locally. Some, like the smoked beers of Bamberg in Franconia, are distinctive. But many of the small fry competently but predictably turn out a narrow range of flavours.
事实上，德国人和自己的啤酒渐行渐远。1990年，国家统一，平均每人每年消耗啤酒148升，去年只有107升。他们正在转向身价更高的的葡萄酒。鉴赏家们认为销量下滑还有一个原因：很多德国啤酒口味平淡，品尝起来不易区分。德国小酒坊很多，它们的啤酒只供应本地。弗兰克尼亚的班贝克烟熏啤酒很有特色。这些小酒坊虽然有能力，但是它们的啤酒口味不多。
Rory Lawton, an Irish beer expert in Berlin, thinks Germany’s Reinheitsgebot, or beer-purity law, is discouraging innovation. The 1516 law was intended to make it easier to tax beer, through levies on its permitted ingredients: malted barley, hops, water and, later, yeast. Centuries on, brewers began using the Reinheitsgebot as a marketing tool to promote their products as pure and authentic. If anything else is put into a brew made in Germany it cannot be called Bier, but must be labelled “alcoholic malt drink”.
爱尔兰籍的罗里·劳顿在柏林做啤酒出口生意，他认为德国的《纯净法》阻碍创新。这部法律创制于1516年，目的是方便征收啤酒税，向这部法律许可的原料课税：麦芽、啤酒花、水，后来加上了酵母。几个世纪以来，酿造师们把《纯净法》作为市场工具，推动产品了纯净度和可靠性。在德国，如果往酿造的啤酒里加入其他原料，那么它就不能被称为Bier（德语：啤酒），必须给它贴上“酒精麦芽饮料”的标签。
Today, the link between quality and the purity law seems strange outside German brewing circles, since the restriction on experimenting with ingredients has meant that the country has largely missed out on the American-led “craft beer” craze. Germany’s beer exports have been flat since 2007, whereas imports of more varied foreign beers have climbed. In America, consumption of the watery swill that passes for beer is falling, but the trade body for craft brewers reckons their sales rose by 17.2% in 2013. Two of Germany’s small neighbours, Belgium and Denmark, are also turning out exciting new brews.
今天，在德国酿酒行业之外，质量和《纯净法》的关系似乎很奇怪，因为限制使用原料，德国在很大程度上错过了美国主导的“精酿啤酒”时尚。自2007年以来，德国啤酒出口一直不景气，然而进口的啤酒品类多样，销量攀升。在美国，口味淡如水的啤酒销量降低，但是精酿啤酒的贸易商认为2013年他们的销售额增长了17.3%。临近德国的两个小国，比利时和丹麦也在生产唤起人们激情的新型啤酒。
Heiner Müller of Paulaner, the Munich-based maker of Germany’s most popular Hefeweizen (cloudy, wheaty beer), argues that the Reinheitsgebot is needed because German consumers expect it. It need not be an obstacle to diversity: the varieties of hops, malt, yeast and other factors like temperature could produce over a billion beers, he says. But German brewers have largely stuck to a few traditional styles. For instance, it is hard to find porters and stouts, or the hoppy, high-alcohol brews now popular on America’s west coast.
柏龙位于慕尼黑，生产德国最受欢迎的酵母小麦啤酒，这家公司的员工海纳·穆勒认为《纯净法》是有必要的，它是德国消费者的期望。他说，《纯净法》不应该是啤酒品类多样化的障碍：各种啤酒花、麦芽、酵母和其他如温度之类的因素组合起来可以制作出上百万种啤酒，但是，德国的啤酒酿造师大部分固守着几样传统风格。比如，现在流行于美国西海岸的波特啤酒、烈性黑啤酒、霍啤还有酒精度高的啤酒在德国很难见到。
Greg Koch hopes to change all this. His Stone Brewing is America’s tenth-biggest craft brewer, with sales last year of $137m. On July 19th it said it will invest $25m in a new brewery and restaurant in Berlin—the first brewery in Europe to be owned and run by an American craft brewer. Can Stone convince German palates to adapt to flavours like its Sublimely Self-Righteous Black IPA? Mr Koch says he did the same amount of market research he had done previously in America: “Zero.” He quotes Steve Jobs, Apple’s late boss, to the effect that customers do not know what they want until you show it to them.
Greg Koch希望改变这一切。他的石头啤酒厂在美国的精酿啤酒厂中排行第十位，去年的销售额为一亿三千七百万美元。7月19日，这家公司宣布将在柏林的一家新的啤酒厂和饭店投资两千五百万美元。这是欧洲第一个所有权和经营权归归美国精酿啤酒制造商的啤酒厂。石头啤酒厂能让德国人的口感适应它的Sublimely Self-Righteous Black IPA吗？Koch说，之前他在美国也没有做市场调查，他引用苹果公司已故老板史蒂夫·乔布斯的话：客户并不知道自己想要什么，而是需要你去展示给他们看。
If Stone succeeds, it may be no bad thing for the German brewers. They are under price pressure—beer is often cheaper than bottled water. (In January five big brewers were fined for trying to boost prices with a cartel.) Innovation could tempt back middle-aged, status-conscious drinkers, and get them to pay more for something new, through a link to fine dining. Many American restaurants, and ones elsewhere in Europe, have as many beers as wines on their menus. For Germans to learn lessons about beer from their neighbours and the Americans will be galling. But it might be better than hoping that the Reinheitsgebot, soon to turn 500 years old, will prop up German beer sales forever.
如果石头啤酒厂取得成功，对德国啤酒厂来说可能不是坏事。他们面临价格压力——啤酒经常比瓶装水便宜。（元月份五家大啤酒厂因为联合起来试图提价而遭到罚款。）革新能够把注重身份的中年酒徒吸引回来，通过美食，使他们在新东西上花更多的钱。很多美国饭店，还有欧洲其他地方的饭店，在它们的菜单上，啤酒的品类和葡萄酒同样多。对于德国人来说，从邻国和美国人那里获取教益会让他们难堪。但是这要比指望着即将500岁高龄的《纯净法》会永远支持德国啤酒销售好一点。
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