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Brash Americans plan to froth up Germany's staid brewing business
急性子的美國人正準備讓德國古板的啤酒釀造業“冒泡”
Quality, quantity but not much variety
質量、數量，但沒有太多的花樣
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.
身穿傳統連衣裙的女侍應，正為身穿皮短褲的慕尼黑啤酒節狂歡者們帶來了巨型啤酒杯，而這獨一無二的景象就像是在告訴大家，對于德國文化來說啤酒有多么地重要。全國釀酒商協會宣布，德國奪得了“歐冠”：去年，德國啤酒廠商共生產了94.4億升產品，僅次于中國、美國和巴西。
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.
然而，事實上卻是德國人正逐漸拋棄自己國產的啤酒。在1990年兩德統一之時，德國人均年啤酒消費量為148升;而去年該指標僅為107升。相應地，他們正把目光投向葡萄酒，而后者的地位要比前者高得多。釀酒業的行家們認為令銷量下降的原因還有一個：大部分德國啤酒的口味都很平淡，讓人無法區分開來。德國國內有許多微型啤酒廠商，產品僅在本地供應。一些像是弗朗克尼亞產區的班貝克煙熏啤酒，則是口味獨特的代表。但大部分小型釀造商都只能勝任地生產大家所熟悉了解的，變化不多的口味。
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”.
身處柏林的愛爾蘭啤酒專家Rory
Lawton認為，德國所制訂的啤酒釀造《純凈法》(Reinheitsgebot)有礙于行業創新。這部于1516年實施的法案意圖讓啤酒稅的征收變得更加簡單，其方法就是針對啤酒原料來征稅。該法案明確規定廠商只允許用四種成分來釀造啤酒：麥芽、啤酒花、水，以及后來加入其中的酵母。幾百年之后，啤酒廠商開始用《純凈法》作為市場推廣的武器，來標榜自己產品的純正和經典。如果一款在德國境內制造的啤酒加入了另外的原料，那么它不能被稱為啤酒，只能貼上一個“酒精麥芽飲料”的標簽。
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.
如今，走出德國釀酒產業圈外，我們可以發現啤酒品質與《純凈法》的關聯似乎成了件怪事。由于國內行業對原料釀造實驗的限制，德國已經很大程度上錯過了美國廠商帶領下風靡全球的“啤酒工藝”狂熱。自2007年開始，德國啤酒出口量一直在下降，然而對各種風味的外國啤酒進口量則節節攀升。2013年，“味淡如水”的啤酒銷量在美國處于下跌狀態，但“精心釀制”的風味啤酒廠商則取得了17.2%的銷售量上漲。德國人的兩位鄰居，比利時和丹麥，也同樣地推出了令人驚訝的新風味啤酒。
Heiner Müller of Paulaner, the Munich-based maker of Germany's most popular
Hefeweizen, 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.
來自普拉納的Heiner
Müller，是一位生產德國最受歡迎的小麥啤的廠商，其公司總部位于慕尼黑。他表示，《純凈法》的必要性在于，德國消費者希望喝到純正的啤酒，而且該法案也不會必然阻礙著多樣性：各式各樣的啤酒花、麥芽、酵母，以及其他一些因素如溫度等，都可以釀造出成千上萬種啤酒。然而，一些傳統風格很大程度上阻礙了德國廠商的腳步。例如，在德國很難看得到波特啤酒、烈性啤酒，或是“啤酒花苦味啤酒”，一款目前在美國西海岸十分流行的高酒精度啤酒。
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希望能改變這一切。他所擁有的Stone
Brewing是美國排行第十的工藝啤酒廠商，去年的銷售額達到了1億3700萬美元。該公司于7月19日表示，它將在柏林投入2500萬美元以成立一家新的釀酒廠和新的餐廳，而這是首次在歐洲大陸出現了美國廠商擁有并運行一家釀酒廠。Stone公司能讓德國人接受它“彰顯自我的印度淡啤”嗎?Koch先生說，與開發美國市場的戰略相同，他在德國也不會進行任何市場調查，而對此他引用斯蒂夫喬布斯的一句話來解釋：消費者們并不知道他們想要什么，直到你把產品呈現在大家眼前。
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.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Stone公司在德國取得成功，那這對于德國啤酒廠商來說并不是什么壞事。目前，德國廠商正面臨著價格壓力―啤酒往往比瓶裝水還便宜。通過與高檔餐廳合作，創新或許能讓啤酒廠商將那些比較在意自身形象的中年酒友爭取回來，并讓他們為了新產品而進行更多的消費。許多美國餐廳，以及在歐洲其他國家的餐廳，他們菜單上啤酒的種類就與紅酒一樣多。要讓德國人低頭向周邊國家以及美國人學習，肯定會顯得很丟人。然而，這也許比翹首期盼著那份即將達到“500歲”的《純凈法》要好，它可不會永遠支撐著德國啤酒業。