TLG: Drinks

Next up in The Long Goodbye series: drinks.

I love that Germans have Getränkemarkts ('beverage markets'). Walk in and behold rows of crates holding various brands of water, juice, soda, and beer. The walls are lined with wine and liquor. Most come in glass bottles (love that).

Germans have loved to drink for millenia- Tacitus noted it ~100AD, and it's been well-documented since. As I've referenced elsewhere, they even have a national saying: ‘We Germans pour money away through our stomachs.’ Hence the numerous Getränkemarkts.

Now, I say that I love that these stores exist, but I don't frequent them because I drink tap water almost exclusively. 

- I rarely drink bottled water (which the Germans love- often sparkling)- only when the tap can't be trusted or when making schorle.

- I've never liked beer (though I finally found one I like here- see below).

- I have wine maybe twice per year.

- Hard liquor doesn't do it for me, either (though I don't mind some Bailey's after dinner- you know, for the digestion). 

- Soda is great but bad for the diet, juice also seems like a bad way to get sugar, and so on. 

But I like the idea of drinks, as odd as that sounds, and enjoy having the myriad options here (and it is nice to have a cold drink now and then- especially after a long bike ride). When I do hit up the Getränkemarkts, here's what I go for:

Soda & Schorle

I do love soda, though I try to stay away due to sugar content (and I don't do diet drinks). I like the German Coke because it uses real sugar (which I always prefer to high-fructose corn syrup). I also like Spezi (Cola with orange & lime). 

Similar to soda, schorle is a combination of sparkling water and fruit juice. I liked currant and cherry schorles the best, but they're all pretty good, and probably healthier for you than soda. This is (obviously) something we can reproduce at home- if we can find the juices.

Finally, I'll mention two extremely recent (as in this week) discoveries: Karamalz (a non-alcoholic malt drink) and Franziskaner non-alcoholic blood orange-flavored wheat beer. Both really good, and the latter containing much less sugar than your typical soda.

Wine

Living in a wine region, you'd think we'd take advantage. We didn't. I don't dislike wine- and appreciate how cheap it is here (often 5 Euro and under)- but we just don't go for it. I do enjoy the occasional 'special' varieties invented here- spätlese and eiswein.

Beer

Finally found one I liked: Maisel's Weisse. It's my favorite and the only one that I don't tire of when I reach the bottom of one (I've never had two in a row, though- need to be responsible). I don't mind Kellerbier, either.

Cherry Beer

I love (and miss) the English ciders, so it makes sense that I would enjoy the cherry beers I've found throughout Europe. Be it in Croatian, Belgian, or German, good ones abound.

I think that's it for drinks (and food in general). On to other things I'll miss about life here.