Teaching the Swiss about beer!

Hi everyone!

I’ve been using this site for about a year to check out beers and just got round to joining (sorry!). I was reading recently that there are more breweries in Switzerland per Capita than any other country, strange then that most Swiss don’t give a toss about beer.

I have noticed though that recently more Swiss guys are starting to appreciate good beer and there are more and more micro breweries and specialist bars starting up serving Swiss brews.

I do run a small beer bar myself in Zurich serving British ales but I’m getting more and more interested in Swiss beers. So, many other Swiss beer fans here?

Thanks for a great site, looking forward to rating beers and bars and joining in with some discussion!

Mike

My experience with Swiss beer is more or less limited to BFM who I think are one of the greatest breweries in the world.

I like both the Trois Dames and BFM beers that we see most frequently in the US.

But I’ve also enjoyed everything I’ve tried from Birrificio Ticinese in Stabio.

I am wondering how easy it is for you to get beers from the other cantons. I assume you don’t have the same challnges that Canada has getting beers from one province to another, or in the US from one state to another.

And you don’t see the Swiss team brewing neither. In fact, if one of those Swiss boys ever come across a good beer, he probably yell, "eins, zwei, drei" and try to pour it over some ice.

Originally posted by lithy
And you don’t see the Swiss team brewing neither. In fact, if one of those Swiss boys ever come across a good beer, he probably yell, "eins, zwei, drei" and try to pour it over some ice.

My experience with Swiss beers is also very limited, but with stuff like BFM and Père Jakob there is both great potential for classic style perfection as well as useful innovation. It’s from small bars like yours that beer revolutions are born (I see the same in France now), so the best of luck, keep it up and have fun. It’s a challenge but a tasty one, to convince locals.

Bad Attitude, compared to the main br. Ticinese, makes some very decent beers, in cans. Great folks as well. Brasserie du Jorat and Faiseurs de Bière are not bad either as they try to experience with other ingredients. My experience with the German cantons is of your more typical German influenced beer styles, and I have yet to find a brewery from that part of Switzerland that stands out.

I’ve been fortunate enough to have sampled quite a lot of Swiss microbrews. I would say that Switzerland has managed to stay at the forefront of the new wave of European microbrewing. There is a great variety of brewers, many brew according to existing (very varying) regional traditions, other are influenced by foreign practises, and some, such as BFM, has been creating their very own space.

With such a multitude of small breweries there is of course a huge variance in quality.

What BFM I’ve had, I really enjoyed, but that’s the extent of my exposure.

Thanks for the welcome.... if you’re not in Switzerland, they don’t export much, but if you do visit, look out for Brülli Bier and Rappi Bier Factory, the latter organises a Swiss craft beer festival in Rapperswil castle the last Sunday of August, it’s well worth the visit!

craftbier.ch

Rapperswil castle?--I like the name. Thats got to make my bucket list of places to go.