The "problem" here seems to be expectation when it comes to beer gardens -- or pubs in general. In Germany and other European countries they are sponsored by one brewery and offer only the beer of that brewery and associates. These were originally subterranean to keep the beer of the brewery cool. Then they put gravel on top and planted chestnut trees, also to keep the beer cool. Then they started selling the beer. After that they offered simple food (as restricted by law). In traditional beer gardens in Bavaria you may still bring your own food.
As a german I'd say: In the US, all that air conditioning, it's hard. You always have to take a jacket or - as a european - you will get a cold or at least a sore throat ☃️🧣 It's effing freezing!
dont know where u live, but Germany is too warm for me... i always have a ventilator and in summer 2 running. Cant afford air conditioning rn and in the rented apartments its often not possible to install one properly
@@shadesmarerik4112 Yeah, I know. That was a bit of a joke about the air conditioning. But they do turn it to ice cold instead of cool in the US. I luckily live in a really well insulated house and that does not only mean less heating in winter but also the house staying cool in summer unless it's weeks and weeks of heat. So we will see what the future brings. But anywhere it get's really hot... yes, please AC, just maybe not arctic temperatures inside when it feels like the Sahara outside...
If I were to guess, I'd say that people in the SOUTHERN US have come to have a lower tolerance for hot weather due to there being so much air conditioning in this region. Some of my coworkers have our control room feeling like a meat locker.
@@thatguy8869 I think you're right. When I go home to Seattle I am disappointed that my family runs their AC very minimally, to save money I guess. I try not to let my house in Germany get over 24C in Summer. It's rough on my AC unit.
"Spitzegern"! I love this term. It's not a term coming from Germany, BUT since the German language allows to make up compound words I'd say it's technically a very German attitude to invent such a word. :) So, go for it! I might even use "spitzegern" in the future, because its a fun word.
Reading all those comments regarding the air conditioning and the cost that comes with it - I've come to thought... What are your thoughts as an American living in Germany on "Nachhaltigkeit"? I'd be great to see a video about that!
A beer garden is not a "beer shop" ...it is solely about enjoying sitting outside with a fresh beer from the tab...originally it was always part of a brewery which sold their fresh brewed beer as off-premises sales. I don´t know how it is a Germany but here in Austria you will get always both dark + light beer in a beer garden...and my favourite choice is then "ein Gemischtes"/"a mixed one" which is half dark beer and half light beer in a glas..
Here it depends on which brewery is the main contractor for the beer garden, but in most you will find at least a Pilsner and some kind of either a Dunkles or a Schwarzbier.
6:47 There is a reason to having traffic lights on your side of the road instead of the other side of the road, like in the US (whether this is intentionally in Germany or by accident, I can't tell). The advantage is that drivers have to stay behind the white line and do not cross over on the pedestrian crossing or the cycle lane. This design nudges people in the right direction.
I think its more because here many roads are small and crossroads are sometimes not straight but more twisted. If the trafficlight would be on the other side of the road it would be way harder to spot it. In america the roads are realy straight most of the time.
@@AllesssKlar American car drivers have trouble with bends and curves.... they get confused if a street dont goes straight and traffic signs need text on them, because they need an explanation what they are, from Europe to China, every car driver can understand the random traffic signs just by seeing them from far!
Depends on the state. I went to Missouri last year and the use of the blinker on the highway is optional. It's almost like Rome, a free for all. The thing that annoys my German husband the most is the lack of the "zipper" when merging - ppl in the PNW are clueless and they don't use the zipper method and it ends in road rage. Apparently we learned to drive wrong. I agree with Donnie's relatives - German drivers are excellent and I feel safe when I drive. If I make a mistake, I'm told about it quickly. It makes you a better driver.
@@LythaWausW you can get a ticket for Road Rage in Germany. But yes the Driving skills here are better because it is way harder to get a Driving license in germany and it cost way more then in other countrys. Maybe this is why germany have good driver's.
I live in New York and plastic bags have been outlawed since before Covid for shopping (one can buy plastic for garbage). My supermarket (which is a major one) does not even have paper bags let alone plastic ones - you have to bring your own bags or they will sell you a reusable one.
Over the past few years I've heard a couple times that there are more and more "non plastic bags" shops in the US, cars with lower or no fuel consumption are getting more popular and so on. Overall I believe the american people have become a bit more environmental cautious, which is awesome! 👍
@@fawkesmorque thank you but unfortunately I don’t think that it is totally even. As I mentioned New York State has banned the use of plastic bags for shopping and other more progressive/liberal states/cities/localities have also done so especially in the Northeast and West Coast. But there are politicians and even a whole political party that are vilifying anything that is against tradition when rich white men dominated the country and railing against anything that is for progress, science-based or evidence-based as Woke and therefore evil!
3:40 The ice cream tastes fresh and like they put real fruit in it because at those ice cream parlors, they make the ice cream by themselves and put real fruit in it.
4:35 The reason why beer gardens only sell one type of beer is because historically, breweries stored their beer underground in specially constructed cellars. Above those cellars, they planted trees with thick leafage to provide shade, which made those spaces perfect seating areas. That meant you could go down some stairs, get some beer and sell it to the people above. And since breweries back in the day didn't make different varieties of beer, that meant you'd get just that specific type of beer at the beer garden. To make this extra clear, just think of a beer garden as a beer storage rather than a gastronomical institution. (That also explains why traditional beer gardens don't sell food - or only sell a limited selection of food items.)
Funny. Every Yank complains that there is little air conditioning in Europe but none of them gets the idea how much energy is needed so that you do not sweat but the rest of the world.
I can tell you that the US uses more energy for AC than the continent of Africa uses in total.. That's 1.3billion people.. And we're only talking AC. The US uses more for heating than AC so you can add another continent of africa a for heating
It’s true, you usually don’t get a big variety of beers in one beer garden or restaurant. But there are specialty stores that are dedicated to beer and every “beverage store” (Getränkemarkt) will offer a wider variety of beers, even from further away regions, as local breweries usually have contracts with local restaurants and beer gardens.
Good to see two down to earth people who are well versed and didn’t try to be extra in any way - very sympathetic! I guess that comes with not being in front of a camera much. I really enjoyed the video 👍🏻
9 месяцев назад
-sympathetic- likeable (yes, BEWARE THE FALSE FRIENDS!)
Next time around bring them to Wiesbaden, it is beautiful and has so many amazing things to see. And go up the Neroberg with the Nerobergbahn and find the amazing Chateau Nero…. Beautiful view with great wine…. Enjoy your channel a lot….
Justin's German pronunciation is pretty good. You wouldn't say "spitzegern" though. But you can say "spitze", as in "that's great". "Family time in Meisenheim"? That is spitze. 😆
16:55 Thanks for the tip, I'll check out Meisenheim (and ice cream in Freinsheim :p)! I'm a German from Rheinland-Pfalz, so I could go, but I didn't know Meisenheim. ;) I love secret tips for small places to visit! Justin and Rebecca seem so "sympathisch"! :)
excellent episode. I enjoyed Justin's thoughtful and nuanced answers, he would make a good german. so here is a nuanced comment on airconditioning in the US. ALL of Germany is NORTH of the Canadian border, and all of the south of the US is essentially the same latitude as Gibraltar or North Africa if you will. It is EXTREMELY humid in the south, and AC removes a lot of the humidity from the air. This is what AC is really needed for. In germany the humidity is not that much of an issue, and the temperatures overall are not as hot for as long as they are in the South of the US. After 25 years or so living in Georgia, i have learned to appreciate air conditioning. However, as a german, i have my thermostat set to 75 degrees Fahrenheit. I know many businesses and households have AC set to 70 degrees. That is way to cold for me and forces the air to run pretty much full time in the summer, even at night. That is not healthy, and a complete waste of energy in my, german, mind. If i were to move back to germany i would want AC in the car, July and August can be brutal in europe. If i were to build a house in germany, i would likely have a mini-split for the main living areas and bedrooms. Just to keep July and August under control. In short: it makes no sense to compare the lack of AC in germany, or much of northern Europe, to the use of AC in the South of the United States. What crazy person would live in Florida without AC? oh, and i have gotten used to drinking still water out of plastic bottles here in the US. carbonated water is crazy expensive in the US. as is beer btw. P.S when i came to the US for the first time in college, 30 years ago, most bars had no beer selection at all! Oh, yes, Sir we have BOTH kinds! Miller, and Miller Lite, or Bud and Bud Lite..... Things have changed.
@@sigmagic2874 the traditional manufacturers are Goodman, Trane, Carrier. But we also see smaller systems from Mitsubishi, mini-splits, as they allow installation into existing homes without the expense of airducts. Just about all homes here in the south are forced air systems, totally not like homes in Europe.
- hahaha, "white asparagus - it looks like a mistake!"..... I am still laughing. So let me whisper "well - top secret but - we tend to photoshop our green asparagus all the time!"! - lack of beer varieties: I guess it is because of the "Deutsches Reinheitsgebot". You may ask google and by doing so spare me to write an entire novel here :) - "Spitze gern" to me as a German sounds rather adaptable! Btw., "danke sehr" isn't wrong, it is simply sort of outdated, a bit oldfashioned if you know what I mean. - I love to hear that Trier did impress you! (Was born and raised there, left when I was 25 and ever since I feel homesick!)
Beergardens usually are bound to the brewery - even most restaurants are. But there is a variety of different light and dark beers in Germany - but not if you go into a restaurant but to a "Getränkeshop". Favourite sparkling water brand - Hassia.
Oh, they should have shown them a Getraenkemarkt! Never would it be allowed to stack product as they do, to the ceiling, in America due to earthquake risk. Also you can buy frozen food from Poland and have no idea what you're getting. Even the check out people have no idea what they're selling. It's a "surprise dinner."
@@LythaWausW In vielen Getränkemärkten bekommst Du hier gar keine Gerolsteiner Glasflaschen mehr. Und ich find die deutlich besser als die PET Flaschen. Wenn man 50% Lösch Apfelsaft zum Gerolsteiner macht, bekommt man ne prima Schorle...
Really nice video, again, Donnie. I got quite emotional hearing how much better the salads are and when Rebecca said it tastes as if they actually added real fruit to the ice cream. I take that for granted now. Lots of interesting observations. I’m sure the Germans are pleased to have tourists/visitors like these guys. I thought at first he was saying spitze gel, but I think it was an insider phrase under classmates. Any as long as it hasn’t got that horrible bitter taste some have.
you can get a LOT of variety of beers in specialized drinks supermarkets (Pils, Guinness, wheat brew, Bockbier, flavored beer, non-alcoholic beers, Berliner Weisse, Hefeweizen, Starkbier, craft beers etc.). In localities, most restaurants and bars have a steady contract with one supplier who sponsors beer coasters, the tab system, bar decor, outside signs etc. Thus, you have a or a few local beers on draft that is/are fresh. All others can usually be had bottled or bought for home.
Roundabouts were almost gone in Germany for decades. I am not sure but when I got my license in 1990 the instructor probably went out of his way that I could encounter a roundabout at least once (or there might not have been any close to enough). Later in the mid/late 90s I remember them from driving in France. Then, in the late 90s they began to build them in Germany everwhere.
well when it comes to sparkeling water i like the cheap lidl stuff with high carbonation .... you have to drink it when its nearly freezing cold and its hellish hot outside ... iits a experiance like drinking down a huge glass of refreshing barbed wire
Regarding the traffic light situation: The roots for the "suboptimal" placement may be the way less predictable street layout compared to the states. Sometimes crossings have the weirdest angles, and it might simply not be possible to put traffic light in the opposing side, maybe there isnt even a clear opposing side, and you could have several roads looking at the same "opposing side". While not great for viewing angles, the german position of traffic lights is unambigous for the most part.
If I remember well we didn't have as much traffic lights above the street in the 1960ies and early 1970ies. Usually there was a Pole on the right corner an it could have two traffic lights mounted side by side on that pole. They weren't that high above but you had to turn your head, ie you weren't looking in the direction you'd go driving. The position of traffic lights in Germany discourages driving into crossroads and I think that contributes to road safety.
I'm personally a still water guy but when it comes to mineral water then it's Radenska all the way! It's Slovenian but has a lot of minerals in it and often is cheaper than the local (Austrian) ones.
Peter from Munich, Germany: Hey Donnie, you have a real nice family! My preferred mineral water is Munich tap water, added with carbonic acid. The water comes from the mountains and tastes wonderful and costs nearly nothing.
Meisenheim is a very good choice, beautiful small town. I grew up not that far away and really love that you guys can appreciate its wonderful vibe too. Greetings from Berlin!
In Germany, the water that comes from the tap is classified as a staple food and is therefore tested by the state and is therefore safe to drink. Many people also have a soda stream at home with which the water from the tap can be made into sparkling water.
"Spitze gern... That reminds me on the Spanish wife of a friend of mine. She used to say "Guter schön", if she find something very pretty, or was satisfied with something...
Das war spitze! We are often in Meisenheim, my wife and me. We live near Zweibrücken and often travel to tha Glan and Nahe rivers for a couple of days. I guess you had coffee and cake in the old mill. We often stayed there.
There are many sparkling water brands (most also have medium or none sparkling versions as well) I like. _Gerolsteiner_ is ok but not on that list. Recently I bought *Eifel Quelle* frequently and always in *glass bottles* not plastic since plastic contaminates the water and its taste.
Most of the "funny" beers that are popular in the US are forbidden under the "Reinheitsgebot". They might also enjoy trying Rauchbier in Bamberg, which is also a very nice city to visit. The next visit you should take Justin to Belgium. They have a lot of beer varity there. Favorite sparkling water brand by far: San Pellegrino.
@@johannweber5185 Now that you mention it, there is "Grape" from Hoepfner (Beer and Grapefruit Juice", Radler, etc.But to Justin's point, if you go into an American Craft Brewery, they often have 20-30 different "beers" on tap.
@@chrisb2942 Actually the Reinheitsgebot doesn't count at all anymore, that is a myth the brewery industry likes to tell. According to the Bierverordnung and the Lebensmittelrecht way more stuff is allowed in beer now than it is in the original Reinheitsgebot
Ah, you just reminded me of a favorite, Wupper Dunkel. If I'm correct you can only get it in Wuppertal. And they make it in that renovated swimming pool hall. Oh I'd love one right now.
I think Aachen might still be in the area where Bitburger has its cold iron grip on the market. Around the Bitburger brewery the situation is absolutely different. I first noticed that when I moved to the south. Before it was just normal that most where just Bitburger.
How true not to tell about your favorites. I will never make that mistake again. Oh, you mentioned Ritter chocolate. LOL, I live on Maui, and visit my beloved beer heaven Oberbayern once a year for a month. On my way back, I usually have around 40 pounds of Ritter, mostly Nougat, in my checked luggage. Gotta survive 11 months on it on this rock here.
Want a really HUGE variety of different kinds of beers? Many dark ones, really strong ones? Go to Belgium! If you've been to Aachen already it's not really far, and they speak German in East Belgium (which in the past belonged to Germany anyway). Many East Belgium Biergarten equivalents have a HUGE variety of beers to enjoy.
Traditionally, a Biergarten is not a Bar, where you can expect a large selection of different Beers, rather it is a specific Brewer's Storage Cellar beneath it to keep things cool, with gravel on top, where the searing area is.
My favourite sparkling water brand? "Leitungsheimer"! 😊 You won't find it at any store - it's just to say: tap water! We use one of these SodaStream carbonators.... I just was tired of toiling with those heavy water crates (we used to buy our bottled water in glass bottles because it tastes much better). Our tap water here (at "Franconian Switzerland") is of such high quality that you could literally just bottle it and sell it as mineral water. We're so thankful for our water!
My favorite Mineralwater is probably 'Bad Dürrheimer Mineralwasser'. Mostly due to nostalgy, i grew up in that area (Bad Dürrheim where they produce that water, Donaueschingen where the river Donau starts and Villingen-Schwenningen with Villingen having a town festival all year in 1999, celebrating their 1,000 year long official city status and Schwenningen being known as the biggest village of Germany for centuries and the spring of the river Neckar is). So, i grew up having Bad Dürrheimer sparkling water and Schorle mix drinks and my father had Tannenzäpfle beer.
if you want a greater beer selection, go to a craft beer bar.. those exist in the bigger cities, not the small one though a beer garden is the wrong place tp look for a huge beer variety
I think a „special German“ thing is to fit to guests and try to speak their languages, even if they didn’t really learn them. So feel comfortable if a German switch to English, for them it’s a pretty welcome chance to practice their English 😊 💁♂️ it doesn’t mean you’re imperfect ☝️
Next time they visit let me know, I shwo them ALL the beers they can thing of 😀 btw: the worlds best brewery is located near Frankfurt. You only can buy the beer local.
German drivers can be total idiots as well and accidents happen every day. It's great, though, that you had such a positive/safe experience on German roads/Autobahnen. If you didn't bring bags and went to the grocery store by car, it is very common to take the cart to your car and just put everything in the trunk, no bags needed in this case. I even do that with my bycicle, just put everything in the rack box and additional bags right from the cart. Otherwise I think it is quite common to do it the way you described in the video, just use whatever is at hand to transport your stuff (some people even grab empty paper boxes from the shop). "Spitzegern" definitely is a nice creation.😄
The favorite mineral water may varie depending on where you grew up in Germany. I'm from Frankfurt. So I really like Elisabethen Quelle, by Hassia in Bad Vilbel. It is pretty mild and goes perfect with white wine in summer without dominating too much its taste. When you ask me for damned stylish bottles and a decent taste I would suggest Taunusquelle, from Bad Camberg. Solely sold to professionell customers like restaurants and cafes.
ok fine, i HAVE to answer the random question this time XD Haaner Felsenquelle three guesses where I was originally born. ;) Us Bergisch Landers are very "Heimatverbunden" and even after over 15 years living in a different city, I will always be a "Berger"
"White asparagus looks like a mistake" ... damn, these are fighting words my guy. As for the germans instantly switching to English when you approach them with non-fluent German, many germans don't do it because your German is bad but because for one they want to make sure they understand one another and also because quite a number of germans who don't have regular conversations in English jump at the chance to work on theirs. If you want to work on your German, it's a good idea to outright tell them "I want to practice my German so please continue in German as much as you can and correct me as we go". That tends to yield pretty good results as long as you aren't in an environment where people are busy (i.e.: a waiter in a restaurant at peak hours may not acquiesce since they got other tables to cover aswell, but if it's quiet they may well be more than willing). Alternatively you can always compromise and let them talk English if they want to practice but ask them to correct you if you made mistakes or are fishing for words and likewise. This is however something that's still quite split among demographics and regions. The more metropolitan areas and particularly the younger generations tend to have serviceable to very good English language proficiency (and correlating eagerness to speak it) whereas in more rural areas and older generations it's less common for people to be proficient and eager to speak in English. The gap is closing however as with the globalization and Internet making everyday use of the language more and more prevalent as opposed to something you learned in school and then barely if ever used again.
10:27 "Spitze gern" (great | with pleasure) I feel like it doesn't really work that way around. "Gern" is usually either a prefix or on its own. But "Gern. Spitze." (I would love to do that. | that's amazing) Might actually work and could happen in normal conversations as a phrase you would use casually to agree on doing something for/with a friend.
Well, we do make our own sparkling water at home with tap water - and I really like that. But if I had to pick a bottled one I'd probably pick Perrier - even though you hardly get it in any restaurant or café or bar in Germany because it's a French one. I guess I'm simply a bit weird with my personal habits like not liking beer - but loving British Cider (and discovering Swedish one wile on vacation in the UK). I'm still not very happy with Irish Cider - and yes, there is a difference! There's even a difference between the same brand if it's from the UK or made in Germany. I suspect it being due to the apples or the kind of apples that are getting used.
Great Video! My favourite sparkling water? All of them, brand name doesn't matter, even Heilwasser slightly carbonated is nice. I drink water all the time, first thing in the morning, but mostly tap water which has the best taste where I live in Bavaria. But once in a while I fancy sparkling water and buy a case.
When I was about to move to Germany I drank a lot of Gerolsteiner from Trader Joes to "be cool" and I cannot drink it anymore. I drink 2 liters of mineral water per day but Gerolsteiner has a lot, a lot of mineral! So we drink Aldi low-sodium medium sparkle which doesn't make us thirsty after we drink it *lol* I drink so much of it I'm just crossing my fingers the standards are high and I won't die. I think it's cool your relatives like sparkling water, whenever we're in America I'm at a loss what to drink so I just drink Diet A&W and tap water. Just don't drink the tap water in Mississippi!
Tolles Video, deine Schwester und dein Schwager sind sehr sympathisch. Aber ich finde, du könntest öfter erwähnen, dass ihr in Süddeutschland lebt. Mittel- und Norddeutschland haben nochmal eine ganz andere Kultur.
All the water from the Selters area... okay, maybe not the Sauerborn... but I absolutly love Selters, the traditional one, the new one, the smaller Quellen! 🥰
I usually buy Sprudel locally and in glas bottles/crates, so for me it is Filippo. It is also dead cheap. I have recently seen it elsewhere (further away) but then it was more expensive. On travels I like Eiszeitquell, which is more available.
Wasser aus dem Hahn, zu Hause. In der Grundschule haben wir schon gelernt wie Grundwasser aufbereitet wird, und auch Tiefbrunnenn, Hochbrunnen und Wasserwerk funktionieren und besucht. Das Trinkwasser ist das am strengsten kontrollierte Lebensmittel in Deutschland. Man kann sich im Internet via dem regionalen Wasserversorger auch immer über die derzeitigen Inhalte an Mineralien wie Calcium, Magnesium usw. informieren. Oft ist dieses Wasser besser als das aus der Flasche. Aber stilles Wasser, nein. Ich habe einen soda-stream. Ich kaufe nur CO2. 0.00% Abfall. Wrote this in german for the german class today, please translate
The issue with putting the traffic lights on the far side of the intersection is that it splits your attention, and drivers may also get distracted by the lights intended for other lanes. Also, many drivers tend to increase the speed of their car when they approach a green light at an intersection, so they can get through before the light turns red. So what can happen is that you arrive at an intersection just as the light turns green, so you pass through only for a car to crash into your side - and you didn't notice that car because you were looking at that traffic light a second before. In other countries, like Germany, you pass the traffic light _before_ you get on the intersection, which means you can focus on the intersecting traffic - and this improves your ability to react to bad drivers.
"Spitze" on its own does mean something like "great/awesome". You may use "gerne" as response to "thank you" to signal that you enjoyed doing it like there is no reason to thank you. You can just nod and say "gerne". Lets say danke => gerne (gladly), danke schön = gern geschehen (happend gladly).
