People get this romantic notion about the Germans and their veneration for beer… with their special fancy beer law and their big-ass Mass glasses. But a lot of them treat beer with the type of indifference that only comes with not knowing the forest for the trees.

An article from today’s edition of Forbes.com talks about how German domestic beer sales declined by 2.7%. The German Brewers’ Association blames a rainy summer which put the kybosh on afternoons in the Biergarten, as well as a general health- consciousness for which the stool-inspecting Germans have grown notorious.

But what’s most disturbing to me is the article’s mention that the German propensity for mixing beer with fruit juice or soft drinks is becoming more widespread. Really, Hans, what is the freakin’ point of having the freakin’ Reinheitsgebot if you’re just gonna dump half a liter of apple juice into your Bitburger? And how does diluting one’s beer with a drink full of high-fructose corn syrup seem like a healthy choice to anyone?

Maybe we Yanks will benefit from this. The brewers of Germany have to find their market somewhere. If they can’t do it at home, more of them just might look to the thirsty huddled masses in the USA.

-Mark