Ya- In MI- Frankenmuth (near Saginaw) most likely has the greatest concentration of folks of Germanic descent-Many years ago the old Carling brewery was going strong- a heavy competitor to the Stroh Brewery in Detroit- about 90 miles South. Carling Black label was a fine Pilsner beer- much like Budweiser, Pabst, Miller and Schlitz- and very popular. I grew up on Cincinnati Creme with their old "Ask for the handsome waiter" logo, but my Granddad liked Altes- German word for the 'topmost" or "peak" of flavor- as opposed to the other word Haupt- meaning the highest up the ladder-- Almost all those pilsner beers are either gone, or the original breweries have been swallowed up by the "Big Three"- Anheuser-Busch, Miller and Jacob Coors--
But the old Carling brewery is back up and running as a very fine micro brewery today- Their Dunkel is first rate, I like it as well as Leinie's Nut brown- and their Doppelbock is first class-
You'll never see a native German drunk on beer- not because they are so used to it- but besides the Reinheitgsbot of 1516 (Purity of brewing)laws that govern brewers in Germany- they drink their bieren in tall clean glass mugs- and NOT Frosted- served at about 38-40 degrees. Drinking beer from a bottle (we call that Chicago style- don't know why-just is) or from a bar tap on draught and ina frosted glass mug- Nicht zer Gut--
I like a tapered glass with a nice wide rim that will hold 14 ounces- room for the head- and I tilt the glass at first, then bring it up to "plumb and level" to the tap of bottle to cap off the head. But to each his own-- We owe a lot to the Egyptians-- they were the first to brew beer, they developed the condom concept, and they gave us King Tut- so Steve martin could prance around on stage with a fake arrow in his head-
