A Beer Culture -or- Jobs my Dad Would Like

As you can see, I could not decide on the title for this post. I feel like the two topics of discussion are  intertwined in such a fine way that separating them is difficult.

Before moving to Germany, I never thought of beer as cultural. Beer seemed like a good excuse to hang out, something used to quench your thirst on a hot day, or that drink by the campfire late at night. For Germans, beer is the drink of choice, and that makes it cultural. Ounce for ounce, it is always the cheapest drink at a restaurant. You can walk around in public with open bottles and no one finds this strange. Also, there are endless festivals held for different reasons and the beer tents tend to consume the biggest area of them. If you read back to some of our older posts, you will find "Biergartens" as a common theme. Not because we love them, but because it is just the cultural thing to do.

Munich's 6 Local Beers - 1 Liter = almost 3 cans back in the U.S.

That brings me to a couple of jobs I think my dad would like. First, and probably illegal, is the beer radler. So, in practicing your German - radler = cyclist. I was in the park last summer and some guy was just biking through the hundreds of people laying out in the grass while yelling "bier radler." Then, just like at a baseball game, someone would raise their hand and give the guy a few Euros for a beer. The beer radler would gladly take the empty bottles too since he could return them to any grocery store for money back.

The second job would be to work for the Deutsche Post. Rick knows all of the ins and outs of the US postal system, but there's an important perk to working for the German postal service. The other day when we were taking Scoots to the vet, I noticed a postman taking his lunch and drinking a beer in a cafe. You might think...is this legal? Well, I doubt he was trying to hide the beer since his uniform is bright yellow. The best part was that he was not going to hop into a vehicle after his drink, but onto his envelope-laden bike. Beer for lunch and then he burns the calories right off! Sometimes, those dream jobs feel just within reach.

Prost!