The short answer is yes. Beer has been a part of a healthy human diet for more than 13,000 years. And, if consumed in moderation, it’s certainly more nutritious than sweetened carbonated soft drinks. Did you now that a fresh drought Pilsner contains fewer calories than the equivalent amount of 2% fat-reduced milk? Beer malt provides protein, magnesium, potassium and Vitamin B and regular, moderate beer consumption is said to prevent kidney stones, raises goo HDL cholesterol levels and, thus, prevents cancer.

Why is beer so popular in Germany?

At our sister site www.germanfoods.org, we put together a compendium on German beer that’s a worthwhile read for anyone who likes and wants to know more Germany's "liquid bread" culture:

• In “Is Beer Good for You?” you can more about beer’s nutritional aspects
• In A Brief History of German Beer, get acquainted with world’s oldest breweries still operating after more than 1,000 years and the German Beer Purity Law.
• In Eight Steps to Make a Good German Beer, get to know each phase of making beer - from malting barley to filling the bottles. For the true fans of German beers, we have added the German translation for each technical term that brew masters need to know.
• In The Guide to Germany Beer, learn all about the differences between the 12 main German beer types, from Kölsch to Kellerbier.
• In Forty Ways to Describe Your Beer, you’ll learn the vocabulary to explain how you feel, taste and smell a particular beer.
• In A Beer for Every Personality we described the main flavor and alcohol levels of each German beer type.
• In Bockbier: Liquid Bread for Lent and Beyond, we delve deeper into the history, brands and celebrations related to this particular type of beer with a higher alcohol content.
• In German Beers Available in North America, we listed all German beer brands that are sold at some places in the USA or Canada, to the best of our knowledge. Of course, not all of the beers are available in each North American state or province and we provide a link to the main importers, so you can ask them.
• In Beer and Cheese: A Match Made in Heaven find out about which cheeses fit with which kind of beers
• In Recipes with German Beer, you’ll discover interesting culinary concoctions that use beer as a base for sauces and marinades.

Enjoy the light reading and, if this whetted your appetite, shop the foods that match your favorite German beers. For example, the Original German Pork Sausages (fits to Oktoberfest beer), authentic Weisswurst (fits to Weissbier) with sweet Bavarian mustard, Allgau cheese (fits to Pilsner), or even Luebecker marzipan (fits to dark export or Schwarzbier).

Guten Appetit.