Thanks, Sybarite, for a glimpse of German beer. I'm sure there is a huge field of discovery there for me. I'm afraid that the British image of German beer may still be tainted by people in beer gardens and at beerfests, drinking from huge Steiners and singing "Tomorrow belongs to me", as in "Cabaret".
It is sad that beer that is not left to finish brewing in the bottle, as the good Belgian ones are, often need chemicals to transport them vast distances, thus making profits for the brewers amongst an undiscerning public of piss artists who care naught for the taste.
The absurd thing is that those bottled beers such as Westmalle Tripel and many other tripels
can be transported because they final
gisting, whatever that is in technical brewery English, indeed occurs in the bottle as the lorries are juddering along the roads. After a little chance to calm down, with the sediment sinking to the bottom of the bottle, these are far superior to Heineken's and other dreadful beers - which give me a headache (as opposed to a hangover) on account of the chemicals.
Real Budvar from České Budějovice is good. It's a bit confusing with an American brewery using the name as well. See:
Bud?jovický Budvar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
and
?eské Bud?jovice - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia