After a while, an American in Germany will come around to this topic of schnapps. It's basically a German definition of a distilled drink. Usually, it's from cherries, apples, pears, or plums. There are other choices....but these are the bulk of choice.
Apfelkorn? It's a apple drink of sorts....up in the higher numbers of 30-proof range.
Himbeergeist? It's a raspberry drink.
Goldschlager? It's a cinnamon-flavored liquor.
I would imagine there are a minimum of three hundred varieties over Germany.....with countless other garage or basement-created versions as well.
The general advice I'd give is that you probably want to limit yourself to three of these, and try to stay more toward beer or wine. After a big meal at a pub or restaurant.....the waiter may come around and offer you a small free glass as part of the deal (more likely to be found at Greek or Italian places than German). It'll be a very small glass and there's no worry about getting a bit tipsy over that one glass. Its the ones that come after that.....that you need to worry about.
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Around 1954 or 55 my Signal Corps unit was bivouacked in woods near a Gasthous. A few of us soldiers went over one day while off duty to enjoy German beer.
The temperature was in the mid 30's Fahrenheit and the beer was stored in the cellar in kegs. When a keg was brought up and tapped the beer was very nice and cold.
There was a kettle of water sitting atop a wood stove with metal rods in it. Locals would put one or more heated rods into their beer to warm it up before drinking it. When the owner saw us drinking cold beer he was upset and he said that would make us sick, so we had to warm our beer up.
When we refused he gave us free shots of Schnapps to chase the beer with, saying it would prevent our becoming ill.
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