In Reply To #2 good post ole Man. I swear the "those people" to the north of me like the bitter skunky brews. Ole Massa tells me "with todays technology, a green bottle is as good as brown, but personally, I like the brown glass". He went on to say, the deal with the bottlin "o the green", is all bier will die in time, and the best qualities go first. If we are talking about days or weeks, green is fine, but after that, brown works to a point. In the long run, glass is glass. Lawd when dis poor Ami is again in the desert, I guess I be drinkin Whiskey!!!!! or brewin my own....and then, in the evening, I will look to the east and think of Munchen and Bamberg. Front has passed through, the birds are out, grey mist,swirling by, I am outta here, September one, dammit all.

In Reply To #3 I live in Northern Virgina and work in a large office building in DC. Commuting to and from work is pure torture. I knew what I was getting into when I moved here from Bavaria. How well I recall the last, glorious drive through the beautiful, pristine, and peaceful Bavarian countryside before I moved. I want you to do me a favor. I want you to drive in the countryside of Germany with the windows down as often as you can between now and 1 Sep. Soak it in--the rolling hills, winding roads, disciplined drivers, neat houses, clean smells--soak it all in. There will come a day when you will be driving behind some idjit in the left lane who won't move over, and some other dufus will toss his McDonald's trash out the window, and the gal on the cell phone will dodge the trash and nick the dude who was actually reading the Wall Street Journal on his Blackberry while "driving"(!) and then you'll spend the next 2 hours staring at the bumper in front of you to cover 30 stinking miles and instead of getting angry, you will mentally drift back to the peace and calm--the rolling hills, winding roads, disciplined drivers, neat houses, clean smells--

In Reply To #4 Easy there, Foamer. I've sat quite unentertained before on several occassions amidst a nasty traffic jam in the Muenchen area, especially approaching the city from the North / Airport. Even worse, the "summer vacation" traffic down through Muenchen and all the way to points in Austria can result in Saturday traffic that is horrid. And, the cell phone while driving endemic is certainly prominent in Germany - often at higher speeds. Meanwhile, your nice country-side German drive could just as easily be enjoyed throughout the US (heck, head west on what is it Rt. 70 or 60 - forget which one - out of DC and you'll find a lot of country. Comparing the D.C. area to the German country side isn't quite fair. I will grant that I've never seen Germans driving on the highways with blackberries or slow poking in the left lane. The left lane etiquette found in Germany is one of the more enjoyable perks of the autobahn. The "green" awareness of all Germans is also quite nice and makes for healthier air around the major cities.

In Reply To #5 First of all, heavy traffic sucks—on that point we agree. Cool that we have so much in common besides enjoying great beer! OK, now, at the risk of veering slightly off the topic of this “bottle hue” thread, I’ll pick up that gauntlet you dropped at my feet :). “Comparing the D.C. area to the German country side isn't quite fair.” I agree, but that’s not the comparison I was drawing. Follow me as I attempt to clarify. This is not about extremes, but about choice and treasure. One can choose to go deliberately into heavy traffic (in Germany, Christmas at the Muenchen Flughafen, what’re ya gonna do?). Likewise, one can purposefully seek out and find serene driving experiences (in America, the Geo Washington Parkway on a Sunday afternoon, or the Skyline Drive just about any time). These are extreme choices. But when it comes to the commute to work, there is less choice. My daily commute now is vastly different from the one I enjoyed in Bavaria. When I moved from rural Germany, where our friend Brad lives, to the DC area, I knew I was buying into a relatively sucky commute. What I did not know was how often, when I am stuck in the consequences of my own choice, I would replay the treasured mental video of my last drive through Bavaria. I hope you no longer think that I was trying to compare the worst of I-95 traffic with the best of the bucolic Bavarian countryside, at the exclusion of any enjoyable American equivalent. However, you could say that I am overly nostalgic, romanticizing the past. No argument there. It’s not the first time I’ve been accused of looking at the world through rose-colored beer bottles…

In Reply To #6 Foam... I hear ya totally. Just wanted to keep that American-German competitiveness alive, hehe. I've had the opportunity to work with Germans quite a bit and enjoy their enthusiasm and national pride and was hoping to show you some of my own (I have a significant amount of Germann in me). Of course, your mind is gonna fire back to what you know, not what could be if driving countryside in the U.S.

i never thought a question of bottle color would inspire such a story of a lost soul longing, or soon to be longing for his homeland......i hear ya tho.......people around here haven't a clue of what the laft lane means!............."get over buddy"!!