I picked up a selection of German beers today in celebration of a good German pastor and theologian and one whom I have the most profound respect for – Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Having recently finished a more in-depth re-read of Eric Metaxas’s phenomenal new biography of Bonhoeffer it seemed only fitting that one celebrate. So I will try the following German beers:

– Erdinger Weisbrau Dunkel (a dark wheat beer)
– Schofferhofer Hefeweizen
– Holsten Festbock
– Schofferhofer Grapefruit-Hefeweizen blend (mostly out of morbid curiosity)

I felt it was still somewhat within the realm of historical connectedness to throw in a Belgium and Austrian beer as well:

– Abbaye de Leffe Blonde (Belgium)
– Salzburger Stiegl Bier (Austrian)

Finally a Scottish Ale in honour of my poem being published by Poetry Scotland and a British beer in honour of the long and complex German/English royal intermarriages (a stretch I know…really I simply like the English beer I picked a lot):

– McEwan’s Scotch (Scottish Ale)
– Old Speckled Hen (English)

At any rate I cannot write enough about how much I appreciate Metaxas’s latest biography. Everyone should read it. It has given me a deeper and more profound respect for Dietrich Bonhoeffer as well as for the plight of the German resistance during WW2, ecumenism in that time and some of the things that led to the evil that occured. Things are never so simple as we would like to believe.

Prost!