Germany: Local beer seeks profit from G8 summit

A beer brewed specially for the G8 summit is proving a big hit as this Baltic Sea resort gets ready to welcome leaders of the world's major industrial democracies and Russia, News24 reported June 4.

About 10 000 litres of the amber liquid known as bock beer have been produced by a local brewery as the region around Heiligendamm seeks to profit from the summit.

Called Summit Bock, or Gipfelbock in German, the beer has an alcohol content of 6.8% - about 40% stronger than regular brews sold in Germany.

Half of the production has already been snapped up ahead of the three-day G8 gathering that begins on Wednesday.

"We've sold 5 000 one-litre bottles so far," says Ulrich Langer, head of the Kuehlungsborn Brewery in the small town where the press centre housing the journalists covering the G8 is located.

"Our best customers are the policemen who've come from all over Germany to protect the summit. They're buying the beer to take home as a souvenir," says Langer, who said he'll be brewing more.

Costing €5 per bottle, the beer almost got Langer into trouble because of its label showing a goat chewing on the flags of the G8 nations.

"One day the police were at my door because somebody had filed a complaint that the label was supposedly hostile to the summit. Even the intelligence service was involved," he said.