A new German beer with a curry ketchup flavor is set to test tastebuds as it celebrates Hamburg street food culture and tries to become another St. Pauli legend.
Hamburg is embracing its street food heritage with a limited edition curry-flavored beerImage: Astra Brauerei St Pauli GmbH
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The German classic fast food snack, Currywurst, or curry sausage, has been a staple in the city of Hamburg for decades, and is often washed down with a local Astra beer.
Now the Astra St Pauli Brewery, located in Hamburg's heartland near the Reeperbahn entertainment disctrict, has teamed up with Hela, which produces a legendary spiced curry ketchup, to reinvent a popular neighborhood classic.
Adding the Hela curry mixture to a classic 6.5% alcohol Astra beer, the so-called "Currydurst" (Currythirst) was born as a homage to street food culture in Hamburg.
Brimming with the spicy, slightly smokey flavour that marks the Hela condiment usually reserved for roadside sausages and chips, the beer is a strictly limited, special edition release.
The Currydurst tests the limits of flavored beersImage: Astra Brauerei St Pauli GmbH
St. Pauli's cult classic beer
Astra is popular beer across Hamburg, but is mostly associated with the St. Pauli district, a working class and alternative culture hub where the city's port and red-light district meet.
The brewery's origins date back to 1647, when a Flemish brewer in Hamburg brewed a "Bavaria" beer — then simply the name for local pilsener, and not inspired by the southern German region of Bavaria.
Forward to 1909, when the name Bavaria was changed to Astra. After a take over, the makers became the Bavaria-St. Pauli brewery in 1922, and its "Astra Urtyp" (Astra Archetype) brew became synonymous with the neighbourhood.
After Astra nearly closed in the 1990s, the city of Hamburg ultimately intervened and bought the brewery, which was then sold to Holsten — the city's other major brewery. The cult classic was then given a makeover.
A new advertising campaign was launched under the slogan Astra. Was dagegen? (Astra. What about it?). The beer was also given a new logo — the heart and anchor — to symbolize its rebellious yet tolerant St. Pauli heritage.
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The ultimate street food collaboration
When Astra joined forces with spice company Hela to create the Currydurst, it was a match made in Hamburg.
Founded in 1906 in the northern German city, Hela was located next to the slaughterhouse and supplied the butchers with spices and seasoning salts.
Astra's iconic heart and anchor became its logo in the 1990s after the brewery almost shutImage: Maximilian Koch/picture alliance
In 1963, Hela's famous Curry Gewürzketchup (Curry Spiced Ketchup) sausage condiment first appeared on German supermarket shelves. It was a response to the rising popularity of the Currywurst, a sausage served with curry powder-infused ketchup that had been invented in Berlin approximately 15 years earlier.
"For 60 years, our ketchup has been the perfect match for sausage — now, you can add beer to that list," is the slogan for Hela's offbeat Currydurst ad campaign.
The broader Currydurst promotion plays off consumer taste expectations: "Some say, 'will this even work?' We say, 'Of course!'" goes the tagline.
Whether the Currydurst will be a one-hit wonder or become a new cult classic remains to be seen. For now, only 2,000 liters of the special edition beer will be brewed.
Germany's evolving sidewalk snack scene
It was a long journey from currywurst to insect burger: in Germany, snack culture has changed drastically. Fusion food trucks have become common place in a nation where both sausage and tofu snacks share sidewalks.
Image: Imago/R. Wölk
Currywurst
The story goes that the currywurst (curry sausage) was invented in Berlin on September 4, 1949, after a British soldier gave imbiss owner Herta Heuwer curry powder that soon seasoned her snacks. It became the traditional postwar snack for Berliners and Ruhr area residents. It is often served in combination with French fries and has long helped shaped the identity of the working classes.
Image: Imago/R. Wölk
Sausage stand
Traditional German street snacks such as "currywurst" — and its less exotic relative, the "rostbratwurst" (grilled sausage) — are usually eaten at a tall bar table in front of the wurstbude (sausage snack bar). The wurstbude is especially widespread in western Germany and Berlin and serves as a recurring backdrop in the Cologne version of the popular TV detective series, "Tatort."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/O. Berg
Fish sandwich
For northern Germans, fish rolls are the snack of choice. And they're so easy to prepare: White herring (pictured), North Sea crabs or salmon are packed between two halves of the roll and garnished with salad and onions. That's it! The fish roll is a classic German snack "to go" and has been around since the start of mass tourism in the 1960s.
Image: Fotolia/Anne Katrin Figge
A cult thing
Fish rolls are sold at fish stands like this one in Hamburg's harbor. The maritime snack became a real cult after the former ill-reputed "Reeperbahn" red light district become a party street. Since then, fish sandwiches have been an essential part of any visit to Hamburg — especially after a long night out drinking.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B. Marks
'Drink hall' snack stop
You can find this mainstay of German snack bar culture all over the nation, but especially in the Ruhr area and in the Rhineland. These relaxed and casual locales see patrons stand at tall tables and chat after work over coffee, beer or a sandwich.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/blickwinkel/S. Ziese
Pizza
The quickly prepared, tasty Italian food began its triumphal march in Germany in the 1950s after the arrival of the first guest workers, which included Italians. It's still one of the most popular snacks today, either as a takeaway slice or sitting down to a full serve of cheese and tomato goodness in a pizzeria.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/T. Kleinschmidt
Insects to go
In the meantime, contemporary foodie stalls and food trucks are springing up across German cities, and festivals, and cater for every diverse taste — and the environmentally conscious. Here someone is enjoying an insect burger in central Germany (Osnabrück) whose protein rich "flesh" was made from cereal leaf beetle larvae — a more sustainable but no less tasty form of animal protein.
