Veltins

Grevenstein is a village in the Sauerland hills with a brewery out of all proportion to it, and Veltins — the clean, softly bitter pilsner made there on the brewery's own spring water — is one of Germany's biggest-selling beers.

The operation has been in the Veltins family since 1824 and still is: no conglomerate, no holding company in Tokyo or Leuven, just two centuries of one family in one valley, which makes it a rarity among beers of this size. Its most famous address, though, is elsewhere — the Veltins-Arena, home of the football club Schalke 04, where the beer reaches the concourse taps through a dedicated pipeline running beneath the stadium, built because a match-day crowd's thirst outran anything kegs could manage.

That combination is the Veltins trick: a family valley brewery at home, a giant's name on a stadium out front — an independent going toe to toe with the multinationals and, so far, holding the line.

Bright gold with fine, lasting foam — Veltins makes much of its soft spring water, and you can taste why. The malt is rounded and lightly sweet, the middle smooth, the bitterness herbal and moderate rather than bracing. A friendly pils, not a stern one: the kind you drink by the half-liter at a football match.