Beer is another reason for my Germany support

A FEW of the blokes down the pub have been giving me hassle about my love of Germany and I've already found myself sticking up for German culture on a worryingly frequent basis.

I'm not quite at the "you really should give lederhosen a try" stage, but if Joachim Low's men go all way you never know.

I was trying to justify why I wouldn't be supporting Holland against Germany even if I didn't have financial reasons for disliking the Dutch and I stumbled across a fairly popular 'what have the Germans done for us' point.

I'd never realised just how much better than Dutch beer German beer is.

Heineken, Grolsch, Amstel and Oranjeboom - they're all fine and do the job but they're actually pretty bland and I feel like they're living off past glories.

I'd say they're like the team, except that for all their stylistic triumphs and runners-up efforts, Holland haven't actually had any past glories.

Worst of all, those beers are essentially rubbish versions of German beers, and Germany deserves more credit than it gets for its bizarre beer sub-culture.

Even the vessels they drink their beer out of - Humpen, Stange, Masskrug - blow my mind and totally put Holland's in the shade.

I drank a smoked German beer the other day and even though it tasted a little bit like drinking liquidised alcoholic bacon it was better than smoked salmon and I couldn't help but admire the innovation.

Anyway, Holland let me down in their opener against Denmark and I'm banking on there being more Oranje gloom when they face my outright fancy.

The Dutch don't hide their disdain for Deutschland but I reckon Mesut Ozil and co will taunt Mark van Bommel, who you would expect to hack Ozil to bits in the unlikely event that he was able to get anywhere near him.

My favourite thing about Germany is how they bizarrely pay tribute to a French F1 legend every time they drink a beer.

Prost!