Germans' Beer, Car, Sports, Sausage and Cheese tastes

The Germans are an interesting folk.  There are some deep rooted stereotypes of what they like to drink (does Oktoberfest ring a bell?), what they like to drive (are cars other than BMW, Mercedes and VW even allowed on german roads?), what they eat and of course, how they spend their free time.

After being here a couple of years, I still don't feel qualified to answer these questions myself.  Therefore, I polled a semi-random group of possibly representative Germans (colleagues) as to what their preferences are.  Note, the poll is probably not accurate 19 out of 20 times within a 4 point deviation.

A quick summary of the favourites is:

Cheese: French/swiss and don't eat
Sausage: Ham
Beer:  Pils
Car: Porsche, Golf, Audi, Ferrari
Sport: Soccer

And a more detailed list of the actual votes for each type:

  Winners
Favourite Cheese

French and Swiss (2)

None (2)
Harzer (1) (with onions and mustard)
Manchego (Spanisch) (1)
Chester (1)
Greyezer (1)

Palmcheese with music (1) (Handkäs mit Musik)

  • Frankfurt speciality

Goat cheese (1) (Schafskäse)

  • Someone also voted against this one, although I can't understand why, it's great.  They must not have tried it fresh from the farmer in Austria.  Delicious.
Favourite Sausage Ham (6)
  • cooked, smoked and nut ham
Salami (3)
  • french, italian and turkey
Uffschnitt (1)
Kalbsleberwurst (1) (calf liver sausage)
  • and of course one vote against it
Thuringer Bratwurst (1)
  • warm: grilled sausage
Favourite Beer Pils (5)
  • Weldebräu, Darmstädter Pils, Wahrsteiner, König Pilsener, Baustübl
  • Commentary on the König: "the one beer that is good, doesn't cause a hangover and a case (10L) costs less than 10 Euro."

Hefeweizen (2)

  • dark and light
Becks (2)

Kölsch (1)

  • Specialty in Köln, a small 200 mL beer, especially popular at Fasching (Spring festival)
Guinness (1)

Apfelwein (1)

  • Apple wine, again a Frankfurt specialty
none (1)
Favourite Car Porsche 911 (2)
  • GT2, Turbo
Golf (2)
Audi (2) (A4 and A6)

Ferrari (2)

  • Maranello, F40 or an old Testarossa

BMW (1)

  • One vote against BMW and Mercedes drivers

Ford KA (1)

  • Never would have expected this car to be listed!!

2CV (Ente) (1)

  • Old french car
  • Commentary from voter: "a car in general should be red, have 5 doors and achieve 5L/100km (~50mpg)"
Any sedan (1)
none (1)
Favourite Sport Soccer (3)
Cycling (2)
Tennis (2)
Jogging (2)
Ping pong (1)
Formula 1 (1)
Aerobic (1)
Favourite Hockey player Wayne Gretzky (3)
Brian Hunter (3)
  • what can I say ;-)

Michael Ballack (1)

  • soccer player in Munich. Commentary by voter: "can definitely also play hockey good"
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