2 New beers in....

Holsten is the large brewery based out of Hamburg, Germany brewing mass produced brands such as Holsten or Astra. I think I heard/read they were bought by one of the conglomerates (Interbrew, etc) but cannot remember which one. As far as the ones you mentioned are available in your area, they are ok, but nothing special.

However, Holsten Brewery does make one beer that is nice to get when/if you can: Duckstein, a red-blonde beer which is nice bottled, but an excellent change of pace from pilsener type of beer. Used to be able to find it here in Atlanta, but have not seen it in a while.

Website:

HTH,

Sean

Not Interbrew; they bought Beck's, of Brement. Carlsberg of Denmark bought Holsten. But you're right that Holsten is a relatively big mass-market lager brewer.

Interesting as German beers go, yes. Sort of an amber lager, and a nice enough beer; I had some on tap in Berlin last September, and it was quite agreeable, but not over-the-top fantastic. Haven't seen it in my hometown in the USA.