Hi Thomas
>
>My brother-in-law was from Neuss. When we would go to the North Hollywood Soccer Club (a German soccer club), I would order Spaten. All his friends (also from Neuss) would say to me, "What? That water from the South"? :)

The bavarian beers (Spaten is one of the few bavarian beers allowed to have a tent on the Oktoberfest in Munich) tend to be lighter in taste and alkohol. Probably because because there it is still seen as one of the basic food groups and in good weather the second breakfast can include 1 liter (it is just one glass...) of beer, but usually is only 0.5 litres. So there is some truth to the above. But the whole "Biergarten" expirience sitting in fresh air and drinkink casually a few litres of beer is easier that way.
The other beers are better if you are drinking one or two small bottles in a room with a few smokers, a bar/night club or similar establishments. Of course there are exceptions, but I wont go too deeply into that

>They drank some black bier (beer) that was very bitter and I avoided!

Neuss is not far from Düsseldorf, which has its own special dark beer called "Alt". So probably they were used to that - but over here are quite a few very different dark beers, from bavarian "Weizen" (availabe in different brewing styles...) to typical winter beers "Bock"/"Urbock" and a few others as well (for instance from former east germany comes "Köstritzer", which has grown quite a following) including Guinness served in Irish Pubs. But I usually also stay away from dark beer.

regards

thomas