that is a common thing in Europe

my buddy did a few years in Army intel so he was not on base , they lived more like Germans in apartments near the wall before it came down wore civies , he married his wife just before he processed out of the army , who grew up in Germany , although technically she had Greek citizenship because they don't give away citizenship in Germany the same way we do in the US.
she was born and raised in Germany near the wall.

neither of them drink anything but milk refrigerated.
everything room temp.
other than hot stuff like coffee and tea.

refrigerators in Germany were for an entire family about the size of what you would call a dorm room fridge
I suppose if you lived on the 4th floor of a Nazi era apartment building where you had to carry coal up to take a bath you would have a tiny fridge.

he used to say how can you tell a German woman from an American woman? without hearing them speak.

a German woman shops 6 days a week and bathes 1
an American Woman shops 1 day a week bathes 6 maybe 7.

now with all the people who pick up dinner at the grocery on the way home now maybe doesn't hold as true for the shopping part as it did 35 years ago

Smithwicks, sam Adam's October fest, Amberbock, were some i preferred when I would drink one now and then. But the cuting carbs had eliminated my drinking alcohol.

alcohol doesn't have carbs...it's the DELIVERY systems that have carbs.

Seeing as you're from Iowa, did you ever have occasion to drink Falstaff? It was my grandfather's favorite, and all the Bohemian folks drank it back in the day.

Pfeiffers beer. Go to beer in college $3.99 a case in long neck bottles. The liquor store carried it for the college students
My Grandfather had that beer as well.