Distilling is a relatively late technology to the alcohol world, and countries and regions seemed to have based their spirits around their existing traditions.
France had a lot of wine and grapes laying around, so they distilled those into cognac.
The UK region had alot of beer and malted barley, so they distilled that and Irish and scotch whiskies became a thing.
But Germany was also beer obsessed and had barley, so why did they never create a malt whiskey tradition?
They did create a grain spirits tradition. As a general overview of German distilled spirits, it's grain spirits in the north, and fruit spirits in the south (including grape brandy in the wine-producing Rhineland). These spirits can be lumped together as schnapps. The southern tradition of fruit spirits (Obstbrand ("fruit brandy") or Obstler extends outside Germany into Central and Eastern Europe with spirits such as slivovitz (plum brandy).
In the north, grain spirit dominates; this is Kornbrand ("grain brandy") or simply Korn for short. Korn is typically clear, not as neutral as vodka, and often about 32-44% alcohol by volume; the stronger ones (38% and up) are often called Doppelkorn. Similar grain spirits are found to the north, often flavoured (e.g., aquavit, akvavit). Even in countries known for vodka such as Finland and Sweden, these older grain spirits survive (viina in Finland and brännvin in Sweden).
The main grains used are wheat and rye; usually some barley malt is used. As noted above, Korn is usually clear; the longer-aged versions can be coloured but are usually much paler than whisk(e)y.
Korn has a long history - it was banned in some parts of Germany in the mid-16th century (to protect beer brewers from competition, and to keep the price of grain low). Originally, these were all distilled in pot stills, but modern versions are usually made in continuous column stills.
There doesn't appear to be very much published in English on Korn. Various books covering the alcoholic beverage industry worldwide will mention it (Buglass, 2011; Clutton, 2003; Martin, 2014), and books on German food culture if they cover drinks (Heinzelmann, 2008). Producers sometimes give information on their websites.
References:
Alan J. Buglass (ed), Handbook of Alcoholic Beverages: Technical, Analytical and Nutritional Aspects, Wiley, 2011.
Clutton D.W. (2003), "Liqueurs & Speciality Products". In: Lea A.G.H., Piggott J.R. (eds), Fermented Beverage Production. Springer, Boston, MA. DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0187-9_14
Heinzelmann, Ursula. Food Culture in Germany, ABC-CLIO, 2008.
Scott C. Martin, The SAGE Encyclopedia of Alcohol: Social, Cultural, and Historical Perspectives, SAGE, 2014.
Hey there,
Just to let you know, your question is fine, and we're letting it stand. However, you should be aware that questions framed as 'Why didn't X do Y' relatively often don't get an answer that meets our standards (in our experience as moderators). There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, it often can be difficult to prove the counterfactual: historians know much more about what happened than what might have happened. Secondly, 'why didn't X do Y' questions are sometimes phrased in an ahistorical way. It's worth remembering that people in the past couldn't see into the future, and they generally didn't have all the information we now have about their situations; things that look obvious now didn't necessarily look that way at the time.
If you end up not getting a response after a day or two, consider asking a new question focusing instead on why what happened did happen (rather than why what didn't happen didn't happen) - this kind of question is more likely to get a response in our experience. Hope this helps!