Yeah, beer prices in Germany are absurdly low. Unfortunately that also means that it's quite hard for smaller breweries to compete. The Franken region (densest brewery region) is seeing the slow death of the family brewery because the clientele is not up for even small price hikes. Even the deposit on the crates is an actual consideration for these brewers as people won't buy their beer at full price 10€ (they will get the money back on return of the crate) instead they usually require just a 3€ deposit. This means that the brewery is staking out 6-7€ per crate sold in hopes it returns functional.

If you're ever in Bavaria again, you should make a visit to Bamberg. It has an incredibly rich culture around beer. They are famous for smoked beer, though its just two breweries of about 20 making it. The others all have absurdly high quality beer at fair prices all with a certain amount of personality.