I asked again in my best school german for another. THe
crewcutted bartender, as close a double for Gert Frobe ( goldfinger) as
you're going to find shouts back again, "NEIN". he's obviously getting a
bit perturbed, so i try a third time. He's getting purple now and still
refusing to give me "Ein anderes beir" . Well this went on for a few
more minutes and eventually I discover I'm asking for another
~different~ beer and they only have one brand on draft.

Ah, the difference between another beer and an other beer...you should have
asked for "Noch ein Bier" instead.

Some German pubs can be very interesting places. For example in some pubs in
Dusseldorf, you can expect the (joking) reply "Water's in the Rhine, we
serve beer here" when you ask for water instead of beer...and don't even
dream of asking for the wrong type of beer, i.e. Altbier in Cologne or
Kölsch in Düsseldorf. Oh and in Bavaria "a small beer" is usually half a
liter and not available in some beer gardens at all, just full liters.