[MR] Wikipedia: Bavarian Beer Purity Law

Garth Groff and Sally Sanford mallardlodge1000 at gmail.com
Mon Apr 23 02:12:46 PDT 2018


Noble Friends,

On this date in 1516 the *Reinheitsgebot*, or the somewhat inaccurately
styled in English as the Beer Purity Law, was enacted in Bavaria. The law
was intended to keep competing brewers and bakers from bidding the price of
grain to artificial heights. It specified that beer could only include
barley, water and hops, which by exclusion left rye and wheat to the bakers.

The law was not the first to regulate beer, nor the last, and similar laws
were extended across the other German states and indeed most of the Holy
Roman Empire.

*Reinheitsgebot *had the effect of banning regionally-made traditional
beers, especially those flavored or preserved with various herbs. So
everybody ended up drinking the same style suds, which could range from
very good to very bad, depending on the skill of the brewer and the luck of
the draw with natural yeasts. The law greatly influenced American brewing,
since many breweries in the U.S. were founded by German immigrants (think
Adolphus Busch, Frederick Miller, Adolph Coors, Theodore Hamm, Frederick
Pabst, and a host of others). Thank God for craft beers!

More about the *Reinheitsgebot* can be found at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinheitsgebot

Yours Aye,

Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆


More information about the Atlantia mailing list