German Beer Day

Yesterday, April 23 was German Beer Day. This date was chooseb because it is the date of the signing of the Reinheitsgebot or "German Beer Purity Law" in 1516. This is the law that states that the only ingredients that can be used in the production of beer are barley, water and hops. The law was passed largely to put a stop to methods of preserving beer other than the use of hops. It is held out today as the first example of a law passed to protect the purity of food supply.

You notice one important ingredient missing from this list, namely yeast. It was in the 1800s when Louis Pasteur described the role of yeast in fermentation.Prior to this, brewers either let wild yeast do the work, or added a bit of the sediment from a previous batch.

Contrary to popular belief, the Reinheitsgebot is no longer a part of German law. It has been replaced by the Provisional German Beer Law. But beer brewers in Germany (and the USA) still reference it in their marketing. This leads to some rather funny (or dishonest) marketing. For example, I have seen wheat beers, or beers containing wheat malt (a common trick for beer head retention) claiming to be brewed according to the Reinheitsgebot. Also making the claim are beers using hop extract.

Also interesting is seeing this claim on beer styles like Kölsch and Alt that existed today largely because the Reinheitsgebot did not cover the parts of Germany that they come from.

There was one provision of the Reinheitsgebot that I would mind still being in effect. That provision set the price of a Maß (one liter today) at 1 to 2 pfennings. Assuming that there was no inflation clause in the law (I've never heard mention of one), that would be a good deal today.