Some brewers follow Reinheitsgebot (pronounced Rine-Hites-Guh-Boat) — a 16th century German purity law requiring that beer be made from four simple ingredients: water, barley, hops, and yeast. Others . . . don’t.
The truth is many 21st century brewmasters are challenging our understanding of traditional beer styles. This very minute, kegs of beer are being tapped at your local watering hole made with ingredients like chipotle peppers, chrysanthemum flowers, apricots, mangos, Brown Shugga (wait, my mistake, that’s the name of a delicious Lagunitas American Strong Ale). Meanwhile, the 500 year old authors of the Reinheitsgebot are rolling over in their graves.
And, maybe modern craft brewers have to push the envelope. At last count, there were over 1,500 breweries in this country, each grabbing for a slice of the 5% craft beer market share. Craft breweries need to make their beers stand out on a shelf that includes hundreds of choices. One thing’s for sure: these competitive forces lead to the creation of incredibly interesting beers. And, while these experimental beers sometimes only get one turn in my drinking rotation, their mere existence challenges the idea of what beer is supposed to taste like. But, isn’t that what this revolution is all about? Challenging your taste-buds?
As a curious craft beer drinker, I’m willing to try as many different types of beer as I can find. I encourage everybody to do the same. In fact, I challenge all of you to go out this week and try something new that you normally wouldn’t. And, I’m not just talking about beer. Go to the grocery store and pick up a vegetable you’ve never cooked, or buy a spice that’s never seen the inside of your kitchen. Go to the internet, find a recipe, and surprise your friends and loved ones. Some may beg for more. Others may think it’s the worst thing they have ever tasted. But these adventures in flavor — my friends — is what living is all about.
The interesting thing to point out here, is that the 1516 Reinheitsgebot had little to do with the beer and all to do with business.
Brewers found cheaper ingredients (i.e. adjuncts such as maize, rice etc) and the government wanted to make sure that the malt producers stayed in business so they introduced the reinheitsgebot.
Initially it didn’t even specify yeast, indicating further about the true agenda at hand.
We see the same kind of market protective controlling mechanics today within the EU as well as the US domestic market, for all sorts of products.
Regarding Belgium and their approach to beer, after having been occupied over eighty times (and many times by the Germans), would you care about such a law?
The Reinheitsgebot dealt with many things in one law. Beer ingredient purity is the one that most people associate with it. However, it also dealt with price controls for beer, based on the time of year, since before refrigeration, beer became scarcer towards the end of Summer.
Another part of the Reinheitsgebot was the granting of the ability to brew wheat beers only to nobility and the clergy. This was because when people paid taxes to their landlords, and tithes to the church, they would commonly pay with wheat. So, in order for the church and landlords to turn this wheat into cash, they could make wheat beer.
The reason that yeast is not specified in the Reinheitsgebot because it wasn’t yet discovered. The mystical transformation of wort to beer was usually referred to as “Got erhalts” or “God is great”.
Finally, the Reinheitsgebot is a Bavarian Law, not a German Law, since Germany was not united until the nineteenth century. Thus, my ancestors from Northern Germany (Plattdeutschers) were not affected by it, to say nothing of the Belgians.
At present, it is probably a better idea to claim that a majority of your beers are made from the basic four ingredients, with some exceptions due to style.