Beer Purity Laws come into effect
Reinheitsgebot or Beer Purity Laws came into effect, April 23, 1516, in Bavaria
500th anniversary German Beer Purity Law
Germany issued this April 7, 2016
Designers: Martin and Thomas Poschauko
The Reinheitsgebot is the one of the world’s oldest food safety regulations that is still in effect. Also known as the Bavarian Purity Law, it was enacted ensure the quality of beer being sold and ensure consumers weren’t poisoned by adulterated brews. At the time 3 ingredients were allowed: barley, hops and water. The original regulation was updated with in 1993 with the Provisional German Beer Law, which still maintained a strict adherence to the safety and purity of German beers.
The law had two functions: the first to regulate the price and distribution of wheat, sed to make bread. By prohibiting wheat, the second part of the law created a safer product. In the 1500s, beer was a common drink, not water, which was all too often contaminated. Beer was a far safer choice. The Reinheitsgebot sought to exclude the use of cheap and dangerous ingredients such as roots, fruits, herbs, weeds, toxic seeds, mushrooms, and even animal products in place of hops or to increase the beer’s intoxicating effects or shelf life.
The decree known as the Reinheitsgebot, issued in Ingolstadt in 1516, had three aims: to protect drinkers from high prices; to ban the use of wheat in beer so more bread could be made; and to stop unscrupulous brewers from adding dubious toxic and even hallucinogenic ingredients as preservatives or flavourings. German beer: 500 years of ‘Reinheitsgebot’ rules – BBC News
The 1993 Beer Law amended the list of ingredients, allowing for more flexibility in the style of beers offered. Fruit based beers have become increasingly popular, and the changes allow German brewers to satisfy this part of the market.
Origins – Deutscher Brauer-Bund has a great page expanding on the history of the Beer Purity Laws.