Reinheitsgebot Elevating Beer to a New Level

Since alcoholic beverages were first invented, they have been a central part of our society and culture. They have been argument for controversy in many countries for the last century and a lot has changed since it alcohol entered our lives.

The specific argument I would like to talk about today is the Standard for quality in alcoholic beverages in different countries.  The most interesting country is Germany, where in 1516 the Bavarian state introduces a De Jure standard for the quality and purity of beer produced in that region of the Holy Roman Empire and its successor state of Germany. This Standard was called Reinheitsgebot, which literally means purity law in German and sets a standard across the board for beer. Stating that only beers made from certain ingredients and in certain conditions are aloud to be called beer and sold in the country. This is particularly interesting because this standard was introduced by a brewer to try and limit competition in the Holy Roman Empire, but after the “Empire” realized that because of this standard, the quality if the beer was much superior to every other one, they decided to enforce this standard under the Purity Law.

This made it particularly easy to identify products that complied with the law because those were aloud to be called beer, splitting the market in high and low quality beer.

Another aspect I would like to mention about this standard that not many people realize is that quality alcohol is much better, not only taste wise. From personal experience I have noticed that the quality of the alcohol has just as much to do with the "next day performance" an hangover the next day as the quantity. 

What I experienced is that when I am drinking high quality beer that complies with the purity law, the next day I feel fine, as if I didn’t drink at all. On the other hand if I drink the same amount of beer, under the same conditions, of a beer that does not comply with that law, (Heineken, Budweiser, Sam Adams, Paps Blue Ribbon), the next morning I am not feeling the same way I would with a Bavarian beer.

Because these beers are not produced in Bavaria that are not required to follow the purity law.

The introduction of this standard into society is especially interesting to me because it created an elite of brewers in Germany that is still regarded today as the best one in the world and elevated the quality of products to another level.

Alcohol is such a delicate subject when coming to standards because every country is raised and educated differently about alcohol and I feel that a single blog post might not be enough.

To be continued...