The German people are famous for a lot of things; one of them is beer. Beer is a crucial part of their tradition and ancestry, with more than 1300 different breweries spread across the country. The Czechs and the Irish are the only ones who outdo the Germans as far as beer consumption per person. The history of Germanic beer goes back to the beginnings of the nation when monks started to experiment with brewing about one-thousand A.D. The country's leaders eventually started to regulate the production of beer as brewing started to be more and more profitable. The Bavarian Reinheitsgebot, or purity standard, came about in 1516 and is still the most important and significant factor to effect Germanic brewing.
To ensure Bavarian beers were only the best quality the Duke Wilhelm IV commanded the Bavarian Reinheitsgebot. Hops, barley, and water are the only ingredients allowed in beer according to the law. Unaltered after nearly five-hundred years, the Reinheitsgebot is the oldest legislation placed on food in the world. Yeast is the only extension to the list of vital ingredients in the proclamation. Manufacturers before had just used the yeast that was naturally in the air. Because of the strict code of quality followed by the purity standard, Bavarian manufacturers were soon known as the best producers of beer. As the prominence of the Bavarian breweries spread across the nation other manufacturers started to adhere to the proclamation as well.
German beers have a long-standing reputation of making quality brews made only from the best ingredients as a result of the Reinheitsgebot. As time passed and Germany began to export beer, some towns became famed brewing spots. By fifteen-hundred, Scandinavia, Holland, England, and as far as India primarily recieved their beer from one of the six-hundred breweries in the city of Bremen. Two more famous brewing cities were Einbeck and Braunschweig. In modern Germany, most of the country's drinking citizens still choose fabbier, or draft beer, over bottled beer because of it's robust flavor and perfect amount of head foam. In an attempt to curtail more breakouts of the black plague German beer steins became popular about the time the purity standard came out and are still in use today.
Germany made many regulations to stop its citizens from becoming sick during the time of the black plague. Massive amounts of diseased flies would land in people's food and spread the disease. This led to the German beer stein, a beverage container with a closed lid that could be used with the thumb so somebody could stop disease and still be able to drink with their free hand. Beer drinking rose exponentially as people started to realize the plague spread in unclean conditions with stale pools of water. Originally crafted from stoneware with pewter tops, steins grew in popularity. Steins started to be crafted completely of pewter for nearly 300 years as the pewter guild became more powerful. Eventually, porcelain and silver steins were introduced and continue to be produced in the present.
Over 5000 types of beer are made nowadays from over thirteen-hundred and fifty breweries within Germany's lands. The Benedictine abbey Weihenstephan, which has been producing beer since one-thousand and forty, is reported as the oldest brewery in the world. The most concentrated area in Germany for beer makers is the Franconia region of Bavaria near the city Bamberg. Most beers can be placed under ales and lagers but German breweries produce a wide variety of tastes. Some kinds of beer may have an alcoholic content as much as 12%, making them stronger than a lot of wines even though most beers have an alcoholic content ranging from 4.7% to 5.4%.
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Michael Usry is a long-time beer lover and contributing author for "Beer Maniac" fanzine in Austin, Tx. He is also a top affiliate at beer tap handles, and german beer steins, websites for household draft beer accessories.
