Reinheitsgebot

I will probably never be able to pronounce Reinheitsgebot even though every educated beer enthusiast including myself knows this was a 1516 Bavarian Purity Law for beer. This Bavarian Purity Law was the equivalent of what our Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does today and that is assure producers are selling what they claim to be selling and consumers are getting what they think they are paying for. This law assured that if you bought a beer in Germany it would only be made from three ingredients: water, barley, and hops (yeast was added later).

As Martha Stewart would say "This is a good thing". Considering this prevented brewers who were looking to make greater profit often would use cheaper ingredients. These unscrupulous brewers would add fruit, herbs,eggs, tree bark, fish bladders and god only knows what else to their beer. In 1987 this law was officially repealed and brewers were no longer obligated by law to abide by Reinheitsgebot. Many German brewers still today abide by Reinheitsgebot and wear that label as a badge of honor.

Certainly I would not like to drink a beer brewed with fish bladders, but this law was a two-edged sword. It became a straitjacket on brewers innovation and creativity. I have drank many outstanding beers which would of been outlawed by Reinheitsgebot. This month I drank beer brewed with honey, apricots, cherries, orange, lemon & lime peels. There are many American craft & micro brewers who use non-essential ingredients. Even though these brews don't meet German purity standards, their beer has a distinctive character and are admirable "real" beer in their own right.

Although the United States Food and Drug Administration would not allow a brewer to produce an unsafe product they don't require brewers to reveal what non-traditional ingredients is being used. What we need today is ingredient labeling. If you are concern your lager is being brewed with rice, corn or tree bark that would be revealed right on the label. Along with ingredient labeling, the FDA should also require uniform freshness dating like they do with all other perishable foods.

In 1516 Reinheitsgebot was a good thing and necessary. Today in the United States we need our own type of Reinheitsgebot. Unlike the German Purity Law which put a muzzle on creativity, we need to remove the secrecy that brewers have been able to hide behind. This would give us beer drinkers true quality.