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Itching to Try a Great Beer? Do German!

One of the various things the Germans are known for is beer. Beer is an important part of their legacy and heritage, with over thirteen-hundred various breweries spanning the country. The Czechs and the Irish are the only countries above the Germans as far as beer drinking per capita. The monks began to experiment with brewing around 1000 A.D. at the beginning of German history The country's leaders eventually began to regulate the manufacturing of beer as brewing started to be more and more profitable. The Bavarian Reinheitsgebot, or purity requirement, was written in fifteen-sixteen and is still the most famous and influential factor to effect Germanic brewing.

To help ensure Bavarian beers were only the highest quality the Duke Wilhelm IV authorized the Bavarian Reinheitsgebot. The regulation reads that beers must only be made of water, hops, and barley. The Reinheitsgebot is the oldest legislation placed on food in the world and has been unaltered in almost five-hundred years. The only addition to the act is the addition of yeast to the list of vital ingredients. Manufacturers before had simply used the yeast that was naturally in the air. Because of the stringent code of quality following the purity requirement, Bavarian producers were soon considered the best producers of beer. Other breweries began to adhere to the proclamation as the prominence of the Bavarian breweries continued to spread.

German beers have a long-standing reputation of making quality beers made only from the purest ingredients as a result of the Reinheitsgebot. As time went on and Germany began to export beer, many cities became famous brewing locations. The city of Bremen had over six-hundred breweries by fifteen-hundred and was the top exporter of beer to Holland, Scandinavia, England, and as far as India. Einbeck and Braunschweig were two more famous brewing towns. Because of it's hardy flavor and right amount of foam most modern Germans still choose fabbier, or draught beer, over bottle beer. In an attempt to curtail more breakouts of the bubonic plague German beer steins became popular about the time the purity standard came about and are still used today.

During the time of the bubonic plague, Germany started a lot of laws to keep its people from becoming sick. Large amounts of infected flies would land in citizen's food and spread the disease. This led to the German beer stein, a drink vessel with a hinged lid that is used with the thumb so somebody could prevent disease and still be able to drink with their free hand. As citizens started to realize the plague spread in dirty conditions with stagnant water, beer drinking rose exponentially. German beer steins were originally made of stoneware with pewter tops. As the pewter guild grew, German beer steins began to be manufactured entirely of pewter and remained that way for over three-hundred years. Eventually, porcelain and silver steins were introduced and continue to be made today.

Today there are over thirteen-hundred and fifty breweries within Germany's lands that make more than 5000 types of beer. The oldest brewery in the world that continues operation in the present is the Benedictine abbey Weihenstephan, that has been producing beer since one-thousand and forty. The Franconia region of Bavaria near the city Bamberg is the highest concentrated area for beer makers in Germany. German breweries produce a wide range of tastes and brands of beer with the majority of them able to be placed under ales or lagers. The majority of beers have an alcoholic content from 4.7% to 5.4% but some types can be as high as 12%, making them more powerful than most wines.

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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.

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