Just in time for the end of Oktoberfest, or just before the Oktoberfest beer goes on sale. As I draft this piece there is a selection of such beverages awaiting sampling in the refrigerator. Most, German or not, know of this two week holiday. Fewer understand the significance of beer to the German culture, and fewer still the centuries-old history of the German Beer Laws.
German Beer Laws – The Middle Ages and Renaissance
The earliest known laws date 1363 when the Munich City Council took over the governance of brewing within the city in response to the Black Plague. These laws didn’t define, as later iterations would, what constituted beer, but they did ensure beer would be produced in a clean and taxable manner.
The next set of laws wouldn’t come until the Renaissance. Munich passed the first purity law in 1487, followed shortly by the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1493. These laws were unified in 1516 into the Reinheitsgebot. In addition to the health and tax provisions, the Reinheitsgebot stipulated beer could only be comprised of three ingredients – barley, hops, and water. If one were to search “German Beer Laws”, this is likely the first result, and it’s also likely the outlet will state these laws went unchanged for 500 years. That’s not true. Even at the time of their enactment, there were exceptions abound. Most notably, the Bavarian Wittelsbach family. Their coat of arms contains the iconic Oktoberfest blue and white diamond pattern. They had an affinity for beer with wheat added to the mash – Weißbier, aka the Hefeweizen.
Like most medieval laws, however, they were difficult to enforce. While the southern kingdoms stayed true to the recipe, the northern kingdoms integrated different grains, herbs, spices, and fruits into theirs. This division also broadly defines the two largest beer categories – lagers and ales.
German Beer Laws – 19th Century to World War I
The formation of the German Empire in 1871 coincided with the Industrial Revolution. With this new era came an emphasis on production, and, increasingly, hygiene. Only seven years prior did Louis Pasteur invent his eponymous process. Five years after the unification in 1876, German inventor Carl Von Linde developed the first ammonia refrigerator. Naturally, his first customers were the large Munich breweries. In 1906, as a result of Pasteur, another effort to unify the management of beer production modified the original three ingredient mix to include yeast. It also deepened the definition of lagers and ales. The former required slow fermenting, bottom feeding yeast and cold storage. The latter required faster fermenting, top feeding yeast with no specified storage temperature. The laws further allowed other grains to be substituted for malted barley and maintain the brew’s classification as “beer”.
On the surface it appeared this iteration satisfied all parties. However, on the other side of the Atlantic, another superpower began turning the tide against the northern experimental brewers. For brevity and relevancy, we’ll refer to this group as the craft brewers. In 1860 St. Louis soap and candle maker Ebenezer Anheuser purchased the bankrupt Bavaria Brewery and tasked his son-in-law, Adolphus Busch, to run it. By 1879, they rebranded as Anheuser-Busch Brewing Association. Their signature brew was a pale lager made with malted barley, rice, yeast, and cold water. The brew took hold of America. In 1901 the company sold over 1 million barrels. Along with its new “King of Beers” tagline was a demonstrated preference for the traditional southern styles. The preference was not unique to America. From 1873 to 1911, the market share for craft brews in Germany dropped from 43% to 11%.
German Beer Laws – World War I to Today
World Wars I and II temporarily quelled further iterations. The Nazi regime attempted to add sugar to the list of acceptable grain alternatives to allow for larger rations, but was met with opposition by both the craft and southern brewers. The end of World War II came with another, literal divide. East Germany, in regard to the beer laws, became an afterthought. West Germany, by contrast, became the framers. However, it was now a mixture of private enterprise and public institutions who’d shape the laws. In 1953, concerned with the volume of Süßbierstreit, sugar beer, entering the market from East Germany, Lowenbrau executive Dr. Bernhard Bergdolt proposed a distribution ban. His lobbying was successful, and a ban was enacted in 1954.
The EEC and EU
Germany’s entry into the European Economic Community (EEC) elevated the beer laws from regional differences to national pride. The Working Community of Common Market Brewers was established in 1959 with the intent of standardizing beer production across the six constituent nations. At first, the national commission stimulated the greatest degree of infighting since Germany’s unification. At the center of it was, again, sugar beer. The proposed 1962 Beer Transport Law would redact the 1954 ban. Unsurprisingly, this pivot angered the southern brewers, whose battle cry became that of “purity” and “consumer protection”. They also began weaponizing the Reinheitsgebot, claiming it’d been the standard from anywhere between 1906 and 1516, depending on the representative, and now more than ever it should be maintained.
After years of groveling, the German states finally unified their efforts in 1971 against the mounting pressure for a European purity law. By 1975, the law died. Importing beer that did not conform to the Reinheitsgebot was banned in Germany until 1987 with the formation of the European Union (EU). The EU courts ruled the Reinheitsgebot was a restriction on free trade, and that Germany not only needed to lift its ban on imported beer, but it had to be sold as “beer” alongside those conforming to the standard.
The Laws as a Tradition
Despite the substance, the Beer Laws illustrate several nuanced conflicts throughout human history. At the forefront of them is the fluidity of tradition. Even at its inception, the Reinheitsgebot was never ubiquitous. Variations were always acceptable, depending on where you were and how much money you had. In fact, it was the ruling class who gave us the iconic symbol of the holiday during which this history is typically referenced. It was these variations which also dethroned the “King of Beers” as an object of desire to many during the craft beer movement of the early 21st Century. I won’t speak for everybody, but I don’t of any millennials who prefer Budweiser to an IPA, Porter, Wheat beer, or even a Kombucha.
Does this mean that traditions are only as strong as they are desirable to the consumer? In short, it depends on what’s being passed down. In reference to beer, what’s being passed down are recipes and stories. To other parts of the German culture, most notably Oktoberfest, what’s being passed down is the aesthetic. Every bar and restaurant in America for two weeks puts up the blue and white diamonds and adds a pretzel and schnitzel to the menu. Those who do it properly dress the staff in lederhosen and brew their own Märzen, Dunkel, or Hefeweizen.
As good as these copies are, they will never come close to experiencing it in Germany. Does that mean they shouldn’t try? No. With the vanity comes the history, complete or not. Stories define tradition. Technology will always influence how traditions are practiced. Recipes are forever modified. What’s important is not the execution but the recognition that what’s being experienced is part of society’s ever-evolving fabric, and the lessons from earlier weaves are not lost in the new.
Cheers.