Changes To Reinheitsgebot?

Australia & New Zealand Homebrewing Forum

Help Support Australia & New Zealand Homebrewing Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Backlane Brewery

Well-Known Member
Joined
1/12/04
Messages
397
Reaction score
0
Wonder if this is the thin end of the wedge?

Ruling eases Germany's beer law
Klosterbrauerei Neuzelle beer: Challenging traditions
A German court has upheld a brewer's challenge to the country's centuries-old beer purity laws. The ruling means Helmut Fritsche's Klosterbrauerei Neuzelle brewery can continue adding sugar syrup to its dark brew and still call it "beer".
The 1516 beer purity law limits beer ingredients to malted grain, hops, yeast and water. Mr Fritsche's brewery adds sugar syrup after fermentation.
The ruling ends a 10-year legal battle by the small east German brewery.
The dark beer, called "Schwarzer Abt", can be marketed as "special beer", using similar provisions as some breweries add herbs at the end of the fermentation process.
Mr Fritsche's brewery adheres to the Reinheitsgebot purity law during fermentation. He argued that the purity law stifled the creativity of small brewers and should be eased.
The Reinheitsgebot, thought to be Germany's oldest surviving law, was drawn up by a Bavarian duke in April 1516. German brewers claim that it is the longest-established food quality standard in the world.
But the law applies only to beers made within Germany, after a European Union court ruled that using it to keep out imported brews would be contrary to free trade rules.
 
It may be legal but that doesn't mean to say that it will sell. Lets hope those discerning Germans will vote with their feet.
 
Rubes said:
It may be legal but that doesn't mean to say that it will sell. Lets hope those discerning Germans will vote with their feet.
[post="47232"][/post]​

The Reinheitsgebot (RHG) is an over-hyped piece of marketing :ph34r: ! Just because a beer is made in accordance to the RHG does not guarantee it will be any good. The Germans also make mega-swill. Yes they have loads of fantastic beers, and yes they are made according to the RHG, but it isn't the law that makes good beer, its dedicated brewers with a concern for quality.

Not that I agree with everything that in this article "The Reinheitsgebot - why it's a load of old bollocks", but it does make you think about a few common assumptions in relation to RHG.

Cheers
MAH
 
If we all brewed to the rheinheitsgebollocks, we wouldnt have the rich and wonderful world of beer that we love so much.
I think that it has been amended over the years to allow brewers to use other 'things' during the modern brewing process.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top