Munich - Beer is practically synonymous with Germany.
Though the Teutons didn’t invent the stuff, they have (from the late Dark Ages onwards), taken it seriously. So seriously, in fact, that they consider it both a drink and a type of food: Flüssige Brot, or liquid bread, is one of its popular monikers.
But Bavarian beer wasn’t always what it is today.
And barley, wheat, water, hops and yeast were not always its most typical ingredients.
In fact, for centuries everything from soot to cinnamon was used to preserve or flavour the alcohol until the city of Munich decided to clamp down on this dangerously laissez-faire approach, preferring instead to standardise the drink in its famous Reinheitsgebot, the Purity Edict of 1516.
The 250-word document dictated what beer could legally contain; the sort of profits that could be made (no more than a penny per litre in the winter and 2 pennies in the summer); and outlined a list of penalties for transgression.
Historians have squabbled over its real ends, whether it was enacted to prevent price wars with bakers, or out of concern for public health, or to curb paganism (the rituals of which used many of the banned ingredients ), but nonetheless, it marked an important milestone in the manufacture of Bavarian beer.
But despite its once resolute enforcement, the purity law has not held any international currency since the European Court dismissed it as “protectionist” in 1987.
By that time, though, the Germans had fallen for its charms, voluntarily adhering to its precepts and marketing its laudable characteristics.
About 5 000 German beers now carry the “Reinheitsgebot” seal of approval and several of the breweries are pushing for recognition of the term from Unesco.
To celebrate the legacy of Bavarian beer, some of the best breweries in the area presented their finest brews last month in the two adjacent areas of Feldherrnhalle and Odeonsplatz, to the south west of Munich’s Hofgarten.
The famous Oktoberfest is the high point of the German beer year, and sees an estimated 7-million litres of beer emptied from wagonloads of steins and Maßkrüge.
Now you’re clued up, it’s time to shout “Bottoms Up”, or in German, Prosit!
l You can visit Germany and sample the beer on a number of escorted tours with Insight Vacations. Their Best of Germany 10-day tour starts from R28 100 a person twin share.
See www.insightvacations.com
Saturday Star