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The Reinheitsgebot

There's been a lot of talk about this Reinheitsgebot thing. Maybe, maybe too much talk... Everyone knows that it's some German purity law that tells you the four ingredients that are allowed in beer, but no one seems to be able to quite agree on just what exactly those four ingredients are. Also, while it's very trendy to throw around the Reinheitsgebot in the context of the current American small brewery revolution (are you listening, Jim Koch?), it's important to remember that a Reinheitsgebot beer is not necessarily a good beer, and most of the really great beers of the world are not at all brewed according to the Reinheitsgebot! In 1516 the Reinheitsgebot was designed to protect the consumer from beers brewed with low-quality ingredients (called adjuncts) such as rice and corn (does this ring any bells with anyone?), as well as set price standards for the beverage. In actuality, there are only three ingredients mentioned in the original text: barley, hops, and water. In 1516 the brewer's knowledge didn't extend to microbiology, so since they didn't say anything about yeast, there are no truly Reinheitsgebot beers today, technically speaking! (Yeast was first mentioned in a Munich regulation from 1551.)

Here is the original text from 1516 (spelling has been modernized):

Wie das Bier im Sommer und Winter auf dem Land ausgeschenkt und gebraut werden soll.

Wir verordnen, setzen und wollen mit dem Rat unserer Landschaft, daß forthin überall im Fürstentum Bayern, sowohl auf dem Lande wie auch in unseren Städten und Märkten, die keine besondere Ordnung dafür haben, von Michaeli bis Georgi eine Maß oder ein Kopf Bier für nicht mehr als einen Pfennig Münchener Währung und von Georgi bis Michaeli die Maß nicht für mehr als zwei Pfennig derselben Währung, der Kopf für nicht mehr als drei Heller bei Androhung unten angeführter Strafe gegeben und ausgeschenkt werden soll. Wo aber einer nicht Märzen-, sondern anderes Bier brauen oder sonstwie haben würde, soll er keineswegs höher als um ein Pfennig die Maß ausschenken und verkaufen. Ganz besonders wollen wir, daß forthin allenthalben in unseren Städten, Märkten und auf dem Lande zu keinem Bier mehr Stücke als allein Gersten, Hopfen und Wasser verwendet und gebraucht werden sollen. Wer diese Anordnung wissentlich übertritt, dem soll von seiner Gerichtsbarkeit zur Strafe dieses Faß Bier, so oft es vorkommt, unnachsichtlich weggenommen werden. Wo jedoch ein Gauwirt von einem Bierbräu in unseren Städten, Märkten oder auf dem Lande einen, zwei, oder drei Eimer Bier kauft und wieder ausschenkt an das gemeinsame Bauernvolk, soll ihm allein erlaubt und unverboten sein, die Maß oder den Kopf Bier um einen Heller teurer als oben ausgeschrieben ist zu geben und auszuschenken. Auch soll uns als Landesfürsten vorbehalten sein, für den Fall, daß aus Mangel und Verteuerung des Getreides starke Beschwernis entstünde (nachdem die Jahrgänge auch die Gegend und die Reifezeiten in unserem Land verschieden sind), zum allgemeinen Nutzen Einschränkungen zu verordnen, wie solches am Schluß über den Verkauf ausführlich ausgedrückt und gesetzt ist.

Maß: bayerische = 1.069 Liter 
Kopf: halbkugelförmiges Geschirr für Flüssigkeiten =
      nicht ganz eine Maß 
Heller: gewöhnlich ein halber Pfennig 
Eimer: enthält 60 Maß 

And here is my own translation of the above:

How beer is to be brewed and poured out across across the land.

We decree, establish and ordain at the behest of the Lords of Bavaria that henceforth in all the land, in the countryside as well as our towns and marketplaces, there is no other policy than this: From Michaelmas until the Feast of St George, one mug or 'head' of beer will not be sold for more than one Munich penny; and from the Feast of St George until Michaelmas, a mug will not be sold for more than two pennies of the same reckoning, and a head for no more than three heller, under pain of penalty. But when one brews any beer (other than Märzenbier), it will under no circumstances be poured or sold for more than one penny per mug. Further we decree that henceforth in all our towns, marketplaces and the whole of the countryside, no beer shall contain or be brewed with more ingredients than barley, hops, and water. He who knowingly violates these laws will be summarily fined a keg of beer, each time it happens. However, if a publician buys one, two, or three Eimer of beer from a brewery in our towns, marketplaces, or the whole countryside, to sell to the local townspeople, to him alone will it be allowed and permitted to sell mugs and heads of beer for one Heller more than is written above. Also the Lords of Bavaria reserve the right to decree appropriate changes to this decree for the public benefit in the event that strong hardship arises from shortages and price increases of grains (since the seasons and the region and the harvest times in our land can vary); in that event the right to adjust the regulations over the sale are explicitly expressed and established.

Mug = (Bavarian) 1,069 Liters
Head = round container for fluids, containing slightly less than one
	Bavarian 'mug'
Heller = Munich half-penny
Eimer = 60 Bavarian 'mugs' (64 liters)

Some other states in Central Europe adopted equivalent laws over the years, or adopted the above (Bavarian) law. At the beginning of the 20th century, a version of the Reinheitsgebot became law over all of what had become the German Empire. Later, in 1918, the Weimar republic enacted the same Reinheitsgebot after the Bavarian parliament declared that it would not join if the Reinheitsgebot was not mandated over the entire republic (we couldn't make up stuff like this!). Last time I looked, there were only three countries that had still had a strict Reinheitsgebot: Germany, Norway, and Switzerland. With the onset of the European Union, it is still unclear whether any of these will stand.

By the way, for the exact wording of present-day Germany's Reinheitsgebot, click here (or here for the Germanically challenged).

Thanks to Martin Ibert for providing the modernized text and Susanne for proofing my translation!

The best article about the Reinheitsgebot that I've seen in a long time is at Ron Pattison's site.

That thing in the Guinness cans

A lot of people ask me, 'Kyle, just how do those new Guinness cans work? You know, those "draft" cans that smooth out the beer and give it that amazingly dense, creamy head of tiny little bubbles. What's the secret? You know, I opened up one of those cans once and there was this weird little plastic whatsamahoogie inside. How does it work?' Well, basically, it's a device that makes tiny little bubbles in beer. But don't take it from me, take it from the patent application for the device:

1. A beverage package comprising a sealed, non-resealable, container having a primary chamber containing beverage having gas in solution therewith and forming a primary headspace comprising gas at a pressure greater than atmospheric; enclosure means defining a secondary chamber having a volume less than said primary chamber; restrictor means defining a restricted orifice, said secondary chamber communicating with the beverage in said primary chamber through said restricted orifice; said secondary chamber containing beverage supplied thereto from the beverage in the primary chamber and having a secondary headspace therein comprising a gas at a pressure greater than atmospheric so that the pressures within the primary and secondary chambers are substantially at equilibrium; said container said container is openable to expose the primary headspace to atmospheric pressure, and wherein the secondary chamber is arranged so that upon opening of the container the pressure differential caused by the decrease in pressure at the primary headspace causes beverage in the secondary chamber to be ejected by way of the restricted orifice into the beverage of the primary chamber and said ejection causes a gas in the solution to be evolved and form, or assist in the formation of, a head of froth on the beverage.

Got that? Note that contrary to popular belief, there is no mention of nitrogen. As it happens, Guinness uses a small amount of liquid nitrogen in each can to pressurize the two chambers, but this is purely for convenience; any liquified gas would do for this purpose-- there is no mystical quality about nitrogen that gives the beer its trademark head.

Alcohol content of various beers

And another thing, I'm sick of Canadians coming down here and saying, 'How can you drink that weak American swill beer that's only 3% alcohol!! Come to Canada where they make beer for real men and it's 5% ALCOHOL!!! YEP THAT'S TWO PERCENT MORE HOSERS!!' Most people don't realize that in the US, alcohol content of alcoholic beverages is measured by weight, whereas most other countries measure by volume. Trust me, Canadian megabrew has exactly the same alcohol content (and same (lack of) taste) as American megabrew). Here is a list of the alcohol content of selected beers:

(Now enhanced for NetScape 1.1b3! NOT!!)

If you are a real glutton for punishment, another table with more beers and alcohol and caloric content is here.

Until recently it was actually ILLEGAL to list the alcohol content on BEER in the United States. The logic behind this was that it prevented breweries from getting into a strength war, making stronger and stronger beers to cater to the macho men out there. The obvious problem with this approach is that when you're drinking beer, you are never quite sure of how much alcohol you've consumed. Thus the only safe way to drink is to not drive when you've had ANY beer at all.

However, in a recent ruling (April 1995), Coors contested this law and won the right to list alcohol percentage on their labels. Other breweries seem poised to follow suit so I expect to see more percentages listed on beer in the very near future (however I still advise you not to drink and drive!).

I suppose you're going to ask why EKU 28 is not 28% alcohol, and in fact it's not even 28 proof! Sorry, but the 28 refers to degrees plato. 'What the hell is degrees plato?'

The world's oldest beer

Sure, everyone knows beer has been around a long time. But Kyle, just how long? Two hundred years? Five hundred? A thousand? Most people are surprised to find out that beer has been with us, pretty much in the same form it is now, for about four thousand years. Recently, Fritz and the boys up at Anchor brewed a beer based on the oldest known beer recipe, which was found on a Sumerian clay tablet dating from about 1,800 BC. Older than the pyramids. About as old as Stonehenge. The full article about the research and brewing event resides here, and it's really good reading.

'But Kyle,' you say, 'what about Weihenstephan in Bavaria, which claims to be the "älteste Brauerei der Welt?" They've only been around since 1040 AD.' Of course, they may legitimately claim that they are the oldest extant brewery, they're certainly the oldest that I know of, but that doesn't mean they were the first.

Anyway, if the Anchor recipe sounds good to you, here's a version of it you can try at home (adapted by Mark Nightingale ):

This is a recipe to make 2 1/2 gallons of Egyptian or Sumerian Beer.

First you make an unleavened Barley bread:

Preheat oven to 200 F.

Mix:

• 5 cups Barley flour
• 2 1/2 cups water
• 1 1/4 cup Brown Sugar
• Pinch of salt

Spread this mixture about 1" thick in a baking pan. 

Bake this at 200 F for 3 hours with the oven slightly cracked.  (I
stuck a butter knife in the door to crack it.  This is to help the
bread dry out.)

Let bread cool completely.  The bread should be much like a brick.
Rock hard.  Even difficult to break.  If it still has any softness at
all... It doesn't hurt to bake it again.  I read that the Egyptians
often baked theirs twice so it would hold together well during
brewing.

Now... for the brew...

Ingredients:

• Crumbled barley bread from above ( should be in roughly 1/2" to 1" chunks)
• 2 1/2 lbs Munich Malt (or similar malt. Gives the starch conversion enzymes!)
• 2 1/2 TBSP Chocolate malt
• 1 1/4 oz Tettnanger hops alpha ~3.8 beta ~ 2.5
• Water to 2 1/2 gallons.

Boil the crumbled bread for 1 hr. (cooked down approx to 1/2 vol.)
Top up w/ cold water again.  Cool or heat to ~125 F and add Munich
Malt (crushed) Hold at protein rest 118-125 F for 40 minutes.  Boost
temp to 155 F over period of about 25 minutes.  Hold at 150-155 F for
starch conversion rest for 20 min.  Boost temp to 168 F for about 5
min.  Sparge with 160 F water.  Rest for 5 min.

(At this point I had tons of proteins settle out to the bottom... I
tried to leave as much of these in the container as I could.)

Put wort into boiler again.
Bring to rolling boil.
Add 1/4 of the Hops.... Boil for 15 min.
Add 1/2 of the Hops.... Boil for 15 min.
Add Choc. Malt (uncrushed) Boil for 15 min.
Add last 1/4 of hops... Boil for 15 min.

Cool rapidly down to roughly 68 F.
Again, siphon off of the sediment... into the
primary and top with water if necessary.

Pitch with choice of yeast.  (I used a lager yeast)

My S.G. was 1.032
My final grav. was 1.006...

Thus ~ 3.6% alc.

Notes: This lager was crisp and light with a very nice and different
flavor.  The aroma was very sweet and malty.  My head was not very
full though...  maybe not enough protein.

Mark Nightingale

And now, for the UK's answer to the Anchor project...

         LONDON (Reuter) - An Egyptologist, two scientists and  
Britain's largest brewer plan to brew an ale from a recipe 
dating back 3,500 years to the time of Tutankhamun. 
         Tutankhamun Ale will be based on sediment from old jars  
found in a brewery housed inside the Sun Temple of Nefertiti, 
queen of a pharoah called Akhenaten who Egyptologists believe 
was probably Tutankhamun's father. 
         Barry Kemp, an Egyptologist at Cambridge University, who set  
off to excavate the temple four years ago, and Dr. Delwen Samuel 
an archeo-botanist, worked alongside brewer Scottish and 
Newcastle to find out how the beer was made. 
         The team has now gathered enough of the right raw materials  
to produce just 1,000 bottles of the ale. 
         ``We are about to unveil a great Tutankhamun secret,'' said  
Jim Merrington, commercial director at Newcastle Breweries. 
         ``The liquid gold of the pharoahs. It's a really amazing  
inheritance they have left us, the origins of beer itself.'' 
         ``There is no doubt about it that the ancient Egyptians were  
obsessed with beer. It is said the pyramids were built on a diet 
of bread and beer,'' said Merrington. 
         The beer will have an alochol content of between 5 and 6  
percent and be produced in two months time, he said. 
         The sediment was found to contain a variety of wheat called  
Emma which Samuel obtained a sample of from Turkey and managed 
to grow in Cambridge. 
         The team found, partly by peering down electron microscopes  
at starch cells and by looking at tomb paintings of the period, 
that the Egyptians malted their wheat. 
         They excavated beer jars and brewing vessels which showed  
the Egyptians brewed very quickly in just three days, due to the 
very hot climate, and in small two-gallon jars. 
         Further analysis of sediment, which had leaked from jars  
into the sand, showed other ingredients like coriander and 
Naback fruit -- an Egyptian berry -- may have been used to 
flavor the beer. 
         The brewery took samples of water from a nearby well and  
will try to copy it in the brewing process. 
         The beer, which is slightly cloudy with a golden hue, will  
be bottled in clear, flint glass. 
         ``We wanted to see how the mixture reacted in the pots so we  
made replica pots. Clearly we couldn't use the original 
3,000-year-old artifacts,'' said Merrington. 
         Most of the beer will be used for tasting in the industry  
and the rest will go to the Egypt Exploration Society. 
         ``Taste is one of the big unanswered questions. We'll find  
out in two months' time,'' said Samuel. 

Another really old beer: Heather Ale

Recently, there was quite a stir in Scotland when the West Highland
Brewers of Argyll announced plans to brew a heather ale ('Fraoch')
according to an ancient recipe.  The 'crusade' to revive Fraoch
captured incredible interest and the highly anticipated finished
product was well received and continues to be widely available in
Scotland.  According to the brewers, the process goes something like
this: the malt is boiled with wild myrtle leaves and purple heather
(harvested from July to September) to extract their flavour and
nectar, and then the hot wort is poured over a filter bed of heather
tips where it picks up further flowery flavours (mainly in the nose).
The brewers claim that the recipe has been developed from traces
of a fermented beverage made with heather flowers that was found on a
Neolithic shard in an archaeological dig on the Isle of Rum, dating
back to 2000 BC-- thus making it one of the oldest styles of ale in
the world.  

Tasting notes on Fraoch Heather Ale:

• Aroma: Floral, Peaty fruit. (Heather grows low in acid-peat soil)
• Texture: Full, Firm character. (Full mash malt in spring water)
• Flavour: Spicy, Herbal, Woody. (Heather tips and myrtle leaves left in for full boil)
• Finish: Dry, Wine-like. (Natural astringents and fermented nectar)

Having tasted it on a recent trip to Scotland, I can only reiterate
the tasting notes here: on the hand-pump this ale was simply
delicious.  It had a wonderful smooth, sweet taste which might make it
hard to go with a meal but was perfect for just sitting around in
Bannerman's!  Strangely, despite the sweet initial flavour the finish
is very dry.  It's easy to drink five or six before you even realize
it... 


The following is a rather melodramatic time-line of heather ale provided by the brewers.  Take it with a grain of salt, but I include it here for your enjoyment.

circa 2000 BC, Isle of Rum: Fermented beverage made with heather flowers.
circa 325 BC, Pictland (lands north of the Forth-Clyde valley): The Greek explorer Pytheas refers to the Picts as the 'Priteni,' the ancient Irish call them 'Cruthni.' Both names mean 'The people of the designs,' referring to their rich style of art which can still be seen on standing stones in Scotland today. The Picts were a Celtic tribal race who defended their land from Roman, Saxon, Briton, and Viking invasions. The Picts were also known to be accomplished brewers, as the Scottish Dictionary quotes, 'The Picts brewed some awful grand drink they ca't heather ale from heather and some unknown kind of fog.' One legend recorded by Robert Louis Stevenson tells of a Scots king who, after killing all the picts in battle, wished for the famous heather ale. He found two survivors by a cliff, a Pictish chief and his son, and began to torture them to gain the secret recipe. The Pict agreed to tell if they would kill his son quickly. After the boy's body was thrown from the cliff, the Pictish chief threw himself at the King and both fell from the cliff, thus the secret of heather ale was lost.
843 ad, Scotland: Scots and Picts unite under the Scots King Kenneth MacAlpin to form Scotland, or 'Alba' to the Gaels. Throughout medieval times many ceilidh stories mention the brewing and drinking of heather ale. This folklore includes the tale of a Highland clan warming heather ale over the fire on a cold night. The steam from the hot ale cooled against the stone roof and dripped into a drinking cup. Upon drinking the contents, the Gaelic clansmen exclaimed 'Uisge-beatha!' convinced that they had experienced the fabled 'water of life.' The English word 'whisky' comes from this Gaelic root.
1707 ad, Scotland: The Act of Union. After centuries of war, Scotland becomes part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, despite many wars of independence and the Highland uprisings. Many atrocities are passed through Parliament during this century, including the banning of the wearing of tartan, playing bagpipes, and highland gatherings. Lands are stolen from crofters, Gaelic is forbidden and clans persecuted-- a whole culture and way of life is virtually destroyed. An act is passed which prevents brewers from using any ingredients other than hops and malt. Hops cannot grow in Scotland (indeed there is no Gaelic word for hops), so the heather ale is all but reduced to legend. This persecution of the highland way of life causes thousands of Scots to be transported to the new worlds of the West Indes, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, America and Europe which led to a mass exodus of Scottish society emigrating to follow their clans.
circa 1809 ad, Scotland: In the Highlands and Western Isles the brewing of heather ale continued, as did the wearing of the tartan and the Gaelic language. They hold on to their traditions and customs including the manufacture of illicit uisge-beatha, the defiant message to the British government being 'Pog mo thon!' ('Kiss my arse!')
1986: In Glasgow's sole homebrew shop a Gaelic-speaking islander translates an old family recipe for 'Leann fraoich' to Bruce Williams, the shop owner. He begins the crusade to revive Scotland's brewing heritage by trying different varieties and quantities of heather flowers, making up batches and testing them on his customers. Once the formula is perfected he begins to sell the brew as Fraoch.
1992: The first twenty-thousand pints are produced at the small West Highland Brewery in Argyll. Sales are restricted to six pubs due to the capacity of the brewery. In 1993, an agreement was reached with Scotland's oldest family brewers, Maclay & Co. at the Thistle Brewery in Alloa which allows Bruce to brew larger quantities of Fraoch during the heather season. Every batch is inspected and recorded for the Scottish Brewing Archive in Glasgow, who have assisted with the Heather Ale odyssey. Heather ale is to receive a 'Certificate of Specific Character' which protects the tradition and custom of heather brewing for Scotland under supervision by The Scottish Office, Edinburgh.

Much of the above information, as well as the picture above, was gleaned from a promotional brochure for Fraoch Heather Ale available from Heather Ale Ltd., 736 Dumbarton Road, Glasgow G11 6RD, Scotland, UK.

From the bonny bells of heather, they brewed a drink long syne,
Was sweeter far than honey, Was stronger far than wine,
They brewed it and they drank it, And ley in blessed swound,
For days and days together, In their dwellings underground,
There rose a King in Scotland, A fell man to his foes,
He smote the Picts in battle, he hunted them like roes,
Summer came in the country, Red was the heather bell,
But the manner of the brewing, Was none alive to tell,
The King rode and was angry, Black was his brow and pale,
To rule in a land of heather, and lack the heather ale,
Down by the shore he had them, And there on the giddy brink,
"I will give the life ye vermin, for the secret of the drink,"
"Life is dear to the aged, and honour a little thing,
I would gladly sell the secret," Quoth the Pict to the King,
"And I dare not sell my honour, under the eye of my son."
They took the son and bound him, and flung him far and strong
And the sea swallowed his body, like that of a child of ten,
And there on the cliff stood the father, Last of the dwarfish men,
"True was the owrd I told you, Only my son I feared,
For I doubt the sapling courage, That goes without the beard,
But now in vain is the torture, Fire shall not avail,
Here dies in my bosom, the secret of the heather ale..."
Heather Ale by Robert Louis Stevenson 

'It is disgusting to note the increase in the quantity of coffee
used by my subjects and the amount of money that goes out of the
country in consequence.  Everybody is using coffee.  If possible, this
must be prevented.  My people must drink beer.' (Frederick the Great)

'If you see a beer, drink it.' (Michael Jackson (no, the other Michael Jackson))

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