Racer's Travel Journals

Racer

 
What do you want to do the next time you travel abroad?

learn a language, go sightseeing, play tourist

  • 32 years old
  • From Denver, United States
  • Currently in Denver, United States

Our Curious World

The world is a fascinating place! Working in 23 different countries, Experiential Learning International and our volunteers have seen some crazy stuff.

July 31, 2009

Germany Germany  |  Jul 31, 2009
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 Reinheitsgebot 

One thing you can say for sure about the Germans... they take their beer seriously.  The notorious Reinheitsgebot has been both a thorn in German brewers side, and a boon to beer creativity.  The Reinheitsgebot is a beer purity law that is in actuality quite simple.  It says beer brewed in Germany can only consist of water, malt, yeast, and hops... nothing else.  Any beer drinker in another country (especially in the US) knows that this rules out a lot of beers.  Americans are notorious for everything from fruit beers to beers with intriguing mixes of herbs and spices.  The German law, in contrast, requires all differences in beer flavor to come from the actual brewing process.  This maintains the purity of the beer and the integrity of the cultural connection to the beverage.  The law has been on the books in some form since 1516 and is maintained, albeit controversially, until today.  Many Belgian beers, in fact, as a result of this law are not legal in Germany.  Some bars in Germany have tried to get around these rules by providing patrons with the beer, and then a shot of flavoring they could poured in later.  Bar patrons would pour a bit of raspberry or coriander directly into the beer.  The benefit of the law has been that it has pushed the beer industry in Germany to be very creative and to turn beer production into a true art form.  Various beers throughout the country, despite all sharing the same basic ingrediants, have developed flavors of vanilla, coriander, banana, or clove purely from the fermentation process.  For beer connoisseurs it is a great law, for everyone else, it leaves the selection lacking.

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