German beer purity law becoming “increasingly irrelevant”

The most fabled law in all of beer turns 500 this year. The Reinheistgebot was introduced in Bavaria in 1516 and mandated, among other things, that German beer be made only from water, hops and barley. Yes, the law predates the discovery of yeast. But prevailing consumer attitudes toward German beer are suggesting that the half-millennium-old dictum … [ Read more]