GERMANY SHOULD PRESERVE ITS UNIQUE, INTERNATIONALLY ACKNOWLEDGED BREWING TRADITION
A friend asked me to summarize briefly my post of yesterday defending the German Pure Beer Law (the Law).
The main points:
- The Law has an inferred justification rooted in palate even though there may be multiple reasons behind the original law of 1516.
- German beer on average reaches a high standard due to all-barley malt being required for lager beer.
- The gastronomic merits of all-malt beer have been recognized by experts, and tacitly by the German people for centuries.
- Germany should retain the law as a key component of its extraordinary beer heritage.
- Modern craft brewing in large part arose due to the great respect American craft brewers had for the Law. The recent influence of craft brewing in Europe is therefore not a reason to withdraw the Law; au contraire.
- Possibly the Law should be changed to allow German brewers to brew non-compliant beer. If so, the beer should have a special name with appropriate labeling to show it is in a special class, e.g. foreign or historical.
Note re image used: the image of malted barley shown is in the public domain, and was sourced here.
Might it be better if a beer that continues to adhere to the Reinheitsgebot be allowed to have the ability to have a special seal and/or statement on the label indicating such, thus making compliance with the “pure beer law” a special thing, a mark of quality so to speak, that brands could advertise as setting them apart from the non-compliant brands. Rather like the beers that obtain status as a Trappist beer for example.
Bruce, an excellent suggestion. Still, there is psychological nuance I think whether beer as such (brewed in Germany) should have even that special recognition, versus it being the norm and other beers needing to explain themselves so to speak.
Gary