The four ingredients in beer are.... (click on any one of the above to learn more about each ingredient) These ingredients were specified in the German Purity Law of 1516, or Reinheitsgebot, which was enacted by German legislators for a variety of reasons. One of the reasons was for taxation - yes, we beer drinkers have been supporting centuries of bureaucracy and public projects on our broad shoulders! Another reason for the German Purity Law was to protect consumers – it specified what could be legally used in a product called “beer” and it went on to state that beer was to be made from only water, malted barley and hops. But what about yeast? It wouldn't be until a few centuries later when the likes of Louis Pasteur (and their microscopes) discovered microorganisms and identified yeast's role in the fermentation process. Fortunately for early brewers, little bits of yeast managed to make their way from batch to batch and were able to ferment wort! Another interesting aspect of this law was to protect the bakers and the general public. By specifying that beer needed to be made form barley, the German Purity Law guaranteed that other types of grain, like wheat and rye, would not be subject to price competition with brewers, assuring a low cost source of grain would be available to be made into bread to feed a hungry public. One other important aspect of the law was that it set pricing boundaries for beer. A liter of beer, at the time the law was enacted, was to cost between 1 and 2 German pennies! So all in all, this one piece of legislation provided for a reliable tax base (beer drinkers), was an early form of consumer protection, provided for adequate planning and provisioning of available resources, and controlled product pricing to boot! Today, beer that is still made with 100% malted barley as the fermentable ingredient is referred to Craft Beer.
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