Tally's Take · Bavaria, 1516
The Purity Law Was Also Economics
The 1516 Bavarian decree is remembered as the Beer Purity Law. It was also grain policy, price control and a government putting its hand on the brewing economy.
The Reinheitsgebot may be one of the most romanticised laws in beer history. Most people know it as the German Beer Purity Law — a centuries-old declaration that beer should be made from simple, natural ingredients.
But the Bavarian decree of 1516 was about much more than purity. It was also about economics.
Wheat and rye were important bread grains. Restricting ordinary brewers largely to barley helped reduce competition between brewers and bakers for those supplies. The decree also regulated the price of beer.
Suddenly the story looks very different. This wasn't simply a medieval celebration of brewing tradition. It was agricultural policy, food regulation, price control and government intervention in the brewing economy.
The simplified version fits nicely on a beer label. The real history is far more interesting.
That's Tally's Take.