Beer Gardens

It sometimes seems like beer is more plentiful than water in stores and restaurants in Germany. The main reason goes back to when the water was not safe to drink but beer was purified by the hops. On April 23, 1516, the Reinheitsgebot (German beer purity law) was passed, and every year since April 23 is celebrated as German Beer Day. The beer purity law is the (or one of the) oldest food law in the world. It states that German beer can only be made of water, hops and barley. Yeast had not yet been discovered so no one knew that yeast is what ferments the beer and turns the sugar into alcohol. The beer purity law is not still fully followed. There are many small, craft beers that have different flavors from natural ingredients, and yeast is obviously allowed in beers. Weihenstephan Beer, according to the brewery, is the oldest commercial brewery of the world. It is located in southern Germany. However, during that time, the Beer Capital was in northern Germany, near Hamburg. In times of poor water quality, beer was healthier than water, because it was germ-free to a large extent. It was a good food supplement as well. Children drank beer as well at the time (the alcoholic content was significantly lower than today). Today, southern Germany has more beer production. Apparently, the beer garden has its origin in Munich. Since beer needs a specific temperature to ferment, it could only be produced during the colder months of the year since refrigeration was not invented yet. At the Beck’s tour, the tour guide said that they used to get ice from the river and to import ice from Scandinavia to chill the beer. If they did not have enough ice or they did not make enough beer in the winter, there would be beer shortages in the summer.