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Itching to Sample a Wonderful Beer? Drink German! |
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Wednesday, 09 May 2007 |
The Germans are renowned for a lot of things; one of them is brewing. Beer is an essential piece of their culture and heritage, with more than 1300 different breweries spread across the land. As far as per person beer drinking, the German people are only below the Czechs and the Irish. The history of German beer goes back to the beginnings of the country when monks started to experiment with brewing about one-thousand A.D. The nation's leaders eventually started to regulate the production of beer as brewing started to be more and more lucrative. The Bavarian Reinheitsgebot, or purity requirement, was enacted in fifteen-sixteen and is still the most well-known and influential component to effect Germanic brewing.
To help make sure Bavarian beers were only the best quality the Duke Wilhelm IV commanded the Bavarian Reinheitsgebot. The regulation says that beers should only be made of barley, hops, and water. Unchanged after nearly five-hundred years, the Reinheitsgebot is the oldest legislation placed on food on the earth. The only addition to the act is the addition of yeast to the list of vital ingredients. Yeast found naturally in the air was what manufacturers before used. Bavarian breweries were soon considered the superior makers of beer because of the stern standard of quality followed by the purity standard. As the reputation of the Bavarian breweries spread across the nation more and more manufacturers began to follow the proclamation also.
German beers have a long-standing position of producing quality beers made only from the purest ingredients as a result of the Reinheitsgebot. As time passed and Germany began to ship out beer, a lot of cities became famed brewing locations. The town of Bremen had over 600 breweries by 1500 and was the top exporter of beer to Holland, Scandinavia, England, and as far as India. Einbeck and Braunschweig were two more famous brewing cities. In modern-day Germany, most of the nation's drinking citizens still choose fabbier, or draught beer, over bottled beer because of it's robust flavor and perfect amount of head foam. Used still today, German beer steins came into use about the time the purity standard came along in an effort to prevent further outbreaks of the black plague.
During the era of the bubonic plague, Germany began several regulations to prevent its people from becoming sick. Infection would spread as large amounts of infected flies flew in people's food and drink. This led to the German beer stein, a drink container with a closed top that is used with the thumb so somebody could prevent infection and still be able to drink with one hand. As people started to learn the plague spread in unclean conditions with stagnant water, beer consumption went up exponentially. Originally crafted from stoneware with pewter tops, steins rose in popularity. Steins started to be manufactured entirely of pewter for almost 300 years as the pewter guild grew. Eventually, porcelain and silver steins were introduced and are still made today.
Nowadays there are over 1350 breweries within Germany's lands that make over five-thousand kinds of beer. The oldest beer maker in the world that continues operation in the present is the Benedictine abbey Weihenstephan, that has been manufacturing beer since one-thousand and forty. The most concentrated area in Germany for beer makers is the Franconia region of Bavaria by the city Bamberg. Most beers can be placed under ales and lagers but German breweries produce a large variety of tastes. Most beers have an alcoholic content from 4.7% to 5.4% but some types can be as high as 12%, making them more powerful than most wines.About AuthorMichael Usry is a long-time beer lover and contributing author for "Beer Maniac" fanzine in Austin, Tx. He is also a top affiliate at beertaps.com, a website for household draft beer accessories.
Source: ArticleTrader.com
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