Reinheitsgebot

For those of you who have never actually read the German Purity Law of 1516, it’s probably because it’s written in, well, Old German. I found an English translation of Reinheitsgebot on the InterNet.

Everyone knows that it's some German purity law that tells you the "four" ingredients that are allowed in beer, but no one seems to be able to quite agree on just what exactly those four ingredients are. In 1516 the Reinheitsgebot was designed to protect the consumer from beers brewed with low-quality ingredients (called adjuncts) such as rice and corn, as well as set price standards for the beverage. In actuality, there are only three ingredients mentioned in the original text: barley, hops, and water. In 1516 the brewer's knowledge didn't extend to microbiology, so since they didn't say anything about yeast, there are no truly Reinheitsgebot beers today, technically speaking! (Yeast was first mentioned in a Munich regulation from 1551.)

Kyle Wohlmut, of Palo Alto, provides the InterNet translation:

How beer is to be brewed and poured out across the land.

We decree, establish and ordain at the behest of the Lords of Bavaria that henceforth in all the land, in the countryside as well as our towns and marketplaces, there is no other policy than this: From Michaelmas until the Feast of St George, one mug or 'head' of beer will not be sold for more than one Munich penny; and from the Feast of St George until Michaelmas, a mug will not be sold for more than two pennies of the same reckoning, and a head for no more than three heller, under pain of penalty. But when one brews any beer (other than Marzenbier), it will under no circumstances be poured or sold for more than one penny per mug. Further we decree that henceforth in all our towns, marketplaces and the whole of the countryside, no beer shall contain or be brewed with more ingredients than grain, hops, and water. He who knowingly violates these laws will be summarily fined a keg of beer, each time it happens. However, if a publican buys one, two, or three Eimer of beer from a brewery in our towns, marketplaces, or the whole countryside, to sell to the local townspeople, to him alone will it be allowed and permitted to sell mugs and heads of beer for one Heller more than is written above. Also the Lords of Bavaria reserve the right to decree appropriate changes to this decree for the public benefit in the event that strong hardship arises from shortages and price increases of grains (since the seasons and the region and the harvest times in our land can vary); in that event the right to adjust the regulations over the sale are explicitly expressed and established.

Mug = (Bavarian) 1.069 Liters

Head = round container for fluids, containing slightly less than one Bavarian 'mug'

Heller = Munich half-penny

Eimer = 60 Bavarian 'mugs' (64 liters)