Bavarian Beer -- A Toast to the Greatest Beer in the World
Aside from the fact that one of the most revered car manufacturer which houses the most expensive cars in the world is Bavarian made (BMW, Rolls Royce, MINI, and Volkswagen), Bavaria also takes pride in manufacturing the greatest beer that the world has ever come to know. In the world of beer making, Bavarian beer is considered as the simplest yet the most elite beer there is.
The Bavarian beer Purity Law
How did Bavarian beer achieve its current reputation? As with any other great things, perfection is attained by time. For 500 years, Bavarian beer has been in the beer making business, and a serious one at that. In 1516, a law had been promulgated that provided a strict standard in Bavarian beer making; meaning, if you wouldn't follow the rule, better close your shop. If not, suffer a severe punishment from the courts of law. That serious.
The Bavarian beer purity law is more known as Reinheitsgebot, which categorically limit the beer making ingredients to water, barley and hops. The term purity here doesn't necessarily mean that the Bavarian beer making process must be extremely sterile and the ingredients, filtered meticulously. Purity in Reinheitsgebot pertains to sticking to the three (3) aforementioned ingredients and those alone. Today, yeast has been added to the list of ingredients since it was only in the 15th century, a hundred years after the passing of the law on Reinheitsgebot, that beer brewers found out the importance of yeast in beer fermentation.
The purity law is a consumer protection law againts fraudulent brewers who would try to add 'flavors' or 'enhancers' in their beer such as herbs, tubers, roots, tree bark, and even oxen's bile. This is to create a low-cost beer with an added kick. Some herbs and plants can serve as a substitute or an extender to expensive malt and hops, yet they of course wouldn't taste as great as the original ingredients. As for animal organs, it was once believed that they can add to the intoxicating effect of the alcohol in beer and were good aphrodisiacs.
Different Bavarian Beer Style
Do you want to go white, dark, or dark white? These are the colors of Bavarian beer styles that are common today. Bavarian beer style depends upon the dominant ingredients, percentages of malt or hops in the blend, and how these ingredients are brewed. For instance Weissbier (which literally means White Beer), is a light Bavarian beer it has been made from pale grains, and thus produce a 'blond' or pale colored beer. Dunkel, on the other hand, which was made from brown malt, has a rich brown to dark brew.
No other beer can sit beside a bottle of Bavarian beer and compete with its impeccable, smooth and crisp taste. For centuries, Bavarian beer has been hailed the greatest beer in the world. And in the next centuries, nothing can beat it in terms of taste and quality as the tradition of brewing healthy and great tasting beer has been passed on from generations to generation.
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