Brian Byrd's Photo Blog — Fröhlich Reinheitsgebot Tag!

Fröhlich Reinheitsgebot Tag!

Time for a little German lesson. ‘Fröhlich’ means ‘merry’ — and is closely related to our English word frolic. So far so good! ‘Tag’ is German for ‘day’. Reinheitsgebot is going to need a bit more explanation. According to Wikipedia:

The Reinheitsgebot (‘purity order’), sometimes called the ‘German Beer Purity Law’ in English, is the collective name for a series of regulations limiting the ingredients in beer in Germany and its predecessor states. The most well-known version of the law was adopted in Bavaria on April 23, 1516.

Therefore, today is the 500th anniversary of the Reinheitsgebot. Not only German breweries are making a big deal out of this anniversary; over here in Beervana, Portland brewers are finding it’s a great occasion to celebrate German beer — as if they needed an excuse!

A few days ago, OregonLive.com published an article called 10 places in the Portland area to drink German and German-style beers. The next day they followed it up with Reinheitsgebot: A reason to celebrate Portland’s growing German beer scene. According to the article:

The [Reinheitsgebot] law, which dictated that water, hops and barley were the only three ingredients allowed in beer, governed and continues to influence brewing in the nation that traditionally led the world in beer production....

The law began in Bavaria in 1516. Among the reasons for it, the government wanted to set the price of beer, which was a focal point of everyday life, so it would remain affordable, available and safe. Keeping wheat and rye out of beer would also keep those ingredients available for bakers and keep bread affordable.

The result was centuries of refining and perfecting processes that results in today’s German beers, made by breweries that have been around hundreds of years, dating back to the oldest existing brewery in the world, Weihenstephaner, started in 1040.

Unfortunately, big German words like Reinheitsgebot can be hard for us foreigners to pronounce. So the beer staff of OregonLive.com went to Prost! to test the language skills of the beer drinkers there — as you can see for yourself in this humorous video:

I’ll be practicing my Reinheitsgebot pronunciation throughout the day in Portland today. In my next article, I will give you all the juicy details about how I celebrated this 500-year beer anniversary. Fröhlich Reinheitsgebot Tag!