For many centuries, beer has been a regular and continuous part of the everyday diet in all levels of society. As it was in Babylonia, so too is the quality of beer in Germany legislatively regulated by the authorities - and beer is still an important source of tax revenue.

The first regulation appeared in Augsburg. Establishments that served bad beer or dishonest amounts would fined and their beer destroyed.

The best known and most famous brewing law is the Reinheitsgebot. The "Purity Law" is the oldest food regulation in the world and still exists today unchanged from the original. It was ordered by Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria in the year 1516. See picture above. It said that beer should only be brewed from barley, hops and water. Thanks to the regulation, Bavarian beers then became leaders among their peers. Thus other lands of Germany also enforced the regulation.

Today, of course, yeast is also recognized as a vital ingredient, but it was a brewing element whose effect was unknown at the time the law was written. Back then, brewers would just use the yeast that was present in the air.

Even today the most important law The Reinheitsgebot is still the most important law affecting brewing in Germany. In the beer tax law, which regulates beer production, it states: "For the preparation of beer, only malt, hops, yeast and water can be used." German brewers observe strict compliance with the Reinheitsgebot and the guarantee that in Germany only good, healthy beers will be brewed.