So just what is it that makes German beer so good?
In Germany, brewing is driven by a passion for quality and a pride in tradition, which is why brewers use only the best local ingredients, and most still follow the 500-year-old Reinheitsgebot beer purity law.
Germany produces more than 100 hops, 40 malts and 200 strains of yeast for its brewers to choose from, and also benefits from countless natural wells and water sources.
And then there's the Reinheitsgebot purity law. While some might consider a 500-year-old law to be incompatible with modern-day brewing, most German brewers continue to embrace
its guiding principles over the use of just four ingredients (water, malt, hops and yeast), and the avoidance of artificial additives and impurities used by brewers elsewhere.
Hops are what give beer its bitter, zesty, citrus or aromatic taste, and Germany grows more of this amazing little crop than any other country in the world. The main hop-growing regions are Elbe-Saale, Tettnang, Spalt and Hallertau, Bavaria - the largest and most famous hop-growing region.
1. WATER
As beer is 90% water, brewers are understandably choosy about the water they use. Luckily, Germany boasts a variety of natural wells and water sources, which are selected for taste and character.
2. MALTED BARLEY or MALT
Malt is probably the second most important ingredient in beer. It's the source of the sugars needed for fermentation, and adds colour and flavour depending on the quality, type and quantity used.
3. HOPS
Together with malt, hops are taste and flavour providers. They can add notes of fruit, flora or spice, as well as “green” tones like grass - and all in accordance with the Reinheitsgebot purity law!
4. YEAST
A living organism that works with beer's other ingredients, yeast adds flavour and aroma, but more importantly it converts sugar to alcohol and carbon dioxide during fermentation.
The original Reinheitsgebot, introduced on 23 April 1516 by William the IV, Duke of Bavaria, states that only water, barley and hops can be used in the brewing of beer.
Its aim was to protect beer drinkers from high prices, and to restrict the use of wheat and rye to baking, so as to ensure that enough bread could be produced for the Bavarian people.
And it was also used to stop unscrupulous brewers from using harmful ingredients as preservatives or to season their beer, many of which were hallucinogenic or highly toxic.
In the mid 1500s the Reinheitsgebot was updated to allow for other ingredients such as wheat, and later the use of barley was further defined to mean malted barley or malt.
The more expansive German Reinheitsgebot was introduced in the early 1870s, and sets out the different ingredients permisable in brewing bottom- and top-fermented beer.
In 1906 the use of yeast in brewing was allowed, shortly after its role in alcoholic fermentation had been discovered by the noted French microbiologist Louis Pasteur.
Brewing with pride
Most German brewers are proud traditionalists and follow the Reinheitsgebot so as to preserve centuries-old brewing customs, to ensure quality and to keep German beer free from artificial flavourings, colourings and stabilisers.
April 23 is German Beer Day. Make it a date to celebrate!
On this date in 1516, Germany's Reinheitsgebot purity law was introduced, which states that German beer can only be brewed using water, malt, hops and yeast. Still practiced today, it's what keeps German beer tasting so good. If that's not worth celebrating, we don't know what is!