8 great Bavarian beer experiences that aren't Munich's Oktoberfest

By Christine Retschlag
Updated June 17 2016 - 11:09pm, first published 6:45pm
Germans have always crafted their own beer. Photo: iStock
Germans have always crafted their own beer. Photo: iStock

500 years ago this year, in April 1516, Germany introduced a Beer Purity Law under which beer can only be made from water, malt and hops. Known as the Reinheitsgebot or "purity order", it was originally brought into effect in Bavaria for health and economic reasons. From a health perspective, it was designed to stop the use of herbs, some of them poisonous, in brewing. Economically, it restricted brewing to barley, so that there was enough wheat and rye in the nation to produce bread.

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