Beer Advent Calendar - December 9th

Other than H. Egerer’s shadowy presence throughout this advent, today presents our first repeat brewer. Herrnbräu delivered well on December 2nd with an enjoyable Märzen, so let’s see what they bring today with a brew in honor of a special occasion.

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Herrnbräu Jubiläums-Sud

Brewed for the 500 year anniversary of the Bavarian Purity Law, this brew is even better than Herrnbräu's last entry in the advent. The glass filled with a solid, straw color, building a mild head. The flavor profile is a sweet, full fruit body. I got a strong impression of fresh apricots. The hops didn’t deliver bitterness, rather a slight floral characteristic that kept the sweetness in check.

I’m not a fan of overly sweet beers, so I was glad to enjoy something with fruit characteristics that’s not from actual fruit in the beer. This brew is refreshing and pleasant. I also detected a hint of cinnamon on the finish, so subtle I wasn’t positive if it was really even there.

I'm really happy with today’s entry. There’s a lot more body to this one than other light lagers, which could be why it’s classified as a dunkel. Dunkels are usually a copper to dark brown color, so this is certainly the lightest dunkel you’ll find.

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Bayerisches Reinheitsgebot

Since I covered Herrnbräu and Ingolstadt in the December 2nd post I thought I’d touch on the Bavarian Purity Law today, considering this beer was brewed to commemorate the establishment of the Bayerisches Reinheitsgebot.

It’s fitting that Herrnbräu would make such a beer, since the first Reinheitsgebot (purity law) was enacted in 1516, in Ingolstadt. It determined that beer should be brewed only using hops, barley, and water. The intention was to create a standard that would raise the quality of Bavarian beer above all others in Germany.

At that time, beer was considered an important part of everyone's diet, so it was brewed with a varying quality of ingredients to meet demands. The purity law would prevent bakers having to compete with brewers for wheat, assuring a safe availability of bread. Also, it would provide a measure of safety for consumers, because ingredients that were occasionally used as preservatives (sometimes with toxic effect) would no longer be permitted.

Over the last 500 years there have been some minor changes leading to the modern Reinheitsgebot, most notably the inclusion of yeast to the list of acceptable ingredients. The law wasn't adopted through the whole country of Germany until 1906, and numerous beers in Germany still meet the original 1516 Bavarian standard; all the beers in this series, matter of fact.

I've heard friends who served in the military say, “When I was stationed in Germany the beer was great. They have purity laws making the beer way stronger and I would get sooo drunk.”

As you now clearly understand, the purity laws have nothing to do with alcohol content. German beer has the same alcohol levels of similar styles brewed anywhere else; it's a beer's style that determines alcohol content. Perhaps it was the half and full liter glasses served in Germany (both larger than the typical pour at American establishments) that made my friends think the beer got them drunker.

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_{Beer photographs by me. Original Bayerisches Reinheitsgebot document: source. Hops and barley composite made by me with Pixabay images.}

_{Previous Advent Calendar entries: Intro - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8}