Bavarian Basics
A website of the Bavarian lifestyle, recipes and traditions.
So, they say Germans like their beer warm. I think this so-called fact is misleading. Personally, I don't like warm beer and I don't know anyone who does. What I do know is that you are not supposed to pour the beer too cold, because this affects the foam formation. Maybe that is where the confusion lies...
Also, the glass should be rinsed with cold water (not towel dried) and held tilted while you pour the beer in. And for the record, lemon slices have no right to be in a Weissbier!
Beer
According to the 1516 "Reinheitsgebot" (German Beer Purity Law) the only ingredients that could be used in the brewing process of beer are water, barley and hops. In time, yeast was added as the 4th legal ingredient. Until 1993, the purity law remained in effect until the EU decommonisioned it as being 'incompatible' with the European common market. Nevertheless, most German brewers still abide by the Reinheitsgebot.
There are more than 1,200 breweries in Germany, producing some 5,000
different beers on tap. How many have you tried?
Southern Germany is home of the Weizen or "white beer", a light,
highly effervescent, top-fermented beer, slightly cloudy due to the yeast.
The oldest brewery in Germany and supposedly, the oldest still functioning brewery in the world, is the Weihenstephan Brewery in Freising, Bavaria, just north of Munich.
