Fun with Maps ISSUE 2025-072

By Steve Kovacs (Introduction by Chuck Gibson)

LOVELAND, OH (April 23, 2025) – Following a brief respite to observe Easter, Loveland Beacon returns the popular daily special Fun With Maps with the story of the laws behind German beer brewing.   

Bread not Beer

Reinheitsgebot.  The German Beer Purity Law passed on April 23, 1516. (More than 500 years ago!) This was followed mostly in Bavaria. (AUTHOR’S NOTE: Germany did not exist as a separate country until the late 1800s.)

Only water, barley and hops were allowed to be used.  Brewers did, of course, incorporate yeast as well.

Germans love their rules, and this one had a somewhat different twist.  It was more about preventing price escalation of bread than about beer.

Bread?  Yes.  The idea was to keep rye and wheat prices reasonable to make bread and force beer making to not compete for these “raw materials”. 

The Beer Purity Law has changed over the years, needless to say.

Homann created this map of Bavaria, his home state, in 1716.

Steve Kovacs and his wife Theresa reside in Loveland, Ohio where they raised their two children. He is a passionate collector of antique maps.

Visit his antique map boutique world-on-paper online. Watch for his daily feature Steve Kovacs: Fun with Maps here on Loveland Beacon.