Duke Albrecht IV Issues the Munich Brewing Ordinance

On November 30, 1487, Duke Albrecht IV issued a new brewing ordinance for the city of Munich. It required beer to be brewed from hops, barley, and water and prohibited brewers from adding other substances. Brewers were required to swear before the ducal rentmaster that they would observe these rules. The ordinance also regulated the price of beer and established a commission that had to inspect it before it could be served. The Munich ordinance formed part of a longer development of municipal and territorial brewing regulation in late medieval Bavaria. Its provisions applied only to Munich, but the ordinance became one of the direct models for the broader Bavarian regulation issued in 1516 after the Bavarian duchies had been reunited. Calling the 1487 measure a “purity law” is modern terminology: contemporaries understood it as a brewing ordinance concerned with ingredients, prices, inspection, and the regulation of the brewing trade.