1616
Bavaria Revises Its Brewing Rules in 1616
In 1616, Duke Maximilian I’s Bavarian police ordinance reaffirmed the requirement to brew beer from barley, hops, and water. However, it explicitly provided that brewers would not be punished for adding small quantities of salt, juniper berries, and caraway, provided these were not used excessively. This qualified the ingredient restriction associated with the Bavarian ordinance of 1516, later known as the Reinheitsgebot. The provision illustrates how brewing regulation developed through revisions and exceptions, challenging the familiar picture of an unchanged ingredient rule lasting across the centuries.
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Sources
These sources support the dating and historical claims in this entry.
Rupprecht, Klaus. “Reinheitsgebot, 1516.” Historisches Lexikon Bayerns, July 28, 2016. Discusses the 1616 police ordinance and its permitted additions.
Liebhart, Wilhelm. “Zur Geschichte des bayerischen Reinheitsgebotes von 1516.” Amperland 57, no. 1 (2021). Reproduces the relevant clause from the 1616 legal compilation and discusses its significance.
Wikipedia contributors. “Reinheitsgebot.” German Wikipedia. Accessed September 16, 2026. Supplementary overview connecting the 1516 regulation with the 1616 permission to use salt, juniper, and caraway.
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