The Bavarian Reinheitsgebot was authorized by Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria to ensure Bavarian beers were only of high quality. Hops, barley, and water are the only ingredients that should go in in beer according to the law. Unchanged after almost 500 years, the Reinheitsgebot is the oldest legislation put on drinks in the world. The only addition to the act is the adding of yeast to the cache of essential ingredients. Yeast that was naturally in the air was what manufacturers before used. Because of the stern code of quality following the purity requirement, Bavarian beer makers were soon known as the best manufacturers of beer. As the prominence of the Bavarian breweries spread across the nation more and more manufacturers started to follow the proclamation as well.
German beers have a long-standing reputation of producing quality brews made only from the purest ingredients as a result of the Reinheitsgebot. A lot of locations became famed brewing spots as time passed and Germany started to ship out beer. By 1500, Scandinavia, Holland, England, and as far as India primarily got their beer from one of the six-hundred breweries in the town of Bremen. Einbeck and Braunschweig were a couple of other famed brewing cities. Because of it's robust flavor and perfect amount of foam most modern Germans still prefer fabbier, or draft beer, over bottled beer. In use still today, German beer steins became popular around the time the purity standard came along in an effort to prevent more outbreaks of the bubonic plague.
Germany started a lot of regulations to stop its people from becoming ill during the time of the black plague. Large amounts of diseased flies would land in citizen's food and spread the infection. This led to the stein, a beverage vessel with a hinged top that is operated with the thumb so a person could prevent disease and still be able to drink with their free hand. As citizens began to learn the plague spread in unsanitary conditions with brackish water, beer consumption rose exponentially. German beer steins were originally crafted from stoneware with pewter lids. German beer steins began to be manufactured entirely of pewter for nearly 300 years as the pewter guild grew. Still produced today, silver and porcelain German beer steins were eventually introduced.
Over 5000 kinds of beer are made today from over 1350 breweries within Germany's borders. The Benedictine abbey Weihenstephan, which has been making beer since 1040, is considered the oldest brewery on the earth. The Franconia region of Bavaria near the city Bamberg is the most concentrated area for beer makers in Germany. The majority of beers can be categorized by ales and lagers but German breweries produce a large variety of flavors. Some brands of beer may have an alcoholic content as much as 12%, making them more potent than most wines even though the majority of beers have an alcoholic content from 4.7% to 5.4%.