“Today the penalty for not abiding by the Reinheitsgebot may only be the upturned noses of some American craft brewers. But in the 16th century, the consequences of brewing an offending beer were far more dire: They lost the beer.”
Most of the beer I ever made complied with the Reinheitsgebot, and I had no idea it was a recent term and phenomenon. Most of the labels of beers that say they comply mention something about the “German Purity Law of 1516.”
Also, it should be noted that hefeweizen, that bastardized style made popular because of horridly bland American microbrew crap that people like Pyramid make, wouldn’t comply. Real German hefewiezen is robust (and wouldn’t comply, either). There’s my upturned nose for you.
