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From wine, it’s now back to beer – in the shape of the “Gasse am Römling” (Römling Alley), where Martin explains the Purity Law to us. And now we find out something quite new. Besides the Bavarian Purity Law, you see, Regensburg had a Purity Law of its own. And it even predates its Bavarian counterpart by a few decades. The Beer Brewing Law was enacted by the City Council in 1454. From then on, only barley, water and hops were to be permitted in the brew-kettles. It was designed to eliminate from the recipes once and for all certain offbeat ingredients (parsley and chives as aromatics, ox blood or chimney soot for the colour, and belladonna as an additional intoxicant will suffice as examples here), and thus to ensure reputable (and safe) brewing practices.
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