By Staff Reporter
WINDHOEK
The oldest known food purity law, the Reinheitsgebot, recently came under close scrutiny during Namibia Breweries Limited’s launch of an awareness and education campaign to Namibians.
Top public officials, heads of private companies, various key customers and the media were treated to an informative theatre performance during which the Reinheitsgebot standard and its high value to beer consumers was presented.
While this centuries-old tradition has its origin in Germany and has been in existence for 492 years, various other countries including first world nations also apply this standard when brewing their beer.
In 1516, Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria introduced the Reinheitsgebot to restrict the grain used in beer. While it was partly intended to ensure the availability of wheat for bread, it set a new standard for the brewing of beer.
NBL made the decision to brew according to the Reinheitsgebot many years ago when it recognized that this was the only way to brew exceptional quality beer.
While Namibia Breweries uses only three ingredients, namely malted barley, hops and water, most breweries today use faster brewing methods and use sugar and cheaper grains, such as rice and maize, to speed up the fermentation process and enable more volume (mass) production.
While these beers may be brewed using natural products, NBL believes there’s only one way to brew a pure beer – and that’s using the Reinheitsgebot standard.
Brewing according to the Reinheitsgebot has ensured the successful penetration of Namibian beer into the most challenging export markets and thus earning significant foreign revenue for the country.
The company also continues to receive international acclaim from various brewing standards monitoring institutions and has accumulated numerous prestigious awards over the years.
Namibia Breweries Managing Director, Ciaran Duffy, said: “At Namibia Breweries, we are immensely proud that we can uphold the Reinheitsgebot tradition. All our beers are still brewed and crafted to perfection by our German trained master brewers, using only malted barley, hops and water – a guarantee ensuring that you get only the best that beer can offer.”
NBL beer brands carry the new Reinheitsgebot logo on the neck label as of February 2008, a guarantee to consumers that the beers are brewed by choice, according to the Reinheitsgebot standards of 1516.