Franconian Beer Message Board
German craft brewer's opinions on Franconian beer scene |
| Posted by Mike on 2018-05-23 23:32:09 |
| I've been reading old books about beer in Germany. Before the industrial revolution in the 19th century, most towns in Germany had a communal brewery and individual houses in the towns had "brewing rights". This is similar to Zoigl today. IAC, I've seen a painting of a town where it was distribution day and the towns people were queing to get their beer. It turned out that so many people were so eager to get their allottment, that the milita had to be brought in to restore order. I've been in several towns (non-Zoigl) were there is still a communal brewery and the towns people (when there's a festival) will quite happily attend, drink the beer, eat food, etc. But no police are necessary to restore order. I suspect that in the pre-Industrial age, it was more dangerous to drink water because of the danger of infection. This was also the time before milk pasteurisation which could make drinking milk dangerous. Beer, OTOH, was safe. There were also stronger drinks like wine and distillates available, but beer was less intoxicating and cheaper, so more popular. |