Our team pouring the samples at Rein Beer Fest

The Reinheitsgebot, or German Beer Purity Law, is one of the oldest food regulation laws still in function today. It limits the ingredients in beer in Germany to only water, hops and barley. The law came into existence in order to regulate prices and resources, but was later also used as a German beer marketing tool. On Saturday April 23rd 2016, the Reinheitsgebot existed for exactly 500 years, so we thought it time for a review, and the two-day Rein Beer Fest was born. How does this German Beer Purity Law relate to the current craft of beer brewing? And what is its impact on beer diversity? Saturday we followed the strict rules of the Reinheitsgebot with a Nerd Meeting with brew-experts and fanatics, and three different tastings and talks: For the Love of Pils, Bierpolizei and German Style Brewing. On Sunday we went on a tour through the city of Amsterdam to forage for delicious wild herbs and plants, together with a wild foraging specialist and Jonmar van Vlijmen from De Onkruidenier. The Rein Beer Fest was co-curated by Henriëte Waal, Jan Lemmens and Mediamatic.