cities and localities for centuries.

Astonishingly, the issue arose again at the reunification of East and West Germany in 1990. Across Germany the so-called Brandenburg Beer War fought out in the courts, lasted for 10 years - all over a black beer brewed in the former GDR that contained sugar, something forbidden by the Purity Law.huser的博客

Regional beers, as Harald Scholl describes, are what have defined German towns, cities and localities for centuries.mandger的心理博客

"Of course we have a tradition of regional brewing in Germany. When you look to upper Franconia, there you find real handmade beers from tiny breweries, brewed with a special barley which is malted. You have some sort of smoke beer, Rauchbier, in Bamberg which is very, very special - when you think of an Islay malt [whisky] with its distinct taste, you find it in this beer also," he says. mangergilr

And that sense of strong local identity is strikingly apparent on the beer tankards in the British Museum. On one after another, they display the arms of the different cities or the different princes. These drinking cups, made by master craftsmen out of precious materials, are clearly intended as statements of civic pride.huser‘blog

They also have a very significant function to perform. Legal contracts, trade deals, oaths of allegiance were often concluded by Zutrinken, a pledge of good faith - drunk usually in beer - not unlike a handshake that seals the deal. Out of grand ceremonial tankards like these, the different parties to the agreement would drink in turn, in a public, ceremonial act of assent. Given the size of some of the tankards - in some cases, several litres - it seems that Tacitus was not exaggerating when he described the German fondness for drinking.

mandger