Münchener Bier

Appearance & taste

The specification sets the original gravity, alcohol content, colour and bitterness for each style. The protected styles are Helles, Export Hell, Export Dunkel, Pils, Alkoholfreies Weißbier, Leichtes Weißbier, Kristall Weizen, Hefeweizen Hell and Dunkel, Märzen, Bockbier, Doppelbock, Alkoholfreies Bier, Leichtbier, Schwarzbier and Nähr- or Malzbier.

Helles (4.7–5.4 % vol.) is pale yellow to blond, soft and mild to delicately spicy with a pleasant bitterness. Pils (4.9–5.8 % vol.) is crisply bitter and hop-forward, Export Dunkel (5.0–5.9 % vol.) full-bodied with a malty aroma. Hefeweizen Hell (4.5–5.5 % vol.) is naturally cloudy, lively and top-fermented in character, Kristall Weizen filtered bright and clear. The specification describes Märzen (5.3–6.2 % vol.) as very full-bodied and mild with a very mild bitterness, and Doppelbock (7.2–7.7 % vol.) as strong, robust and malty in aroma. Alkoholfreies Bier and Alkoholfreies Weißbier have under 0.5 % vol.

Production

It is brewed according to the Munich Reinheitsgebot of 1487 in the form of the Provisional Beer Act. The ingredients are malt, hops, yeast and water. The water must come from the breweries’ own deep wells within the city of Munich, which, depending on their location, reach about 140 to 250 m deep into an aquifer of sandstones and conglomerates of the Tertiary molasse. Munich’s mains water does not meet these requirements.

The entire production process takes place in the city of Munich: from milling the malt and mashing in to storage, during which the young beer naturally takes up carbon dioxide and matures. For alcohol-free beers, depending on the method, vacuum distillation and evaporation or stopping fermentation early are added.

Origin & history

According to the specification, an annual levy of a cartload of beer is already mentioned in the Historia Frisingensis in 815. The land register of Duke Ludwig the Stern from 1280 records the dues of the Munich brewers; Munich citizens received so-called brewing rights at that time. In 1372 Duke Stephen II reformed brewing law.

Around 1453 the city council laid down in a beer ordinance that beer was to be brewed only from barley, hops and water. On 30 November 1487 Duke Albrecht IV issued the Munich Reinheitsgebot, combined with a beer inspection. In 1516 his sons proclaimed it in practically the same form as the Bavarian Reinheitsgebot; through the Beer Tax Act of 1906 it passed into today’s Provisional Beer Act.

In the 19th century the Munich brewers built ice cellars, and in 1873, according to the specification, Carl von Linde developed the world’s first refrigerating machine for a Munich brewery, with which beer could be brewed to an even quality regardless of the outside temperature. Refrigerated wagons and ships with cold rooms took the beer to more distant markets and overseas. According to the specification, alcohol-free beer has been brewed continuously in Munich since 1986; an application to put one on the market is recorded for 1898.