Comments by "Classical LP Vault" (@classicallpvault8251) on "The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered" channel.

@vmax4575 Germany did not change the wording of the purity laws because there is no such thing as a purity law. The Reinheitsgebot used to be law but it has no legal standing whatsoever apart from being a voluntary code that brewers adhere to out of their own volition. Every Trinkgut (major liquor store chain) has Belgian fruit beers and things like Hoegaarden (which is wheat beer flavoured with coriander and fermented bitter orange peel) and Perla Miodowa (honey flavoured Polish beer) which do not adhere to it and nothing is stopping German brewers from making similar beers. The purity law would not even be allowed to have legal standing because it runs contrary to EU antitrust law. It used to have legal standing but all it is nowadays is a tradition. The only thing one cannot do is claim one's product adheres to the purity law when it doesn't but this is only due to that being false advertising (which of course is banned).
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@theeddorian Lambic isn't ale. Ales are top-fermented barley beers with added yeast. Lambics are spontaneously fermented with wild yeast that's naturally present in the air and are made from wheat, not barley.
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@SalticidaeFan Craft beer breweries, with rare exceptions, are just as commercial, they're only smaller.
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The Reinheitsgebot used to be law but isn't law anymore and has no legal standing in Germany - except that you cannot claim your beer is in accordance with it if it's not - but that's due to the ban on false advertising. The fact that German brewers stick to it is voluntary and out of tradition. You can find Belgian fruit beers or Polish honey-flavoured beer at any large supermarket chain in Germany, which clearly shows that the Reinheitsgebot has no legal standing.
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