A Nation Fermented: Beer, Bavaria, and the Making of Modern Germany

How did beer become one of the central commodities associated with the German nation? How did a little-known provincial production standard-the Reinheitsgebot, or Beer Purity Law-become a pillar of national consumer sentiments? How did the jovial, beer-drinking German become a fixture in the global imagination?



While the connection between beer and Germany seems self-evident, A Nation Fermented reveals how it was produced through a strange brew of regional commercial and political pressures....