Before 1516, European beer was made with a blend of wild herbs called gruit. Yarrow, bog myrtle, mugwort, wild rosemary, juniper. Medieval sources describe it as energizing and aphrodisiac. Some even reference "gruit sickness" from overconsumption.
Then the Reinheitsgebot happened and suddenly beer could only contain hops, barley, and water.
Here's what they don't mention in the history books:
The Catholic Church held a monopoly on gruit production through something called "gruitrecht."
Massive revenue stream. Making hops mandatory broke their monopoly and transferred that revenue to the state and to hop farming guilds.
Hops are also a sedative. They're literally used in sleep medicine.
The switch from stimulating gruit herbs to sedating hops meant the peasant class went from drinking something that woke them up to something that kept them calm.
And here's the kicker. Hops contain 8-prenylnaringenin, one of the most potent phytoestrogens known.
This was confirmed in a 1999 study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. Female hop farmers historically experienced menstrual disruptions from just handling the plants.
Centuries of herbal brewing knowledge, gone. Replaced with a single crop that's easy to tax, easy to control, and keeps the population docile.
This is absolute bullshit.
The Reinheitsgebot was only enacted in Bavaria. The rest of Europe was not subject to Bavarian law. Hops also didn't just come out of nowhere, it had been used in beer since at least the 11th century because it acts as a preservative and balances the flavor.
To add to this, IPAs suddenly appearing everywhere overnight always felt inorganic. I've long suspected it's being forced on beer consumers because of the heavy hops content.
Also, it's the same story with soda. It used to be a herbal beverage sold in pharmacies until it was turned into junk food.
Hops are a really good preservative. I think that's probably got a lot to do with it.
This is 21st century America. We have refrigeration. There is no need for extra preservatives, most especially when the preservatives are filled with estrogen and taste terrible.
I'm not defending the current practice. I'm mostly just explaining why it was originally a thing.
I like IPAs, specifically for the taste, but I don't drink them frequently and I didn't know about the estrogen thing.
Sounds a bit like jagermeister. Want to concur the world? Drink jagermeister. You may not actually do it, but you'll think you can.
Thank you ImmortalI! - I dropped the A since nothing about you could be artificial!
Aka different herbs to brew different beer at different locals...entrance Reinheitsgebot aka homogenization and hops grown everywhere to destroy any local differences.
Nice to see more people calling out that whatever Jewry bullshit we have now began from the Catholic Church.
The Jews are Christian and Christianity controls your very soul.
The monopolization of alchohol acts as a moderation to the "decadent pleasures" they despise so much.
You have more in common with them: they believe unBiblical things, just like you do.
Do you have any evidence of this?
Wait a minute, don't you believe the soul is not real? So much for being consistent with your own worldview.
What do you mean "controls"?