This year, 2016, the 500th anniversary of the Bavarian Beer Purity Law is going to be celebrated throughout Germany, Bavaria and Munich. At the Bavarian capital a three-day beer festival is set to take place from July 22-24. The festival has been officially branded “Festival of Bavarian Beer Culture".

The Bavarian brewing industry prepared well for the occasion. Some 100 Bavarian breweries will be presenting their best beers in the area of the Feldherrnhalle and the Odeonsplatz in downtown Munich. For three days, thousands of visitors can enjoy the beer diversity of Bavaria at the beer benches between white pagodas and high-class tents.

The industry will be presenting the unique diversity of Bavarian beers and invite everyone to taste them. Culinary specialties from all over Bavaria will be on offer. It goes without saying that a real festival has to offer music and entertainment – there will be three stages in the heart of the Bavarian capital. Visitors to the big anniversary party can find out the answer to this sip by sip –from brewery to brewery with a special 0.3-litre festival glass. Payment is by means of the „beer thaler“, which can be traded in everywhere.

Along the way, your thirst for knowledge of Bavarian beer and its ingredients will also be quenched: how are brewing grain and hops cultivated and processed? What is malt really? How is beer brewed? What distinguishes the numerous Bavarian beer types? Answers to these and many questions and many others will be given in the midst of Munich in July 2016.

In 1516 Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria passed the Bavarian Purity Law. This famous piece of legislation states that only water, hops and malt may be used in the production of Bavarian beer – and the law is still valid today.The Bavarian Reinheitsgebot (Beer Purity Law) is sometimes also referred to as the German Purity Law. The distinction is that the Bavarian Law from 1516 is binding for the whole German territory since 1906, when the rest of Germany also accepted it.

In Ingolstadt, where the Purity Law was passed on 23 April 1516, the anniversary is to be widely celebrated. The anniversary year celebrations will be launched with the "Festival of Pure Beer" (22-24 April 2016). The festival in Ingolstadt town centre features a variety of entertainment, including jugglers, concerts, medieval tournaments and a historical proclamation of the Purity Law.

Event dates: Friday, 22nd July to Sunday 24th July 2016

Friday, 22nd July 2016

12:00 am–11:00 pm

Saturday, 23rd July 2016

10:00 am–12:00 pm

Sunday, 24th July 2016

11:00 am–8:00 pm