The Reinheitsgebot, literally "purity order," sometimes called the "German Beer Purity Law" in English, is the collective name for a series of regulations limiting the ingredients in beer in Germany and the states of the former Holy Roman Empire. The best-known version of the law was adopted in Bavaria in 1516, but similar regulations predate the Bavarian order. According to the 1516 Bavarian law, the only ingredients that could be used in the production of beer were water, barley and hops....