|
Gustav Rice and his brother Adolphus started brewing beer in the foothills of the Oberbayern in 1527. The clear water run-off from the Zugspitze was their USP and Rice Bier was a firm favourite in the Bier Kellers of Bavaria and Baden Wurttemberg. The 1611 Treaty of Mannheim refers to Rice Bier in Codicil VII, permitting it to be sold in the contiguous Landes of Swabia.
Everything ticked along nicely and eventually in 1908 King Ludwig III of Baveria gained control of the brewery by way of dubious share dealing. In 1915 Crown Prince Rupprecht decreed that bier issued to the troops should have an alcoholic content of no more than 4.5%, Brauerei Reis brewed Brockbier at 9% and had to change production to a Pils type beer to meet military requirements.
In June 1919 the Treaty of Versailles caused Brauerei Reis to be split up with a lot of the equipment being disassembled and transported to Alsace and installed in an old warehouse. This was the beginnings of the famous Strassbourg Brewerei, indeed for one week every our MEP's sip the cool beer without knowing its history.
|