May 2016 Restrictions in brewing

In the beginning there were no restrictions as to who could brew and who could not. As long as people followed rules and laws anyone could brew as much as they liked. In some cities though there were guilds and the chief of the guild had the right to visit the brewers, especially if they sold their brew, to insure that the quality was good and that the rules and regulations where followed. In others you had to be part of a guild, however it was rather easy and did not require any license.

But by the 15th century there is a big difference. The change did not come over night though. The changes were small and easily accepted, as the governemnts said that they needed to limit the amount of problems with fires so only certain areas could brew or you had to aquire a license and show that you had put up enough protection against fire hazards and if you did you got your license.

Also the governments claimed that they needed to secure the quality of the brew and be certain that the town and country could produce enough beer at a high quality and thus needed to have better control over the brewers.

I Hamburg during the mid 15th century it went so far that home brewing were not allowed at all. Which was not popular but this restriction was most likely due to the pressure that the big brewers put on the governemnt, they wanted to sell more and a way to do this is limit the options, or in this case give an only option.

A slight backlash was that only the person with the license was allowed to brew, he could not rent out the brewhouse at all. Not for a short period of time or a long term contract. Only the brewer with a license could brew and he had to own his own equipment and have license for that particular area.

Source: Beer in the middle ages and the renaissance.