Beer Nazis

Some cheer it as a needed "food purity law" of venerable lineage that helps preserve the stellar reputation of German beer. But a German brewer is trying to rebel against the fabled "reinheitsgebot" in the name of creativity and dynamic choice, by marketing a German beer made of something other than just barley, hops, and water–in his case, sugar syrup. (He was on the right side of the law as long as he called it a "specialty made with added sugar syrup," and not an actual beer.)

The BBC has the full story of a brewer who dares defy the German "beerocracy" in the hopes "that relaxing the Reinheitsgebot would allow Germany to produce innovative brews which might help reverse a long-term decline in beer sales."