German brewers called on Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government to block the tapping of shale gas by means of hydraulic fracturing, citing industry concerns that fracking could taint the purity of the country’s beer. 
 
 The Association of German Breweries, which represents companies including Anheuser-Busch InBev NV (ABI) and Bitburger Braugruppe GmbH, rejected the government’s planned legislation on fracking until groundwater contamination can be safely excluded. They said the current proposals are inadequate to protect drinking water and hence risk infringing the country’s 500-year-old law on beer purity. 
 
 “We are concerned that fracking endangers the brewing water that more than half of Germany’s breweries take from private wells,” Marc-Oliver Huhnholz, a spokesman for the group, said today by phone from Berlin. “And that it threatens our absolutely pure beer.” The association has sent a letter voicing its concerns to six Cabinet ministers including Environment Minister Peter Altmaier, he said, confirming a report in Bild newspaper today. 
 
 Fracking, which is already politically and environmentally contentious in Germany as federal elections loom on Sept. 22, has attracted a powerful opponent in the country’s brewers, which together employ more than 25,000 people in an industry with sales of about 8 billion euros ($10 billion) last year. 
 
 Campaign Beer 
 
 Merkel, who drank from a one liter traditional beer mug during a campaign rally in Munich this month, has agreed on draft legislation in her coalition that would outlaw fracking in some areas. It remains unclear whether a law can be passed before the election, Altmaier said yesterday in an interview with German broadcaster ARD. The main opposition Social Democrats are calling for a temporary ban on the practice while their Green party allies want to outlaw it altogether. 
 
 Fracking is an option for all of Europe and should be kept open in Germany, European Union Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said yesterday on ARD. The same day, EU leaders urged faster integration of the bloc’s power and natural-gas markets to lower energy prices as the U.S. shale-gas revolution widens the EU’s cost gap with its largest trading partner. 
 
 Altmaier said decisions on fracking, which involves drilling hundreds of wells and cracking rocks with a high-pressure mixture of water, sand and chemicals to unlock gas or oil from impermeable stone, should be made by national and regional governments. 
 
 “Fracking is not yet a technology that we can use in Germany,” Altmaier told ARD. “I want the related decisions to be made locally, where one knows the circumstances, and not somewhere in Brussels.” 
 
 Purity Law 
 
 While companies such as Chevron Corp. (CVX) have begun drilling exploration wells in countries including Poland, shale-gas production in Europe won’t make the region self-sufficient in natural gas, a 2012 study by the EU Joint Research Centre said. 
 
 Germany’s brewers point to what they say is the oldest food-safety regulation in the world to justify their concerns about fracking. The Reinheitsgebot, or “purity law,” was drafted in April 1516 at the instigation of Duke Wilhelm IV in the Bavarian city of Ingolstadt, now the base of Volkswagen AG’s Audi brand. The law states that only malted barley, hops and water may go into beer, with the later addition of yeast, which had not yet been discovered at the time. 
 
 The law, still in existence 497 years later, “guarantees a workable form of consumer protection at a time in which other foodstuffs often make negative headlines,” the Association of German Breweries says on its website. “German beer contains no artificial flavorings and no additives -- only malt, hops, yeast and water.” 
 
 ‘Unreconstructed Classics’ 
 
 The result is what beer critic Michael Jackson said on his “beer hunter” website are some “unreconstructed classics.” 
 
 German beer is enjoyed by a population that is among the thirstiest in Europe. Germany, which with about 82 million inhabitants is Europe’s most populous nation, also consumes the most beer: 89,853 million hectolitres (about 2.4 trillion gallons) in 2011, double the volume consumed in the second-ranked country, the U.K., according figures from The Brewers of Europe industry group posted on the association’s website. 
 
 In terms of individual consumption, Germans drop to third with 107 liters in 2011, edged out by their Austrian neighbors who drank 108 liters that year. Both countries are put to shame by the Czechs, each of whom consumed 154 liters, or more than five times the French. 
 
 To contact the reporter on this story: Stefan Nicola in Berlin at snicola2@bloomberg.net 
 
 To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net ||||| The fight over fracking in Germany has taken an unexpected turn: German breweries are now warning that the controversial method of extracting natural gas from rock layers deep in the earth would affect their ability to brew the best beer. 
 
 The process threatens to contaminate drinking water, according to a letter written by the German Brewers Federation to the federal government, and quoted by the mass daily tabloid Bild. 
 
 Regulations controlling the brewing of beer in Germany date back to the beer purity law, or Reinheitsgebot, of 1516 -- the world's first food purity law. According to the Brewers Federation, German beer still may only be made from malt, hops, yeast and water. 
 
 Chancellor Angela Merkel's governing coalition has drafted regulations for fracking, but the brewers say their proposed laws don't go far enough. 
 
 Dependence on Clean Water 
 
 In the letter, which was sent to six federal ministers, the brewers said: "The legal changes planned by the federal government to date are not sufficient to guarantee the security of drinking water supplies and to take into account the requirements of the Reinheitsgebot." A spokesperson for the federation confirmed the contents of the letter to SPIEGEL ONLINE. 
 
 The letter goes on to argue that the brewing industry is dependent on high-quality drinking water, and that fracking could reduce or even completely eliminate the security of the water supply. The federation calls on the government to continue debate on the issue before reaching a final decision. 
 
 Attempts at introducing legislation on fracking in Berlin have been postponed several times. In mid-May, Merkel's cabinet agreed on a proposal to ban fracking in catchment areas for lakes, such as Lake Constance in southern Germany, that are drinking water sources. But several areas would be exempt from the ban. 
 
 Berlin wants to develop a law that would define the conditions under which the technology could be used in Germany. The fracking procedure is used to release shale gas from stone deposits deep in the earth. The process is controversial because, among other reasons, it involves the use of chemicals that could contaminate the water supply. 
 
 Meanwhile, at a summit in Brussels on Wednesday, European leaders discussed the future of shale gas and fracking on the continent. British Prime Minister David Cameron told reporters that Europe "mustn't be left behind in the global race. Europe has 75 percent of the United States' shale resources, but America is drilling 100 times faster than Europe." 
 
 So far, there has been no agreement in the EU on how shale gas should be exploited. European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said Europe should pursue all energy resources, but it is up to the individual countries how to do this. 
 
 "Yes, this includes shale gas, which could become part of the energy mix for some member states, perhaps less for others," he said.
– Germany prides itself on the (legally mandated) purity of its beers, and brewers refuse to mess that up for a little thing like cheap energy. The Association of German Breweries is coming out in force against fracking, arguing that it should be banned until the government can be completely sure that it won't contaminate Germany's vital groundwater, Bloomberg reports. "Fracking endangers the brewing water that more than half of Germany's breweries take from private wells," a group spokesman said. Water is one of only four ingredients Germans are allowed to brew beer with, thanks to its famous (or infamous, depending on the beer snob you consult) 497-year-old Reinheitsgebot, or purity law, making good sources especially important. Angela Merkel has already promised legislation banning fracking in some places, but in letters sent to six government ministers, the brewers say the legislation isn't enough to guarantee clean water, and doesn't "take into account the requirements of the Reinheitsgebot," der Spiegel reports. (Those other three OKed ingredients? Malt, hops, and yeast.)