I am not an anti-government type. In fact, I’m pretty much pro-government.

In other words, you usually won’t see me taking over some federal wildlife preserve in protest of anything our government is doing. (And if I do, I’m bringing snacks and beer.) But certain things that certain governments do irk me from time to time, especially when it comes to beer. Perhaps I might have to get a malt militia together and take over a brewery.

I’m all for reasonable regulation. Many regulations are merely safeguards for the public. Although I have to admit that sometimes they get a little nitpicky for my tastes.

One such example of this recently occurred in the Bavarian section of Germany.

It seems that the Bavarian State Office for Health and Food Safety recently ordered Camba Bavaria to cease making its milk stout because it doesn’t meet the definition of beer according to Bavarian law.

Beer fans are well aware of Germany’s Reinheitsgebot, the country’s former beer purity law, which stated that beer could only include four ingredients: water, malt, hops, and yeast. But while milk stouts have a dairy product in their name, the style doesn’t actually use milk. It’s simply a reference to the added lactose (milk sugar) that’s employed to give the beer its sweetness.

But it’s a moot point anyway, as the Reinheitsgebot was replaced in 1993 by the Provisional German Beer Law which permitted ingredients, such as added sugars, that were previously prohibited by the Reinheitsgebot. However, many German brewers still proudly adhere to the old rules, but they are longer required to, at least not for ales.

So I’m not sure what the government’s problem is. Camba then tried to market it as a non-beer, but the problem was that the stout was still being taxed like a beer. Camba finally gave up and ceased production of its milk stout.

To me, this is about as silly as it gets in beer culture. Brewers all over the world have been getting creative (sometimes a bit too creative, in my mind) and are adding all sorts of wild ingredients to their brews. Bavaria is worried about a little milk sugar? How about oysters, or bananas, or pizza crust, or bull testicles? All those ingredients have been added to beers over the past few years.

I’m a great believer in tradition. I also like rational, reasonable change as opposed to chaotic revolution (except when called for under extreme political oppression). I’m happy some brewers still stick by the old purity law. But it’s the “law” part of that equation that sticks in my craw.

While some rules about alcohol may be necessary, prohibitions on adding adjuncts to what anyone would recognize as beer should not be among them. That’s governmental overreach.

Here’s hoping Bavarian officials come to their senses on this one.