Beer pronounced is a major part of German culture. According the Reinheitsgebot, only water, hops, yeast and malt are permitted as ingredients in its production. Beers not exclusively using barley-malt, such as wheat beer, must be top-fermented.

While the beer market is weaker but more centralized in northern Germany, southern Germany has many smaller, local breweries. Almost half of all German breweries are in Bavaria, where the seven main breweries produce 158 million US gal (6.0 million hl) annually. In total, about 1,300 breweries in Germany produce over 5,000 brands of beer.