Free (gratis) beer

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Free beer refers to beer received without cost.
History
According to the code of Hammurabi in Babylon every temple worker in the 17th century BCE was allowed five loaves of bread and two mugs of beer. In ancient Egypt workers were allowed free beer. About a tenth of the annual holidays were devoted to drunkenness. To ensure the support of the people, the pharaohs gave them free beer.
In 1848 possibly violent riots in Munich were avoided with free beer. The unpopular king Ludwig I of Bavaria (grandfather of Ludwig II) had brought the public opinion against himself through his affairs with the Irish dancer Lola Montez. An angry mob armed with helmets, swords, halberds and shields stormed the armoury on Jakobplatz and marched into the royal residence, where they threw window covers in. The threatened king Ludwig I reacted to this and forbade shooting at his subjects. He called upon his brother Carl, beloved by the people, to gave free beer to the crowds. This calmed the crowds down and even made them return most of the mediaeval weapons they had taken back to the armoury.
Employees of breweries used to receive a portion of the brewery's products in addition to their salary first every day, later every week. The size of the portion depended on the employee's job description. The reason for this was that consumption of the brewery's own products was controlled. This allowance of free products also made it possible to give free drinks to other people and companies. Especially at weddings of the nobility or noteworthy citizens of Hanseatic cities it was common to give free beer and free food also to the "common people". Giving free beer to brewery employees was not a steadfastly established practice, at least in Germany. Usually this was seen as an employment benefit and was limited to between 40 and 100 litres per month. Originally the breweries decided to only allow consumption of this free beer in brewery premises, to prevent private distribution of the beer received. After consumption of alcohol during work hours was limited by German law, work policies or occupational safety, most breweries instead gave employees crates or barrels of beer to take home with them, also partially to their tenants and pensioners.
Free beer as advertising
Beer is often given away for free during various festivals and celebrations. Companies often give beer away for free to advertise their business to the public. Breweries and beer retailers give beer away for free to advertise their own products. This often happens in public events with a specific target group, such as municipal festivals, sport and dance events, concerts and fairs.
Beer given away for free is usually tapped from a barrel. This is cheap and allows pouring beer into glasses specifically for the needs of each customer. At commercially motivated events free beer is often limited by time (for example from 11 o'clock in the evening to midnight) or by volume (for example a total of five barrels).
One of the largest festivals with free beer is the annual summer festival of the brewery students of the Technical University of Munich in the district of Weihenstephan in Freising. Over 150 hectolitres of beer from over 300 breweries is given away for free at the festival every year. Attendance to this festival is limited to students and employees of the university only. Another festival with limited attendance is held by the Versuchs- und Lehranstalt für Brauerei in Berlin.
Free beer as a beer type
*The Stralsund-based brewery Störtebeker Braumanufaktur produces an ecological, non-alcoholic Pilsener beer called Frei-Bier with a gravity of 13%.
*The Weilheim-based brewery Waldhaus produces a filtered, alcohol-free beer called Frei Bier.
Free beer recipe
The beer Vores Øl was developed under the name Free Beer in the concept of free software. However this beer was not given away without cost, but instead the recipe was published with the Creative Commons licence. This allows brewing and distributing the beer without restriction, and also improving on the recipe. The recipe is also used in homebrewing.

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