Preface:
It amazes
me that although events that took place in the past are completely finite and
unchangeable, history seems to have a lot of versions. It is often
intentionally or unintentionally mudded and clouded, a virtual maze for anyone
trying to find real answers.
It seems
that one is generally met with this constant of history when researching
anything that took place in the past. The history of brewing is no exception.
The
History and Origin of the Brewers Star
Brewers
as far back as the 1300's painted a six-pointed star on the ends of their beer
kegs, known as the "brewer's star". The star was the official insignia of the
Brewer's Guild as early as the 1500s. The star was hung outside breweries and
incorporated into logos for breweries and can still be seen in small village
breweries in Bavaria.
Apparently
the brewer's star was intended to symbolize purity. If a brewer attached this
insignia to his brew he was in essence declaring it to be free of any
impurities such as additives, and adjuncts. In folklore the six points of the
star represented the six aspects of brewing most critical to purity: the water,
the hops, the grain, the malt, the yeast, and the brewer.
Because
of its similarities to the Star of David, some have suggested that King David
was a brewer and this was its origin. According to scripture David was a worshipper of the true
God Jehovah, and the six sided star or hexagram had connections far from true
worship. I am not enough of a historian to know how intermixed the Israelite's were with paganism at this time.
Around
804 B.C.E a possible Biblical reference to this 'star' appears. It can be found
in the Bible at Amos 5:26, where it mentions "the star of YOUR god" making
reference to a pagan god, Rephan also known as Kaiwan. J. A. Hort remarked: "In
the LXX of Am v 26 the form used is [Rhai•phan´] or [Rhe•phan´], which is
similar to Repa or Repha, one of the names of the Egyptian Saturn (Seb)."--The
New Testament in the Original Greek, by Westcott and Hort, Graz, 1974, Vol. II,
appendix, p. 92
Possibly
connected with star worship, the hexagram no doubt existed even long before 804
B.C.E. People in the occult, astrology, and witchcraft have all long used this
symbol. It's often used as a talisman or charm.
Some have
suggested that this found it's way into the Jewish community when Israel's king
Solomon apostatized and started worshiping pagan gods. While others state that
the first use of the term "Shield of David" was about 1300 CE when a Spanish
practitioner of Jewish mysticism wrote a commentary on the central book of that
mysticism, the Zohar. They also state that the first actual linkage of the
hexagram to a Jewish community appears in the early 1300s on the flag of the
Jewish community of Prague, which was designed with permission of Charles IV
when he became king of Bohemia.
So, at
what point did this star find its way into brewing?
That is a pretty good question. I think most answers are going to be pretty speculative. I can see why someone may have wanted to put a symbol of 'good luck' on their brew, much as Bacardi does with the bat emblem. I can also see how if this was an official flag in part of Bohemia, the birthplace of Pilsner, that somehow this star could have come to represent their product. But like I said at the beginning when trying to find answers in History one often finds 'mudded and clouded' answers.
