German Court Rules That Beer Is Not Wholesome

It’s High Court rulings like this that makes us want a cigarette…And this time it’s the Germans laying down the law on beer’s wholesomeness.

Here’s the deal…

According to DW, Germany’s Federal Supreme Court (BGH) in Karlsruhe has come down against beer in a recent case involving an advertising campaign and the use of the word “wholesome.”

In a legal dispute initiated by health activists against Southern Germany’s Härle Brewery, the Federal Supreme Court ruled that the brewery cannot use the word “bekömmlich” which roughly translated means, “wholesome” on its labels.

A lower court in Stuttgart had ruled that the word carried an inaccurate association with health benefits from beer.

But the Härle brewery was having none of that and they appealed to the highest court in the land.

From as early as the 1930’s the brewery has championed the slogan Wohl bekomm’s!” (To Your Health!), which evolved over time into their current variation which trumpets their beer as “wholesome, quaffable — but not heavy.”

That usage eventually caught the eye of the Association of Social-Minded Competition (VSW) — a lobby group focused on advertising inaccuracies — who argued that the term was misleading and suggested that drinking the beer could have no negative effects.

Well WTF… Last Thursday the BGH came down on the side of the VSW and ruled against the Härle brewery’s use of the word “bekömmlich” …a ruling which many Germans might understandably consider to be total BS.