It should also be remembered in this connection that the basic conditions for entry into the brewer's craft in the 15th and 16th Centuries were set quite exceptionally high: they would include among other things, as in other craft guilds, proof of legitimate birth and possession of civil rights. Given the capital-intensive character of brewing, the Bavarian Dukes who also exercised a brewing monopoly granted the right, e.g., to open and run a brewery only to rich, influential citizens owning land and property of their own.

This ducally privileged group of Master brewers, hereditary brewery-owners, usually did not manage the brewing themselves, but took municipal office. These Master Brewers generally manned their breweries with day labourers, apprentices and brewmasters, many of whom enjoyed conferred brewing rights.

However, even among these skilled craftsmen, the second half of the 13th Century had seen the emergence of a privileged group around the brewmaster. They guarded their status jealously and introduced more exclusive conditions of entry. The strict observance of the provisions of the Beer Purity Law is probably not least to be ascribed to a keen sense of social standing and professional pride. Where brewing rights were not granted - as in Bavaria - by the local rulers, the strict rules of the guilds and the self-image of their members contributed to strict observation of the rules and regulations governing the brewing of beer.

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