Beer

Beer, generically, is any alcoholic beverage produced through the fermentation of sugar suspended in an aqueous medium, and which is not distilled after fermentation. The unfermented sugar solution, called wort, is obtained from steeping, or "mashing," malted grains, usually barley. Alcoholic beverages made from the fermentation of sugars derived from non-grain sources are generally not called "beer," despite being produced by the same yeast-based biochemical reaction. Fermented honey is called mead, fermented apple juice is called cider, fermented pear juice is called perry, and fermented grape juice is called wine.

History

As almost any substance containing certain sugars can naturally undergo fermentation, it is likely that beer-like beverages were independently invented among various cultures throughout the world. Chemical tests of ancient pottery jars reveal that beer was (like Wine) produced about 7000 years ago in what is today Iran, and is one of the first known biological engineering tasks, where the biological process of fermentation is used in a process. The earliest evidence of wine dates to 5400 B.C., from Hajji Firuz Tepe in the Zagros Mountains of present-day Iran, near the city of Urmia.

Related Topics:
Sugars - Fermentation - Wine - Iran - Biological engineering - Hajji Firuz Tepe - Zagros Mountains - Urmia

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In Mesopotamia, the oldest evidence of beer is believed to be a 6000-year-old Sumerian tablet depicting people drinking a beverage through reed straws from a communal vessel (bowl). Beer is also mentioned in the Epic of Gilgamesh, and a 3900-year-old Sumerian poem honoring the patron goddess of brewing, Ninkasi, contains the oldest surviving beer recipe, describing the production of beer from barley via bread. Beer became vital to all the grain-growing civilizations of classical Western antiquity, especially Egypt and Mesopotamia.

Related Topics:
Mesopotamia - Sumeria - Tablet - Reed - Straw - Vessel - Bowl - Epic of Gilgamesh - Goddess - Brewing - Ninkasi - Barley - Bread - Egypt

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Beer was important to early Romans, but during Republican times wine displaced beer as the preferred alcoholic beverage. Beer became a beverage considered fit only for barbarians; Tacitus wrote disparagingly of the beer brewed by the Germanic peoples of his day.

Related Topics:
Romans - Republican - Wine - Barbarian - Tacitus - Germanic peoples

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Thracians were also known to consume beer made from rye, even since the 5th century BC, as Hellanicos of Lesbos says in operas. Their name for beer was brutos, or brytos.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The addition of hops to beer for bittering, preservation, and aroma is a relatively recent innovation: in the Middle Ages many other mixtures of herbs were often employed in beer prior to hops. These mixtures are often referred to as gruit. Hops were cultivated in France as early as the 800s; the oldest surviving written record of the use of hops in beer is in 1067 by well-known writer Abbess Hildegard of Bingen: "If one intends to make beer from oats, it is prepared with hops."

Related Topics:
Hops - Bittering - Preservation - Middle Ages - Herb - Gruit - France - 800s - 1067 - Hildegard of Bingen

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In Europe, beer largely remained a homemaker's activity, made in the home in medieval times. By the 14th and 15th centuries, beermaking was gradually changing from a family-oriented activity to an artisan one, with pubs and monasteries brewing their own beer for mass consumption.

Related Topics:
Homemaker - 14th - 15th centuries - Pub - Monasteries

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 15th century England, an unhopped beer would have been known as an ale, while the use of hops would make it a beer. Hopped beer was imported to England from the Netherlands as early as 1400 in Winchester, and hops were being planted on the island by 1428. The popularity of hops was at first mixed — the Brewers Company of London went so far as to state "no hops, herbs, or other like thing be put into any ale or liquore wherof ale shall be made — but only liquor (water), malt, and yeast." However, by the 16th century, "ale" had come to refer to any strong beer, and all ales and beers were hopped.

Related Topics:
England - Netherlands - 1400 - 1428 - Brewers Company of London - 16th century

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1516, William IV, Duke of Bavaria, adopted the Reinheitsgebot (purity law), perhaps the oldest food regulation still in use today. The Gebot ordered that the ingredients of beer be restricted to water, barley, and hops, with yeast added after Louis Pasteur's discovery in 1857. The Bavarian law was applied throughout Germany as part of the 1871 German unification as the German Empire under Otto von Bismarck, and has since been updated to reflect modern trends in beer brewing. To this day, the Gebot is considered a mark of purity in beers, although this is controversial.

Related Topics:
1516 - William IV - Duke of Bavaria - Reinheitsgebot - Louis Pasteur - 1857 - Germany - 1871 - German unification - German Empire - Otto von Bismarck

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Most beers until relatively recent times were what are now called ales. Lagers were discovered by accident in the 16th century after beer was stored in cool caverns for long periods; they have since largely outpaced ales in terms of volume.

Related Topics:
Ale - Lager - 16th century

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

With the invention of the steam engine in 1765, industrialization of beer became a reality. Further innovations in the brewing process came about with the introduction of the thermometer and hydrometer in the 19th century, which allowed brewmasters to increase efficiency and attenuation. Prior to the late 18th century, malt was primarily wood-roasted, which contributed a darker color and smoked flavour; the use of coal lightened beer color and eliminated the smoke flavour for all but a handful of styles. The invention of the drum roaster in 1817 by Daniel Wheeler allowed for the creation of very dark, roasted malts, contributing to the flavour of porters and stouts. The discovery of yeast's role in fermentation in 1857 by Louis Pasteur gave brewmasters methods to prevent the souring of beer by undesirable microorganisms.

Related Topics:
Steam engine - 1765 - Industrialization - Thermometer - Hydrometer - 19th century - 18th century - Coal - Drum roaster - 1817 - Daniel Wheeler - 1857 - Louis Pasteur - Microorganisms

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1953, New Zealander Morton W Coutts developed the technique of continuous fermentation. Morton patented his process which revolutionised the industry through reducing a typical four-month long brewing process to less than 24 hours. His process is still used by many of the world's major breweries today, including Guinness.

Related Topics:
1953 - New Zealand - Morton W Coutts - Patent - Guinness

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Etymology

Of the two terms, beer and ale, the latter is the older in English. It is believed to come directly from the proto-Indo European root *alu-, through Germanic *aluth- (http://www.bartleby.com/61/roots/IE14.html). The same word is the stem for Finnish olut, Estonian õlu, Danish øl and Latvian alus. Beer, on the other hand, is considered to come from the Latin bibere (to drink, http://www.bartleby.com/61/69/B0156900.html). Old English sources distinguish between "ale" and "beer," but do not define what was meant by "beer" during that period, although there is some speculation that it refers to what would now be called cider, the alcoholic form. The Old English form of "beer" disappeared shortly after the Norman Conquest, and the word re-entered English centuries later, in exclusive reference to hopped malt beverages. The beverage is termed "cerveza", or a derivative, in the various dialects of Spanish and Portuguese, from Latin cerevisia. Most other Western European (and even some Eastern European) languages use a form similar to the English "beer." The Common Slavic *pivo, literally "beverage", is the word for beer in most Slavic languages, with minor phonetic variations.

Related Topics:
English - Proto-Indo European - Finnish - Estonian - Danish - Latvian - Latin - Cider - Old English - Norman Conquest - Western European - Slavic languages

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mythology

The Finnish epic Kalevala, collected in written form in the 19th century but based on oral traditions many centuries old, devotes more lines to the origin of beer and brewing than it does to the origin of mankind.

Related Topics:
Kalevala - 19th century

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The British Drinking song "Beer, Beer Beer" (http://www.mickeymulligan.com/The%20Music/songbook.htm#Beer,%20Beer,%20Beer) attributes the invention of beer to the presumably fictional Charlie Mopps:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

: A long time ago, way back in history

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

: When all there was to drink was nothin' but cups of tea,

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

: Along came a man by the name of Charlie Mopps

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

: And he invented the wonderful drink, and he made it out of hops.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

: ...

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The mythical Flemish king Gambrinus (from Jan Primus (John I)), is sometimes credited with the invention of beer. According to Czech legend, deity Radegast, god of mutuality, invented beer.

Related Topics:
Flemish - Gambrinus - Radegast

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~