Alulu Tablet - a receipt for "best" beer from 2050 BC in the ancient Kingdom of Ur

Beer is one of the oldest beverages humans have produced, dating back to at least the 5th millennium BC and recorded in the written history of Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. Image File history File links Alulu_Tablet. ... Image File history File links Alulu_Tablet. ... For other uses, see Ur (disambiguation). ... Leffe, a Belgian beer, served in branded glasses Schlenkerla Rauchbier straight from the cask Beer is the worlds oldest[1] and most popular[2] alcoholic beverage. ... // Events 4860 BC - Mount Mazama in Oregon collapses, forming a caldera that later fills with water and becomes Crater Lake, the deepest lake in the United States. ... Khafres Pyramid (4th dynasty) and Great Sphinx of Giza (c. ... Mesopotamia refers to the region now occupied by modern Iraq, and parts of eastern Syria, southeastern Turkey, and southwest Iran. ...

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 *aluþ- ([1]). The same word is the stem, through borrowing, for Finnish olut and Estonian õlu and the direct root of Swedish öl, Danish and Norwegian øl and Latvian/Lithuanian alus. Beer, on the other hand, is considered to come from the Latin verb bibere (to drink, [2]). 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 (in response to the introduction of hops which were still not widely used for another 200 years), and the word re-entered English centuries later, in exclusive reference to hopped malt beverages. The term "ale", until this time referred specifically to unhopped beer although this is no longer the definition of the term. The beverage is termed "cerveza", "cerveja" 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. The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... See Pie (disambiguation) for other uses of PIE. The Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) is the hypothetical common ancestor of the Indo-European languages. ... This list of Latin verbs includes all four principal parts (three in the case of deponent verbs, semi-deponent verbs, and certain passives) of the verbs in this order (all are 1st person, singular, active, indicative): 1- present 2- infinitive 3- past perfect 4- passive perfect participle. ... Cider in a pint glass Cider (or cyder) is an alcoholic beverage made primarily from the juices of specially grown varieties of apples. ... Old English (also called Anglo-Saxon[1], Old English: ) is an early form of the English language that was spoken in parts of what is now England and southern Scotland between the mid-fifth century and the mid-twelfth century. ... Bayeux Tapestry depicting events leading to the Battle of Hastings The Norman Conquest of England was the conquest of the Kingdom of England by William the Conqueror (Duke of Normandy), in 1066 at the Battle of Hastings and the subsequent Norman control of England. ... Western Europe is distinguished from Central Europe and Eastern Europe by differences of history and culture rather than by geography. ...  Countries where a West Slavic language is the national language  Countries where an East Slavic language is the national language  Countries where a South Slavic language is the national language The Slavic languages (also called Slavonic languages), a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup...

Early beers

Tutankhamun Ale. An authentic replica of ancient Egyptian beer, brewed from emmer wheat by the Courage brewery in 1996

As almost any cereal containing certain sugars can undergo spontaneous fermentation due to wild yeasts in the air, it is possible that beer-like beverages were independently developed throughout the world soon after a tribe or culture had domesticated cereal. Chemical tests of ancient pottery jars reveal that beer was produced about 7,000 years ago in what is today Iran, and was one of the first-known biological engineering tasks where the biological process of fermentation is used. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1728x2304, 1701 KB) Summary Tutankhamun Ale. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1728x2304, 1701 KB) Summary Tutankhamun Ale. ... Binomial name Triticum dicoccon Schrank Emmer wheat is a low yielding, awned wheat. ... Species T. aestivum T. boeoticum T. compactum T. dicoccoides T. dicoccon T. durum T. monococcum T. spelta T. sphaerococcum T. timopheevii References:   ITIS 42236 2002-09-22 For the indie rock group see: Wheat (band). ... Courage is a British brewery and a beer. ... Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ... This article is about cereals in general. ... This article deals with sugar as food and as an important, widely traded commodity; the word also has other uses; see Sugar (disambiguation) A sugar is a form of carbohydrate; the most commonly used sugar is a white crystalline solid, sucrose; used to alter the flavor and properties (mouthfeel, perservation... Fermentation in progress Fermentation typically refers to the conversion of sugar to alcohol using yeast. ... Brewers yeast (also known as brewers yeast or brewing yeast) can mean any live yeast used in brewing. ... Biological engineering (a. ...

In Mesopotamia, the oldest evidence of beer is believed to be a 6,000-year-old Sumerian tablet depicting people drinking a beverage through reed straws from a communal bowl. A 3900-year-old Sumerian poem honoring Ninkasi, the patron goddess of brewing, contains the oldest surviving beer recipe, describing the production of beer from barley via bread. Mesopotamia refers to the region now occupied by modern Iraq, and parts of eastern Syria, southeastern Turkey, and southwest Iran. ... Sumeria may refer to: A back-formation from the adjective Sumerian, often used to mean the ancient civilisation more properly known as Sumer Sumeria, a disco artist best known for the 1978 hit Golden Tears 1970 Sumeria, an asteroid discovered in 1954 by Miguel Itzigsohn Donna Sumeria, a song on... The word drink is primarily a verb, meaning to ingest liquids, see Drinking. ... Reed can refer to: // Reed (plant), grass-like plant growing in shallow water or on marshy ground (see also Thatching) Reed (instrument), a thin strip of cane or similar material which vibrates in wind instruments Reed, Gloppen in the county Sogn og Fjordane in Norway. ... Bales of straw bundles of rice straw Pile of straw bales, sheltered under a tarpaulin Straw is an agricultural byproduct, the dry stalk of a cereal plant, after the nutrient grain or seed has been removed. ... Justin is the ancient Sumerian matron goddess of beer. ... A 16th century brewer A 21st century brewer This article concerns the production of alcoholic beverages. ... An example recipe, printed from the Wikibooks Cookbook. ... Binomial name L. Barley (Hordeum vulgare) is an annual cereal grain, which serves as a major animal feed crop, with smaller amounts used for malting and in health food. ... Percentages are relative to US recommendations for adults. ...

Beer is also mentioned in the Epic of Gilgamesh, in which the 'wild man' Enkidu is given beer to drink. "..he ate until he was full, drank seven pitchers of beer, his heart grew light, his face glowed and he sang out with joy." The Epic of Gilgamesh is an epic poem from Babylonia and is among the earliest known literary works. ...

Beer became vital to all the grain-growing civilizations of classical Western antiquity, including Egypt — so much so that in 1868 James Death put forward a theory in The Beer of the Bible that the manna from heaven that God gave the Israelites was a bread-based, porridge-like beer called wusa. The modern anthropologist Alan Eames believes that "beer was the driving force that led nomadic mankind into village life...It was this appetite for beer-making material that led to crop cultivation, permanent settlement and agriculture."

Knowledge of brewing was passed on to the Greeks. Plato wrote that "He was a wise man who invented beer."^{[citation needed]}

The Greeks then taught the Romans to brew. The Romans called their brew cerevisia, from Ceres, the goddess of agriculture, and vis, Latin for "strength."

Beer was important to early Romans, but during the Roman Republic 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. Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew from a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula circa the 9th century BC to a massive empire straddling the Mediterranean Sea. ... Motto Senatus Populusque Romanus Roman provinces on the eve of the assassination of Julius Caesar, c. ... A glass of red wine This article is about the alcoholic beverage. ... Look up Barbarian in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Gaius Cornelius Tacitus Publius or Gaius Cornelius Tacitus (c. ... Thor/Donar, Germanic thunder god. ...

Thracians were also known to consume beer made from rye, even since the 5th century BC, as Hellanicus of Lesbos says in operas. Their name for beer was brutos, or brytos. The Thracians were an Indo-European people, inhabitants of Thrace and adjacent lands (present-day Bulgaria, Romania, northeastern Greece, European Turkey and northwestern asiatic Turkey, eastern Serbia and parts of Republic of Macedonia). ... Hellanicus of Lesbos (in Ancient Greek Hellanicós) (born in Mytilene on the isle of Lesbos in 490 BC) was an ancient Greek logographer who flourished during the latter half of the 5th century BC. He is reputed to have lived to the age of 85. ...

Medieval Europe

Beer was one of the most common drinks during the Middle Ages. It was consumed daily by all social classes in the northern and eastern parts of Europe where grape cultivation was difficult or impossible. Though wine of varying qualities was the most common drink in the south, beer was still popular among the lower classes. Since the purity of water could seldom be guaranteed, alcoholic drinks were a popular choice, having been boiled as part of the brewing process. Beer also provided a considerable amount of the daily calories in the northern regions. In England and the Low Countries, the per capita consumption was 275-300 liters (60-66 gallons) a year by the Late Middle Ages, and beer was downed with every meal. Though probably one of the most popular drinks in Europe, beer was disdained by science as being unhealthy, mostly because ancient Greek and more contemporary Arab physicians had little or no experience with the drink. In 1256, the Aldobrandino of Siena described the nature of beer in the following way: Peasants threshing siligo, a type of wheat. ... It has been suggested that Veraison be merged into this article or section. ... Impact from a water drop causes an upward rebound jet surrounded by circular capillary waves. ... The Low Countries, the historical region of de Nederlanden, are the countries (see Country) on low-lying land around the delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse (Maas) rivers. ... Dante by Michelino The Late Middle Ages is a term used by historians to describe European history in the period of the 14th to 16th centuries (AD 1300–1500). ... Piazza del Campo Siena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. ...

The use of hops in beer was written of in 822 by a Carolingian Abbot. Again in 1067 by Abbess Hildegard of Bingen: "If one intends to make beer from oats, it is prepared with hops." Flavoring beer with hops was known at least since the 9th century, but was only gradually adopted because of difficulties in establishing the right proportions of ingredients. Before that gruit, a mix of various herbs, had been used, but did not have the same conserving properties as hops. Beer flavored without it was often drunk soon after preparation and could not be exported. The only other alternative was to increase the alcohol content, which was rather expensive. Hopped beer was perfected in the towns of Germany by the 13th century, and the longer lasting beer, combined with standardized barrel sizes, allowed for large-scale export. The German towns also pioneered a new scale of operation and a level of professionalization. Previously beer had been brewed at home, but the production was now successfully replaced by medium-sized operations of about eight to ten people. This type of production spread to Holland in the 14th century and later to Flanders, Brabant and reached England by the late 15th century.^[2] Hop umbel (branched floral structure resembling nested-inverted umbrellas) in a Hallertau hop yard Hops are a flower used primarily as a flavouring and stability agent in beer, as well as in herbal medicine. ... Also see: France in the Middle Ages. ... Illumination from the Liber Scivias showing Hildegard receiving a vision and dictating to her scribe Hildegard of Bingen (German: Hildegard von Bingen; Latin: Hildegardis Bingensis; 1098 – 17 September 1179), also known as Blessed Hildegard and Saint Hildegard, was a German magistra and later, abbess[1]. Hildegard of Bingen was an... Hop umbel (branched floral structure resembling nested-inverted umbrellas) in a Hallertau hop yard Hops are a flower used primarily as a flavouring and stability agent in beer, as well as in herbal medicine. ... Gruit (or sometimes grut) is an old fashioned herb mixture used for bittering and flavouring beer, before the extensive use of hops. ... Defensive towers at San Gimignano, Tuscany, bear witness to the factional strife within communes. ... Coat of arms of the Counts of Flanders (or a lion rampant sable, armed and langued gules). ... Brabant is a former duchy in the Low Countries, and a former province of Belgium. ... Mediæval Britain is a term used to suggest that there is a unity to the history of Great Britain from the 5th centurys withdrawal of Roman forces and Germanic invasions until the 16th century Reformations in Scotland and England. ...

Laws to enforce the use of hops in beer were introduced in England in the 14th century, and later similar laws were introduced in other countries. In England, these laws lead to peasant uprisings, since it was considered to spoil the taste, but these uprisings were brutally put down. ^[3]

Early modern Europe

A 16th century brewery

In Europe, beer largely remained a homemaker's activity, made in the home in medieval times. The oldest still operating commercial brewery is the Weihenstephan (Bavaria) abbey brewery, which obtained the brewing rights from the nearby town of Freising. 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. Image File history File links 16thCenturyBrewer. ... Image File history File links 16thCenturyBrewer. ... World map showing the location of Europe. ... Two homemakers. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times. ... Weihenstephan is part of the city of Freising (48,500 inhabitants) north of Munich. ... Freising is a city in Bavaria, Germany, capital of the district Freising. ... This 14th-century statue from south India depicts the gods Shiva (on the left) and Uma (on the right). ... (14th century - 15th century - 16th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 15th century was that century which lasted from 1401 to 1500. ... An amusingly named pub (the Old New Inn) at Bourton-on-the-Water, in the Cotswold Hills of South West England A pub in the Haymarket area of Edinburgh, Scotland A public house, usually known as a pub, is a drinking establishment found mainly in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada... Monastery of St. ...

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. Motto (French) God and my right Anthem No official anthem - the United Kingdom anthem God Save the Queen is commonly used England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto) Unified  -  by Athelstan 927 AD  Area  -  Total 130... A pint of ale Ale is a beer style brewed from barley malt with a top fermenting brewers yeast that ferments quickly, giving a sweet, full body and a fruity, and sometimes a butter-like, taste. ... The Worshipful Company of Brewers is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. ...

Achel trappist beer (Belgium) with glass

In 1516, William IV, Duke of Bavaria, adopted the Reinheitsgebot (purity law), perhaps the oldest food regulation still in use through the 20th Century (the Reinheitsgebot passed formally from German law in 1987). 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. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1536x2048, 330 KB) Description: Achel trappist beer (Belgium). ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1536x2048, 330 KB) Description: Achel trappist beer (Belgium). ... Brouwerij der Sint-Benedictusabdij de Achelse Kluis is a Belgian brewery in the abbey of Saint Benedict in Achel. ... Trappist logo A Trappist beer is a beer brewed by or under control of Trappist monks. ... Image:WilhelmIV4bav. ... The following is a list of rulers during the history of Bavaria: // Dukes of Bavaria, 548-1623 Agilolfing Dynasty (see also Bavarii) ca. ... The Reinheitsgebot (literally purity requirement) is a regulation that originated in the city of Ingolstadt in the duchy of Bavaria in 1516, concerning standards for the sale and composition of beer. ... Louis Pasteur (December 27, 1822 – September 28, 1895) was a French chemist best known for his remarkable breakthroughs in microbiology. ... Motto Gott mit Uns (German: God with us”) Anthem Heil dir im Siegerkranz (unofficial) Territory of the German Empire in 1914, prior to World War I Capital Berlin Language(s) Official: German Unofficial minority languages: Danish, French, Frisian, Polish, Sorbian Government Constitutional monarchy Emperor  - 1871–1888 William I  - 1888 Frederick... “Bismarck” redirects here. ...

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. A pint of ale Ale is a beer style brewed from barley malt with a top fermenting brewers yeast that ferments quickly, giving a sweet, full body and a fruity, and sometimes a butter-like, taste. ... Lager is a well attenuated beer brewed in cool conditions using a slow-acting brewers yeast, known as a bottom-fermenting yeast, and then stored (or lagered) for a period in cool conditions to clear away particles and certain flavour compounds to produce a clean taste. ...

Asia

There is pre-historic evidence that shows brewing began around 5,400 BC in Sumer (southern Iraq). Some recent archaeological finds also show that Chinese villagers were brewing alcoholic drinks as far back as 7000 BC. However, these pre-historic brewing efforts were on a small, or individual, scale - not on the scale of a modern day brewery. Asia's first brewery was incorporated in 1855 (although it was established earlier) by Edward Dyer at Kasauli in the Himalayan Mountains in India under the name Dyer Breweries. The company still exists and is known as Mohan Meakin, today comprising a large group of companies across many industries. Sumer (or Å umer) was the earliest known civilization of the ancient Near East, located in the southern part of Mesopotamia (southeastern Iran) from the time of the earliest records in the mid 4th millennium BC until the rise of Babylonia in the late 3rd millennium BC. The term Sumerian applies... Alulu Tablet - a receipt for best beer from 2050 BC in the ancient Kingdom of Ur Tutankhamun Ale. ... Kasauli is a small town in Himachal Pradesh, India. ... Perspective view of the Himalaya and Mount Everest as seen from space looking south-south-east from over the Tibetan Plateau. ... Asias oldest brewer, Mohan Meakin Limited, traces its history back to the late 1820s, when Edward Dyer travelled from Britain to set up the first brewery in India at Kasauli. ...

The Industrial Revolution

The Caledonian Brewery, founded in 1869, Edinburgh, Scotland

Following significant improvements in the efficiency 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 in 1760 and hydrometer in 1770, which allowed brewers to increase efficiency and attenuation. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (940x940, 154 KB) Caledonian Brewery in Edinburgh, Scotland. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (940x940, 154 KB) Caledonian Brewery in Edinburgh, Scotland. ... Caledonian Brewery Caledonian Brewery is a British brewery founded in 1869 in the Slateford area of Edinburgh, Scotland. ... 1869 (MDCCCLXIX) is a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... Edinburgh (() pronounced ; Scottish Gaelic: ) is the capital of Scotland and its second largest city. ... Motto (Latin) No one provokes me with impunity Cha togar mfhearg gun dioladh (Scottish Gaelic) Wha daur meddle wi me?(Scots)1 Anthem (Multiple unofficial anthems) Scotlands location in Europe Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow Official languages English, Gaelic and Scots1 Government Constitutional monarchy  -  Monarch Queen Elizabeth II... // The term steam engine may also refer to an entire railroad steam locomotive. ... It has been suggested that List of temperature sensors be merged into this article or section. ... A hydrometer is an instrument used for determining the specific gravity of liquids. ...

Prior to the late 18th century, malt was primarily dried over fires made from wood, charcoal, or straw, and after 1600, from coke. Malted barley Malting is a process applied to cereal grains, in which the grains are made to germinate and then are quickly dried before the plant develops. ... Trunks A tree trunk as found at the Veluwe, The Netherlands Wood is a solid material derived from woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs. ... Charcoal is the blackish residue consisting of impure carbon obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances. ... Bales of straw bundles of rice straw Pile of straw bales, sheltered under a tarpaulin Straw is an agricultural byproduct, the dry stalk of a cereal plant, after the nutrient grain or seed has been removed. ...

In general, none of these early malts would have been well shielded from the smoke involved in the kilning process, and consequently, early beers would have had a smoky component to their flavors; evidence indicates that maltsters and brewers constantly tried to minimize the smokiness of the finished beer. In general, a things components are its parts; the things that compose it. ...

Writers of the period describe the distinctive taste derived from wood-smoked malts, and the almost universal revulsion it engendered. The smoked beers and ales of the West Country were famous for being undrinkable - locals and the desperate excepted. This is from "Directions for Brewing Malt Liquors" (1700):

"In most parts of the West, their malt is so stenched with the Smoak of the Wood, with which 'tis dryed, that no Stranger can endure it, though the inhabitants, who are familiarized to it, can swallow it as the Hollanders do their thick Black Beer Brewed with Buck Wheat."

So, a bit of an acquired taste, then. Here's an even earlier reference to such malt by William Harrison, in his "Description of England", 1577:

"In some places it [malt] is dried at leisure with wood alone, or straw alone, in other with wood and straw together, but, of all, the straw-dried is the most excellent. For the wood-dried malt, when it is brewed, beside that the drink is higher of colour, it doth hurt and annoy the head of him that is not used thereto, because of the smoke. Such also as use both indifferently do bark, cleave, and dry their wood in an oven, thereby to remove all moisture that should procure the fume..."

Not exactly an unequivocal endorsement. Here's what "London and Country Brewer" (1736) has to say:

"Brown Malts are dryed with Straw, Wood and Fern, etc.The straw-dryed is the best, but the wood sort has a most unnatural Taste, that few can bear with, but the necessitous, and those that are accustomed to its strong smoaky tang; yet it is much used in some of the Western Parts of England, and many thousand Quarters of this malt has been formerly used in London for brewing the Butt-keeoing-beers with, and that because it sold for two shillings per Quarter cheaper than Straw-dryed Malt, nor was this Quality of the Wood-dryed Malt much regarded by some of its Brewers, for that its ill Taste is lost in nine or twelve Months, by the Age of the Beer, and the strength of the great Quantity of Hops that were used in its preservation."

a hydrometer, used to measure the specific gravity of liquids

Wood-dried malt had a horrible taste, but some London brewers did once use it because it was cheap and after long aging in a heavily-hopped beer you didn't notice the vile smokiness any more. Image File history File links Hydrometer6455. ... Image File history File links Hydrometer6455. ... A hydrometer is an instrument used for determining the specific gravity of liquids. ... Relative density (also known as specific gravity) is a measure of the density of a material. ...

However, the straw-dried brown malt preferred in London was the least affected. That was the very reason it was valued above the wood-dried variety. In "Town and Country Brewery Book" (approx. 1830, p.47), there is a chapter about what can go wrong during malting. Smoking malt was seen as a serious mistake:

"The third error consists in the drying of malt. They are apt to be tainted by the smoke, through the carelessness, covetousness, or unskilfulness of the maker. Every care ought to be taken to guard against this accident as one of the most prejudicial that can befall malt drinks."

The hydrometer transformed how beer was brewed. Before its introduction beers were brewed from a single malt: brown beers from brown malt, amber beers from amber malt, pale beers from pale malt. Using the hydrometer, brewers could calculate the yield from different malts. They observed that pale malt, though more expensive, yielded far more fermentable material than cheaper malts. For example, brown malt (used for Porter) gave 54 pounds of extract per quarter, whilst pale malt gave 80 pounds. Once this was known, brewers switched to using mostly pale malt for all beers supplemented with a small quantity of highly-coloured malt to achieve the correct colour for darker beers. A hydrometer is an instrument used for determining the specific gravity of liquids. ...

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. Its development was prompted by a British law of 1816 forbidding the use of any ingredients other than malt and hops. Porter brewers, employing a predominantly pale malt grist, urgently needed a legal colourant. Wheeler's patent malt was the solution. Daniel Wheeler (born December 10, 1977 in Providence, Rhode Island) is a Major League Baseball pitcher currently playing for the Houston Astros. ...

The discovery of yeast's role in fermentation in 1857 by Louis Pasteur gave brewers methods to prevent the souring of beer by undesirable microorganisms. Louis Pasteur (December 27, 1822 – September 28, 1895) was a French chemist best known for his remarkable breakthroughs in microbiology. ... A microorganism or microbe is an organism that is so small that it is microscopic (invisible to the naked eye). ...

Modern beer

Bottling beer in a modern facility, 1945, Australia

Prior to Prohibition, there were thousands of breweries in the United States, mostly brewing heavier beers than modern US beer drinkers are used to. Beginning in 1920, most of these breweries went out of business, although some converted to soft drinks and other businesses. Bootlegged beer was often watered down to increase profits, beginning a trend, still on-going today, of the American palate preferring weaker beers. Consolidation of breweries and the application of industrial quality control standards have led to the mass-production and the mass-marketing of huge quanitites of light lagers. Smaller breweries, including microbreweries and craft brewers, and imports, have serviced the segment of the American market that prefers fuller-bodied beers. Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ... Year 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar). ... The term Prohibition, also known as A Dry Law, refers to a law in a certain country by which the manufacture, transportation, import, export, and sale of alcoholic beverages is restricted or illegal. ... Beer barrels outside the Castle Rock microbrewery in Nottingham, England. ... Craft beer generally refers to all-malt beer that is brewed with emphasis on style rather than mass appeal. ...

Many European nations have unbroken brewing traditions dating back to the earliest historical records. Beer is an especially important drink in countries such as Belgium, Germany, and the UK, with nations such as France, the Scandinavian countries, the Czech Republic, and others having strong and unique brewing traditions with their own history, characteristic brewing methods, and styles of beer.

European breweries brew the full range of beers, from ancient styles such as the spontaneously-fermented lambics of Belgium; the lagers, dark beers, wheat beers and more of Germany; to the UK's stouts, milds, pale ales, bitters, and the recently created British traditional brewer's answer to light continental lagers, the golden ale. Traditional brewing techniques are still very widely used in Europe, for the sake of maintaining the quality of the final product which suffers if brewed using the more efficient industrial processes which have been developed in modern times. Traditional wooden Lambic barrels; the L on the barrel indicates the brewery. ... Lager beers are alcoholic beverages of German and Czech origin, taking their name from the German lagern (to store). Lagers are brewed principally from malted barley (without cane sugar, an adjunct), hops and water at low temperatures (usually between 5°C and 15°C) that cause bottom-fermentation. ... It has been suggested that Kristall Weissbier be merged into this article or section. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Mild ale is a low-gravity, malty beer that originated in the United Kingdom in the 1600s or earlier. ... Pale ale is a name given to beers using pale malts which are top fermented. ... Bitter is a type of ale, originally derived from pale ale. ... In the United Kingdom, a Golden ale is a style of beer developed in the late 20th century by breweries to compete with the large light lager market. ...

European breweries include the largest multinationals to the smallest microbreweries, and the continent probably has a wider range of brewing traditions, styles, and individual beers than any other region.

Unlike in many parts of the world, there is a significant market in Europe (the UK in particular) for beer containing live yeast. These unfiltered, unpasteurised brews are awkward to look after compared to the commonly sold dead beers: live beer quality can suffer with poor care, but many people prefer the taste of a good live beer to a dead one. While beer is usually matured for relatively short times (a few weeks to a few months) compared to wine, some of the stronger so-called real ales have been found to develop character and flavour over the course of as much as several decades. A pint of real ale. ...

In some parts of the world, breweries that had begun as a family business by Germans or other European emigrés grew into large companies, often passing into hands with more concern for profits than traditions of quality, resulting in a degradation of the product.

In 1953, New Zealander Morton W. Coutts developed the technique of continuous fermentation. Coutts patented his process which involves beer flowing through sealed tanks, fermenting under pressure, and never coming into contact with the atmosphere, even when bottled. His process is used by Guinness. Marston's Brewery in Burton on Trent, on the other hand, still uses open wooden Burton Union sets for fermentation in order to mainain the quality and flavour of its beers, while Belgium's lambic brewers go so far as to expose their brews to outside air in order to pick up the natural wild yeasts which ferment the wort. Traditional brewing techniques protect the beer from oxidation by maintaining a carbon dioxide blanket over the wort as it ferments into beer. Morton W. Coutts (1904 - June 2004) was a New Zealand brewer who revolutionised the worldwide beer industry when he invented the continuous fermentation method. ... A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state to a patentee for a fixed period of time in exchange for a disclosure of an invention. ... Guinness logo World War II era advert. ... Marstons is the colloquial name for the brewer and pub operator Marstons PLC; some of its beer output; and the Marstons Brewery. ... The Burton breweries were known for a recirculating fermentation system known as the Burton Union. ... Traditional wooden Lambic barrels; the L on the barrel indicates the brewery. ...

Today, the brewing industry is a huge global business, consisting of several multinational companies, and many thousands of smaller producers ranging from brewpubs to regional breweries. Advances in refrigeration, international and transcontinental shipping, marketing and commerce have resulted in an international marketplace, where the consumer has literally hundreds of choices between various styles of local, regional, national and foreign beers. The beer brewing industry is dominated by a few international players. ... Wall Street, Manhattan is the location of the New York Stock Exchange and is often used as a symbol for the world of business. ... A multinational corporation (MNC) is a corporation or enterprise that manages production establishments or delivers services in at least two countries. ... A brewpub is a microbrewery, often combined with a restaurant, that sells the majority of its beer on premises. ... Regional brewery is a term used in the UK to decribe a long established brewery that supplied beer to tied pubs in a fixed geographical location such as South Wales, The Midlands or the Isle of Man. ...

Mythology

Gambrinus – king of beer

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. Image File history File links Gambrinus. ... Image File history File links Gambrinus. ... Gambrinus is a legendary king of Flanders, and an unofficial patron saint of beer or beer brewing. ... The Kalevala is an epic poem which Elias Lönnrot compiled from Finnish folk lore in the 19th century. ...

The British drinking song "Beer, Beer Beer" ([3]) attributes the invention of beer to the presumably fictional Charlie Mopps, but history tell us that hops arrived in British brewing relatively late on, while tea did not become a common British drink until prices became affordable in the 19th century: A drinking song is a song sung while drinking, that is, consuming alcohol. ... Charlie Mopps is the mythical inventor of beer, as described by the drinking song Beer, Beer, Beer A long time ago, way back in history When all there was to drink was nothing but cups of tea Along came a man by the name of Charlie Mopps And he invented...

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. Tea leaves in a Chinese gaiwan. ... Charlie Mopps is the mythical inventor of beer, as described by the drinking song Beer, Beer, Beer A long time ago, way back in history When all there was to drink was nothing but cups of tea Along came a man by the name of Charlie Mopps And he invented... Hop umbel (branched floral structure resembling nested-inverted umbrellas) in a Hallertau hop yard Hops are a flower used primarily as a flavouring and stability agent in beer, as well as in herbal medicine. ... The geographical region and former county of Flanders contains not only the two Belgian provinces but also the present-day French département of Nord, in parts of which there is still a Flemish-speaking minority, and the southern part of the Dutch province of Zeeland known as Zeeuws-Vlaanderen... Gambrinus is a legendary king of Flanders, and an unofficial patron saint of beer or beer brewing. ...

According to Czech legend, deity Radegast, god of mutuality, invented beer. // Radegast, also called Radigost, Radhost, Redigast, is a hypothetical West Slavic god of hospitality, fertility, and crops, associated with war and Sun. ...

Ninkasi was the patron goddess of brewing in ancient Sumer. A 16th century brewery Brewing can also refer to steeping, as in the preparation of tea. ... Sumer (or Å umer) was the earliest known civilization of the ancient Near East, located in the southern part of Mesopotamia (southeastern Iran) from the time of the earliest records in the mid 4th millennium BC until the rise of Babylonia in the late 3rd millennium BC. The term Sumerian applies...

See also

• Cask ale
• Gruit

Cask ale is the term given to unfiltered and unpasteurised beer which is conditioned and served from a cask without additional pressure. ... Gruit (or sometimes grut) is an old fashioned herb mixture used for bittering and flavouring beer, before the extensive use of hops. ...

Notes

References

• Arnold, John P. Origin and History of Beer and Brewing: From Prehistoric Times to the Beginning of Brewing Science and Technology ISBN 0-9662084-1-2
• Benn, Charles. 2002. China's Golden Age: Everyday Life in the Tang Dynasty. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-517665-0.
• Death, James The Beer of the Bible, ASIN B000889GP4
• Eames, Alan D. Secret Life of Beer : Legends, Lore & Little-Known Facts ISBN 0-88266-807-2
• Medieval science, technology, and medicine : an encyclopedia (2005) Thomas Glick, Steven J. Livesey, Faith Wallis, editors ISBN 0-415-96930-1
• Mitchell, Stephen Gilgamesh, a new English version ISBN 0-7432-6164-X
• Scully, Terence (1995) The Art of Cookery in the Middle Ages ISBN 0-85115-611-8
• Smith, Gregg Beer: A History of Suds and Civilization from Mesopotamia to Microbreweries ISBN 0-380-78051-8
• Tuchman, Barbara A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century ISBN-10: 0345349571 ISBN-13: 978-0345349576
• Unger, Richard W. Beer in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance ISBN 0-8122-3795-1

External links

• Beer in ancient Egypt
• The Hymn to Ninkasi