A Brief History of Beer
				IN THE BEGINNING... Some people theorize that when man learned to ferment grain into beer more than 10,000 years ago, it became one of his most important sources of nutrition. Beer gave people protein that unfermented grain couldn't supply. But in order to have a steady supply of beer, it was necessary to have a steady supply of beer's ingredients. Man had to give up his nomadic ways, settle down, and begin farming. And once he did, civilization was just a stone's throw away. After civilization got rolling, beer became a more important part of society. Noah supposedly carried beer on the ark. Sumerian laborers received rations of it. Egyptians made it from barley.  Babylonians made it from wheat, and Incas made it from corn. The Chinese brewed beer called ‘Kui' some 5,000 years ago. In Mesopotamia, a 4,000 year-old clay tablet indicates that brewing was a highly respected profession - and the master brewers were women. Different grains were used in different cultures: a) Africa used millet, maize and cassava b) North America used persimmon although agave was used in Mexico c) South America used corn although sweet potatoes were used in Brazil d) Japan used rice to make sake e) China used wheat to make samshu f) Other Asian cultures used sorghum g) Russians used rye to make quass or kvass h) Egyptians used barley and may have cultivated it strictly for brewing as it made poor bread It was the Egyptians who reputedly taught the Greeks how to brew beer.  In fact it has been suggested by historians that Dionysus, the wine-god of Greek mythology, was actually a superimposition of Dionysis, the beer-god from pre-historic times. The Greeks in turn taught the Romans to brew and the Romans then showed the tribes in Britain the art of brewing. Pliny and Tacitus are among the classical writers who record the development of the brewing art among the Celtic and Teutonic peoples of Britain and Central Europe. THE ADVENT OF BEER AND WESTERN RELIGION Beer really came into its own with the advent of the Christian era, largely through the influence of the monasteries which brewed and improved the beer. What had been a family tradition became a cottage industry of centralized production as Monks often built the first breweries as pioneers of the hotel business, providing shelter, food and drink to pilgrims and other travellers. Three Christian saints are listed as patrons of brewing, all distinguished members of the Christian faith: Saint Augustine of Hippo, author of the confessions; Saint Luke the Evangelist; and Saint Nicholas of Myra, better known as Santa Claus. Other saints also had links with brewing. Saint Columban, doing missionary work in Germany, found people preparing to consume a cask of beer in a ceremony to a pagan god. He blew upon the case, which fell apart, and when the crowd became penitent he miraculously increased the small amount of beer left. Saint Bright is credited with changing water into beer to feed lepers. She personally brewed ale each Easter time to supply all of the churches in the neighbourhood. Saint Mungo, the patron saint of Scotland's oldest city, Glasgow, established a religious brotherhood there in 540 AD, and one of the brothers started brewing to supply the others. Brewing is still regarded as the oldest industry in Glasgow. Saint Patrick, according to Senchus Mor, the book of the ancient laws of Ireland (438-441 AD), numbered among his household a brewer - a priest called Mescan. MEDIEVAL TIMES The Emperor Charlemagne (AD 742-814), the great Christian ruler, considered beer as essential for moderate living, and personally trained the realm's brewmasters. King Arthur served his Knights of the Round Table with beer called bragget. Even in medieval times, beer was generally brewed by women. Being the cooks, they had responsibility for beer which was regarded as ‘food-drink'. After the monasteries had established the best methods of brewing, the ‘ale-wives' took the responsibility for further brewing. In England at this time a chequered flag indicated a place where ale and beer could be purchased because few people other than the clergy could read or write. Many events of this era incorporate the word ‘ale', reflecting its importance in society. Brides traditionally sold ale on their wedding day to defray the expenses - hence ‘bride-ale' which became 'bridal'. The Christmas expression ‘yule-tide' actually means ‘ale-tide'. 1400 ONWARDS Today, "ale" and "beer" are used as interchangeable terms. However, ale, which consisted of malt (usually made from barley although other grains were used), water and yeast, was replaced at the start of the 15th century by beer. Introduced from Flanders, beer was bittered with hops and kept better than English ale because of the preservative quality of the hops. While beer has been made from many different grains through the ages, barley has proven to be the world's most valued brewing ingredient. In fact, the word beer itself probably comes from the old Anglo-Saxon word baere, meaning barley. In ancient times, beer was flavored with such things as coriander, rosemary, and lupine. Eventually, around 1,000 AD, the people of Northern Europe learned to use hops instead.  Hops added flavor to beer, made it clearer, and helped to preserve it. Anyone who has tasted beer flavored with coriander has reason to be grateful for this discovery. By the end of the century, beer had almost completely replaced the old English sweet ale, and was being exported to Europe. Records dating back to the 15th century show that almost half of the ships' cargoes taken across the North Sea and the Baltic Sea were barrels of beer.  In 1420, German brewers developed the lager method of brewing.   Queen Elizabeth (of the late 1500s) apparently drank strong ale for breakfast, and when travelling through the country, always sent couriers ahead to taste the local ale. If it didn't measure up to the quality required a supply would be shipped from London for her.  Ladies-in-waiting at the court of Henry VII were allowed a gallon of beer for breakfast alone. William Shakespeare's father was an ale-tester or "conner". The "conner" tested the ale by pouring some upon a bench and sitting on it while drinking the rest. If there was sugar in the ale, or it was impure, their leather breeches would stick after sitting for half an hour or so. The Dean of St Pauls, in the 16th century, is credited with the invention of bottled ale. Dr Alexander Norwell put ale in a bottle when he went fishing and left the bottle in the grass. Returning some years later he found the cork came away with an explosion but the taste and quality of the ale was still good. BEER IN THE AMERICAS European beer first arrived in America with Christopher Columbus' ships. On his last voyage to America in 1502, Columbus found the natives of Central America making a first-rate brew "of maize, resembling English beer". The Pilgrim Fathers landed at Plymouth Rock, instead of further south as planned, partly because they were out of beer.   An entry in the diary of a Mayflower passenger explains the unplanned landing at Plymouth Rock: "We could not now take time for further search...our victuals being much spent, especially our beer..." That may have been the last time America's settlers ran short of beer. They soon learned from their Indian neighbors how to make beer from maize. Local breweries sprouted up throughout the colonies, and experienced brewmasters were eagerly recruited from London. While the exact date of the beginning of brewing as a distinct calling cannot be ascertained, there is an abundance of historical evidence that among the very earliest acts of the Colonial governments, those tending to encourage the establishment of public breweries were deemed of the greatest importance. It is no less certain that whenever such encouragement did not sufficiently stimulate private enterprise to bring about the desired end, or when other reasons made it desirable, the rulers of some of the Colonial settlements seized upon this source of income themselves or granted monopolies to those private persons who intended to establish breweries. In 1612, the first commercial brewery began in New Amsterdam (Manhattan) after colonists adverstised in London newspapers for experienced brewers.   In 1637, the legislature of the Massachusetts Bay Colony met to fix the price of beer. After lengthy deliberation, the new price was announced: "not more than one penny a quart at the most." By law, beer in Colonial America had to be served in standard half-pint, pint or quart vessels. When tin could no longer be imported from England, American pewter production stopped. It then became fashionable to melt down and recast old pewter mugs from England. By 1770 the American brewing industry was so well established that George Washington, Patrick Henry, and other patriots argued for a boycott of English beer imports. The Boston Tea Party almost became the Boston Beer Party. Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Adams, and James Madison vigorously promoted the brewing industry in the colonies. George Washington operated a small brewery at Mount Vernon. And during the Revolutionary War, he made sure his troops received a quart of beer each day. In their fondness for beer, these great men were only following an American tradition that was already well established. No sooner had the colonies of Pennsylvania, Vermont and New York been founded, than their governors established breweries to provide their subjects with refreshment. The British called the taverns of colonial America "hotbeds of sedition." And they were right. Paul Revere and the Sons of Liberty planned the Boston Tea Party at their favorite meeting place--the Green Dragon Tavern. In 1789, James Madison proposed that Congress levy a low 8-cent duty per barrel on malt liquors to encourage "the manufacture of beer in every State in the Union." Beer and bread were the mainstays of the ordinary person's diet for centuries. In the mid-19th Century German immigrant brewers introduced cold maturation lagers to the US (Anheuser-Busch, Miller, Coors, Stroh, Schlitz, and Pabst roots begin here). The modern era of brewing in the US began in the late 1800's with commercial refrigeration (1860), automatic bottling, pasteurization (1876), and railroad distribution. In 1876, Pasteur unraveled the secrets of yeast in the fermentation process, and he also developed pasteurization to stabilize beers 22 years before the process was applied to milk. By 1880, there were over 2,300 breweries in the United States, but by 1914, the number of breweries had dwindled to 1,400 due to commercial competition.   The United States entered World War I in April 1917. The “dry” (Prohibition) movement had been steadily gaining strength in the U.S. and with the war on their side, Congress passed laws restricting the use of grain for alcoholic beverages. In January 1919, the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed to be effective January 16, 1920, whereby the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages was prohibited, with an alcoholic beverage defined as one with more than 1/2 of 1 percent alcohol by volume (about 0.4 percent by weight). Congress passed the Volstead Act to enforce the 18th Amendment. In the fall of 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt was campaigning for the presidency of the United States. He stated that if he was elected, he would seek a change in the Volstead Act. In the November 1932 election, he defeated Herbert Hoover and was scheduled to take office on March 4, 1933. When Roosevelt took office, Congress passed the Cullen Bill, which amended the Volstead Act and permitted breweries to produce and sell beer with an alcoholic content of 3.2 percent by weight, commencing April 7, 1933. By 1935, after 13 years of Prohibition, only 160 breweries survived.  Also in 1935, the first american beer can is introduced by American Can Company and Kreuger Brewing. After World War II, the nationally distributed brewers aggressively tried to take market share from regional brewers.  By 1966, Budweiser became the first brand to sell 10 million barrels in a year.  Beginning in 1976, the microbrewery rennaissance began with the microbrewery New Albion in California.  Since that time, there has been a flourishing of microbrewery activity as the appeal of local quality brews gains prominence. The rest is history.... CONTACT US comments@retrodudz.com Back to top