Beer Essay

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Beer

Historically hops, yeast, malted barley, and water have all played the

greatest and most important role in society. For almost 8000 years these

ingredients have been mixed and have been appreciated by all classes of society

in almost all civilizations.

The old cliche "accident is the mother of invention" is a phrase that

definitely holds true in the world of beer. The discovery was made way back

when the Mediterranean region was the seat of civilization and barley flourished

as a dietary staple. The climate of the Mediterranean was perfect for the

cultivation of barley, and was used as the primary ingredient in breads, cakes,

and other common food products. A farmer during this period discovered that if

barley become wet, germinates, and eventually dried, the resulting barley would

be sweeter and would not be as perishable as the original state of the barley.

There is not any first hand knowledge on how beer was discovered, but we

can imagine the incident step by step. When the farmer discovered that his

barley crop was wet, in order for him to salvage the crop, he probably spread it

out to dry in the sun. Chances are that germination had already begun, and the

grain had therefore malted and developed a much sweeter taste. The sweet result

of what the farmer considered a disaster is now modern-day malted barley. This

malted barley gave a sweeter taste to breads, cakes, or anything which had

previously been prepared with unmalted barley. After a while when barley malt

became a common ingredient it is thought that a loaf or bowl of this malt was

accidentally left in the rain. When wet, the dissolved starches and sugars in

the malted barley became susceptible to wild yeast, which started spontaneous

fermentation (5). The discoverer of this new mix probably tasted it and

realized how good it was. Unbeknownst to this ancient farmer, he had brewed the

first beer ever.

Sumerian clay tablets dating from 6000 B.C. contain the first ever

written recipes for beer. The tablets also detail specific religious rituals

that one had to perform before he could consume the beverage. The Sumerians

also left the first record of bureaucratic interference when their governments

taxed and put tariffs on beer distribution.

Some anthropologists say that ancient strains of grain were not really

good for making bread. Early wheat made heavy, pasty dough. Flour made from

barley made crumbly, lousy bread. It was determined that humankind's first

agricultural activity was growing barley. Forty percent of the grain harvest

in Sumeria was converted to ale.

The laws pertaining to beer in ancient times were very strict. The Code

of Hammurrabi in Babylon proved to be more harsh than our laws today.

Establishments that sold beer receive special mention in those laws, codified in

1800 B.C. Owners of beer parlors who overcharged customers were sentenced to

death by drowning. Those who failed to notify authorities of criminal elements

in their establishments were also executed (1). Many of the beer makers and

bartenders in the ancient world were women who sold ale under the supervision

of the goddess Ninkasi, "the lady who fills the mouth." These Babylonians

brewed at least sixteen styles of beer with wheat and malted barley.

Egyptians paid their workers with jugs of beer, and Ramses II was said

to have consecrated over half a million jugs of it to the gods. In the Nile

region beer was flavored with lavender, date, cedar, nutmeg, sugar, and probably

hops.

The bible's references to unleavened bread suggest that the isolation

and deliberate use of yeast was known at the time of Moses. A professor even

wrote that beer is mentioned in the book of Exodus as one of the unknown leavens,

and when Moses told Jews to avoid leavened bread during Passover in Exodus 12,

he also meant that they should avoid beer. King David of the Jews was a brewer,

and in early days of Christianity the Jews carried on the art of brewing and

often introduced it to many other cultures.

The classical Greeks and Romans learned the art of brewing from the

Egyptians. The word beer comes from the Latin "bibere" meaning simply "to

drink." The Latin word for beer is "cerevisia," a composite of "Ceres," the

goddess of agriculture, and "vis," Latin for "strength."

Beer was carried by many barbarian tribes in Western and Northern Europe,

and by the nineteenth century, hops was cultivated for brewing purposes in

France and Germany. Even though hops give beer is refreshing properties it was

neglected by many countries for centuries. Instead beers were flavored with

woodruff, juniper, or grenadine, and can still be found in some European beers

today.

In the Renaissance period brewing was mostly done by kings and monks.

Home brew was the drink of mostly lower classes. It wasn't uncommon for

children to drink beer on a daily basis. The fermentation process was very

useful to destroy many malignant microorganisms in the distinctly undrinkable

waters of most villages (7).

As the reformation came around, the church spent more time on religious

matters than on brewing. At this time commercial brewers started to pick up the

slack and were licensed under kings, queens, dukes, and earls. During this time

queen Elizabeth I had a brew so strong that none of her servants could handle it,

even though they received two gallons per day.

The New World exploration began and Elizabeth oversaw that no ship left

port without a large cargo of beer. Beer provided a clean supply of water, some

food value, and a good protection against scurvy, the lack of Vitamin C.

Another extraordinary example of beer's influence on history is the case of the

Pilgrims. They had first proposed to sail to Virginia but were forced to land

at Cape Cod instead because they were running low on beer. When the Pilgrims

arrived they saw the the Indians too had...

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