subject: What Is Beer And Its History [print this page] Beer, just the name is refreshing isn't it? It brings to mind warm summer nights sitting around the pool with a frosty mug of amber hued liquid. What would a football game be without a tailgating party and cold bottles of your favorite brew. But what exactly is beer?
It's an alcoholic beverage made of grain, hops, yeast and water. Pretty simple, until it gets complicated. Beer can be made from malted or unmalted barley. It may require a cooling process such as ale does, or include additional ingredients such as fruit, herbs, even hot peppers. The grain can be wheat or barley, although occasionally corn or rice is used. Hops weren't always part of the beer recipe.
Malted grain is grain that has been germinated, or sprouted, and then dried before the plant has a chance to develop. Malting gives a flavor to the beer and adds sugar by changing some of the starches in the grain to maltose, a sugar. The sugar is important for the development of the yeast, it acts as a food source.
Yeast is the catalyst for the beer making process. Yeast is a one celled fungus. It exists in nature and can be found on the skins of grapes and other fruits. Yeast is used for baking bread. It is responsible for the bread to rise. Brewer's yeast is used in brewing beer and making wine for the alcoholic content.
The little yeast cells consume the sugar and convert it to alcohol as a by product. The bubbles in beer are a result of the yeast also emitting carbon dioxide. This process is called fermentation.
Water is an important ingredient in beer, the purity of the water used effects the taste of the final product.
Hops, the female flower of the hop plant (Humulus lupulus) are used in the brewing process to add the characteristic "beer" taste and as a stabilizer.
History of Beer
The first beers were no more than grain and water that was exposed to yeast cells floating in the air. The yeast fermented the mixture into a frothy alcoholic drink and the first beer was born. In other words the first beer was probably produced as an accident. You do have to wonder why anyone would drink the 'spoiled' grain mixture, rather than just chuck it, but it's a good thing they didn't. It's probable that these early prehistoric guys learned to brew beer before they learned to bake bread. Beer at this point is considered a food source as much as a drink.
The ark, Noah's ark contained beer. In 4300 BC a Babylonian clay tablet was found with a detailed recipe for beer. Beer was an important part of ancient civilizations including besides the Babylonian culture, also Assyrian, Egyptian, Hebrew, Chinese, and Inca cultures.
The ancient Egyptians used beer as a drink, food, and for medicinal purposes. Over 100 medicines on an ancient tablet included beer as an ingredient. The Egyptians taught the Greeks how to brew beer. It's thought the Greek wine god Dionysus was actually named Dionysis, the beer god. The Greeks brought beer to the Romans. The Romans taught the tribes in Britain the art of brewing, and from their it spread through the rest of Europe.
Central American beer makers discovered a product that is still immensely popular today: chocolate. It seems they used the pulp of cacao seed pods as an ingredient to their beer. Traces of the pods were found on fragments of pottery form 1100 B. C. Cacao beans are the basis for cocoa which makes chocolate.
