When you think of how old beer is, you probably think maybe a few 100 years or so, but beer is actually over 6000 years old, historians speculate that prehistoric nomads may have made beer from grain & water before learning to make bread. Beer also became integrated into the culture of civilizations with no significant wine growing capabilities.
Even the Bible has reference to this beverage when it tells us that Noah's provisions included beer on the Ark.
Beer was also a major part of civilization in the Babylonian, Assyrian, Egyptian, Hebrew, Chinese, and Inca cultures. In 4300 BC the Babylonians made clay tablets which have detailed recipes for beer. The Babylonians produced beer in large quantities with around 20 different varieties.
Many of these early cultures often drank beer through straws to avoid the bits of grain that was left in the beverage and during these periods it was of such value that it was on occasions used to pay workers as part of their daily wages.
Through out time beer has always played a major in society be it for social reasons or medical reasons a brief timeline of events over the last few millelina out lines the uses for beer and its development through the ages:
1600 BC- Egyptian texts contain 100 medical prescriptions calling for beer.
55 BC - Roman legions introduce beer to Northern Europe.
49 BC - Caesar toasted his troops after crossing the Rubicon, which began the Roman Civil War.
Before the Middle Ages brewing was left to women since it was considered a food.
23 BC - Chinese brewed beer called "kiu"
500/1000 AD - the first half of the Middle Ages, brewing begins to be practiced in Europe, shifting from family tradition to centralized production in monasteries and convents (hospitality for traveling pilgrims).
During Medieval times beer was used for tithing, trading, payment and taxing.
1000 AD- hops begins to be used in the brewing process.
1200 AD- beer making is firmly established as a commercial enterprise in Germany, Austria, and England.
1295 - King Wenceslas grants Pilsen Bohemia brewing rights (formerly Czechoslovakia).
1420 - German brewers develop the lager method of brewing.
1489 - Germany's first brewing guild, Brauerei Beck, was established.
1490's - Columbus found Indians making beer from corn and black birch sap.
1516 - Bavarian brewing guilds push for the Reinheitsgeobot purity laws make it illegal to use any ingredients but water, barley, and hops in the brewing of beer (they didn't know yeast existed).
1553 - Beck's Brewery founded & still brewing today.
Late 1500's Queen Elizabeth I of England drank strong ale for breakfast.
1587 the first beer brewed in New World at Sir Walter Raleigh's colony in Virginia--but the colonists sent requests to England for better beer.
1602 Dr. Alexander Nowell discovers that ale can be stored longer in cork sealed, glass bottles.
1612- the first commercial brewery opened in New Amsterdam (NYC, Manhattan) after colonists advertised in London newspapers for experienced brewers.
1620- Pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock because the beer supplies were running low.
1674- Harvard College has its own brew house.
1680 - William Penn (founder of Pennsylvania) operated commercial brewery.
1757 - Washington wrote his personal recipe "To Make Small Beer."
1786- Molson brewery is founded in what is today Canada.
-:George Washington and Thomas Jefferson had their own private brew houses.
-:Samuel Adams operated commercial brewery.
-:Soldiers in the revolutionary army received rations of a quart of beer a day.
1789- James Madison proposes 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.
-:Yeasts during this time were exactly the same as those used in bread.
-Before the 1800's most beer was really "Ale." -1810 - Munich establishes Oktoberfest as an official celebration.
1830's - Bavarians Gabriel Sedlmayr of Munich and Anton Dreher of Vienna developed the lager method of beer production.
1842 -the first golden lager is produced in Pilsen, Bohemia.
-In the mid-19th Century (1850's) 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.
1870's- Adolphus Busch pioneers the use of double-walled rail cars, a network of ice houses to make -Budweiser the first national brand.
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.
1880 - there are approximately 2,300 breweries in the US.
1890s- Pabst is the first US brewer to sell over 1 million barrels in a year.
- First half of the 1900's beer was associated with men, blue-collar workers, college students, and mainstream sports enthusiasts.
-Late 1900's beer had a different image and cultural function, with growth in popularity among a more diverse share of the population.
1909- Teddy Roosevelt brought over 500 gallons of beer on safari in Africa.
1914 - commercial competition drives the number of operating breweries down to 1,400.
1933- Prohibition ends for beer (April 7).
1935- only 160 breweries survived Prohibition.
1935 - the beer can is introduced (American Can Co. & Kreuger Brewing).
1938- Elise Miller John heads Miller Brewing for 8 years as the first and only woman ever to run a major brewing company.
1965- Fritz Maytag purchases Anchor Brewing Co.
1966 Budweiser is the first brand to sell 10 million barrels in a year.
1976- New Albion is the first in the rebirth of brewpubs and microbreweries in the US opening in California.
1988 - Asahi Super Dry (Japan) introduces new beer category (soon to follow is Michelob Dry).
1991- the US produces 20% of the world beer volume (world's largest suppliers).
So as you can see the humble pint has lead a rather full life from the time of ancient men to the mega companies of today.
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