The History of Beer - Beer Selections from Brewmeister.com and Whisky.com
Between
10,000 and 15,000 years ago, some humans discontinued their nomadic
hunting and gathering and settled down to farm. Grain was the first
domesticated crop that started that farming process. The oldest
proven records of brewing are about 6,000 years old and refer to
the Sumerians. Sumeria lay between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers
including Southern Mesopotamia and the ancient cities of Babylon
and Ur. It is said that the Sumerians discovered the fermentation
process by chance. No one knows today exactly how this occurred,
but it could be that a piece of bread or grain became wet and a
short time later, it began to ferment and a inebriating pulp resulted.
A seal around 4,000 years old is a Sumerian "Hymn to Ninkasi", the
goddess of brewing. This "hymn" is also a recipe for making beer.
A description of the making of beer on this ancient engraving in
the Sumerian language is the earliest account of what is easily
recognized as barley, followed by a pictograph of bread being baked,
crumbled into water to form a mash, and then made into a drink that
is recorded as having made people feel "exhilarated, wonderful and
blissful." It could be that baked bread was a convenient method
of storing and transporting a resource for making beer. The Sumerians
were able to repeat this process and are assumed to be he first
civilized culture to brew beer. They had discovered a "divine drink"
which certainly was a gift from the gods. From the Gilgamesh Epic,
written in the 3rd millennium B.C., we learn that not only bread
but also beer was very important. This epic is recognized as one
of the first great works of world literature. Ancient oral sagas
from the beginning of human history were recorded in writing for
the first time. The Gilgamesh Epic describes the evolution from
primitive man to "cultured man".
"Enkidu,
a shaggy, unkempt, almost bestial primitive man, who ate grass and
could milk wild animals, wanted to test his strength against Gilgamesh,
the demigod-like sovereign. Taking no chances, Gilgamesh sent a
(prostitute) to Enkidu to learn of his strengths and weaknesses.
Enkidu enjoyed a week with her, during which she taught him of civilization.
Enkidu knew not what bread was nor how one ate it. He had also not
learned to drink beer. The (prostitute) opened her mouth and spoke
to Enkidu: 'Eat the bread now, O Enkidu, as it belongs to life.
Drink also beer, as it is the custom of the land.' Enkidu drank
seven cups of beer and his heart soared. In this condition he washed
himself and became a human being."
The
Babylonians became the rulers of Mesopotamia after the Sumerian
empire collapsed during the 2nd millennium bc. Their culture was
derived from that of the Sumerians, and as a consequence of this,
they also mastered the art of brewing beer. Today we 
know that the
Babylonians new how to brew 20 different types of beer. In ancient
times beer was cloudy and unfiltered. The "drinking straws" were
used to avoid getting the brewing residue, which was very bitter,
in the mouth. Beer from Babylon was exported and distributed as
far away as Egypt. Hammurabi, an important Babylonian King, decreed
the oldest known collection of laws. One of these laws established
a daily beer ration. This ration was dependent on the social standing
of the individual, a normal worker received 2 liters, civil servants
3 liters, administrators and high priests 5 liters per day. In these
ancient times beer was often not sold, but used as barter. The Egyptians
carried on the tradition of beer brewing. They also used unbaked
bread dough for making beer and added dates to the brew to improve
the taste. The importance of beer brewing in ancient Egypt can be
seen from the fact that the scribes created an extra hieroglyph
for "brewer". Although beer as we know it had its origins in Mesopotamia,
fermented beverages of some sort or another were produced in various
forms around the world. For example, Chang is a Tibetan beer and
Chicha is a corn beer and kumis is a drink produced from fermented
camel milk. The word beer comes from the Latin word bibere, meaning
"to drink", and the Spanish word cerveza originates from the Greek
goddess of agriculture, Ceres. After Egypt was succeeded by the
Greeks and Romans, beer continued to be brewed. Plinius reported
of the popularity of beer in the Mediterranean area before wine
took hold. In Rome, wine became ambrosia from the god Bacchus. Beer
was only brewed in the outer areas of the Roman Empire where wine
was difficult to obtain. For the Romans beer was considered a barbarian
drink.
The
oldest proof that beer was brewed on German soil, comes from around
800 B.C. in the early Hallstatt Period, where beer amphora found
near the present day city of Kulmbach have been dated back to this
time. As Tacitus, who first wrote about the ancient Germans or Teutons,
put it like this: "To drink, the Teutons have a horrible brew fermented
from barley or wheat, a brew which has only a very far removed similarity
to wine". Beer of that era could not be stored, was cloudy and produced
almost no foam. Early civilizations found the mood-altering properties
of beer supernatural, and intoxication was considered divine. Beer,
it was thought, must contain a spirit or god, since drinking the
liquid so possessed the spirit of the drinker. The ancient Germans
regarded beer not only a sacrifice to the gods but they, as in Egypt,
also brewed beer for their own enjoyment. For example, in the Finnish
poetic saga Kalewala, 400 verses are devoted to beer but only 200
were needed for the creation of the earth. According to the Edda,
the great Nordic epic, wine was reserved for the gods, beer belonged
to mortals and mead to inhabitants of the realm of the dead. Beer
brewing played an important role in daily lives. Beer was clearly
so desired that it led nomadic groups into village life. Beer was
considered a valuable (potable) foodstuff and workers were often
paid with jugs of beer.
