Beer is one of the world's oldest manufactured beverages, with its history dating back to the 6th millennium BC, and being recorded in the written history of Ancient Iraq.
Beer may have been known in Neolithic Europe as far back as 3000 BC, though was mainly brewed on a domestic scale for local consumption. It was an integral part of everyday diet. Beer produced before the Industrial Revolution continued to be made and sold on a domestic scale. By the 7th century AD beer was also being produced and sold by European monasteries. During the Industrial Revolution, the production of beer moved from artisanal to industrial manufacture, and domestic manufacture mainly ceased by the end of the 19th century. The development of hydrometers, thermometers and other technologies changed brewing by allowing the brewer more control of the process, greater knowledge of the results and refrigeration.
In Australia, beer starts very early in Australia’s colonial history. Captain Cook brought beer with him on his ship Endeavour as a means of preserving drinking water. On 1 August 1768 as Captain Cook was fitting out the Endeavour for its voyage. Beer has played an iconic role in Australian life since the beginning of Western colonization. Australia ranks the fourth internationally in per capita beer consumption, at around 110 litres per year, though considerably lower in terms of per capita alcohol consumption.
The beer took a while to arrive in Brazil in comparison to Europe and medieval societies. The Portuguese royalty was afraid that the beer consumption was going to take market share of the Portuguese major export, Wine. Therefore, Beer arrived officially in Brazil in 1808 brought in by the Portuguese Royal family, which was moving to Brazil for good. The King, a beer lover, could not leave Portugal without his beer. After that, Portugal open the Brazilian ports to the friendly countries and England started to export its beers to Brazil.
In Brazil, "Cerveja Marca Barbante" was the first generic name given to beer. The production method was artisanal. Since the beginning the beer was a refreshing drink with relatively low alcohol content for the time. Therefore, the beer started to become part of the Brazilian culture and society.
Until 1830s, cachaça was the most consumed alcoholic drink in Brazil. At this time, Brazilian beer was already produced in a handmade, artisanal process by European immigrant families. Since then, with the growing of European imigrants, the population growth and economic boom, Brazil has become a major player in the beer manufacturing industry.
Today, the brewing industry is a global business, consisting of several dominant multinational companies and many thousands of smaller producers ranging from brewpubs to regional breweries. More than 133 billion liters of beer are sold per year, producing a total global revenues of around USD 294.5 billion.
The Ancient Civilizations and their Beers
Brewing is almost certainly the most ancient manufacturing art known to man, and is probably as old as agriculture.
Brewing has pretty much being part of every culture in every part of the world for thousands of years. In China there are signs of brewery for 5000 years ago. In Mesopotania, clay tablet indicates that brewery existed as a respected profession and the master brewers were women.
Hammuabi, the 6th King of Babylonia, around 2,100 BC created a law code regulating tavern keeper business. These laws covered the sale of beer and were designed to protect the consumer. Some beer were exclusively reserved for religious ceremonies and events.
An ancient tablet now in New York's Metropolitan Museum lists Babylonian beers as: dark beer, pale beer, red beer, three fold beer, beer with a head, without a head etc. It also records that beer was sipped through a straw. The royalty use to drink beer through a golden straw, long enough to go from the throne to a large container of beer kept nearby.
Israel excavations uncovered 3,000 year old beer mugs. Archaeologists said that their find at Tel Isdar indicated that beer drinking in Israel went back to the days of King Saul and King David. An Assyrian tablet of 2,000 BC lists beer among the foods that Noah used to provision the ark.
The Pharaohs, in Egypt, had beer as an important food item in the daily diet. It was made from lightly baked barley bread, and also was used as a sacrament.
People gathered in the evening to drink at a ‘house of beer', the bars and pubs of the era. Beer was the natural drink of the country, a basic in the diet of the nobility and of the fellah (the peasant). As well as being a drink, beer was also used as medicine. A medical document which was written in about 1,600 BC lists about 700 prescriptions of which about 100 contained the word ‘beer'.
Beer also had status - a keg of beer was considered the only proper gift to be offered to the Pharaoh by a suitor seeking the hand of a royal princess. 30,000 gallons a year was also offered as a fitting gift to the Gods by Pharaoh Rameses II (1,200 BC). It is recorded that a similar amount was also offered to appease the gods when they became angry.
The Egyptians taught the Greeks how to brew beer and the Greeks taught the Romans how to brew.
Beer really start to become a commercial product with the advent of the Christian era, largely through the influence of the monasteries which brewed and improved the beer. Monks often built the first breweries as pioneers of the hotel business, providing shelter, food and drink to pilgrims and other travellers.
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.
Beer was also handed out free of charge to weary travellers when the Wayfarer Dole was established in England. A Pilgrim's Dole of ale and bread can still be claimed by all wayfarers at the Hospital of St Cross, Winchester, England. This is said to have been founded by William of Wykeham, (1367-1404), and was claimed by Emerson, the American essayist, when visiting Winchester.
Modern Times
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.
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.
Queen Elizabeth, 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.
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.
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.
At the end of the 17th century, the weekly allowance for pupils of all ages at one English school was two bottles a day. Beer was a good deal safer and more palatable than the available drinking water which was often drawn from polluted rivers. And beer was also common in the workplace. The American scientist and statesman, Benjamin Franklin, who lived in London from 1757-1774, recorded that the daily beer consumption in a London printing business was around 5 pints per day.
