Beer History
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Beer has been with us since the dawn of civilization. There are scholars that state that it was the cultivation of crops to produce fermented beverages that gave mankind the incentive to stay in one location and become civilized.
An ancient tablet written in Babylonia in 6000 B.C. describes the preparation of beer for sacrificial purposes. By 4000 B.C., the Babylonians had made 16 different types of beer from wheat, barley, and honey. According to ancient Egyptian legend, beer had been present at The Creation. For almost three thousand years, beer was critical to the daily life and religion of ancient Egypt. Beer was considered so special that offerings of it were made to the Egyptian Gods.
The "Rig-Veda" of India (1,000 B.C.) describes the intoxicating beverage of the Nobles, "soma", made from the juice of "asclepas" plant. In India the common people of that time drank "sura", an intoxicating brew made from "panicum"(an Indian grass) honey, water, curds, melted butter, and barley. According to the sacred book "Zeiid-Avesta", the Persians had similar beverages in 1000 B.C. Though drunkenness was a religious taboo, they included intoxicating beverages among the offerings to be made at religious rites.
Hops have been used to add flavor, and to act as a preservative since roughly 3000 B.C. In early Europe, in areas where grape-growing was difficult, beer or fermented beverages such as barley wine became important in religious and every-day life. Even in Spain, where wine production was common, the regions without grapes made a beer from barley called "celia", and one from wheat named "ceria". The Celts brewed something called Kurmi, which the Roman historian Doiscorides said "brought on headaches, tired blood, and weak knees". The Gauls, who had adequate wine resources, brewed a beer "cervisia".
The Romans, who spread wine production throughout Europe, had their cerevisia (from the Latin: "Ceres", the goddess of agriculture, and "vis" strength). [Note the similarity between the Latin "Cervisia"and the modern spanish "Cervesa"]. The word "beer" itself has multiple origins; the Latin verb "bibere" means "to drink" and the Saxon word "baere" means barley.
The Romans introduced wine to the Saxons, who quickly adopted its use. Wine was drunk thereafter on all official occasions, but ale and "meth" (mede) remained the preferred beverages of the ancient Saxons. In the oldest epic of modern language, "Beowulf" tells us of the Mede hall , "Ale Carvuse". "Mede" was made from fermented honey and water, and may have preceded any wines or beers used by man. Its popularity spans thousands of years. The ales of the ancient Saxons were cereal beverages and seem to have been of fairly high quality by modern standards, since clarity, and mildness were deemed desirable features.
Other beverages of that time were cider and "Piment", a mixture of wine, honey, and spices. In his work, "Germania" (A.D.99), the Roman historian Tacitus reports that the ancient Teutons' daily activity was as likely to be a drinking bout as anything else. The drinking of a barley and wheat brew was an important part of all marriages, meetings, elections, decisions and day to day living.
Until the Middle Ages, the brewing of beer was left to the women, as was everything except drinking, warring, and carousing. In medieval times the brewing of beer shifted from the family to the brewhouses of the monasteries, convents, and villages. Brewing was believed to be a very important part of monastery life and the staples of diet were bread and beer. Large monasteries often had a number of functioning breweries since the daily ration for a monk could be as much as a gallon.
The nobility had an interest in maintaining a ready supply of brew for their community and guests; all the larger courts and castles had their own brew-houses. Charlemagne took a great interest in brewing and in 812 listed, in his "Capitulare de Villis Imperialibus", beer brewers among the artisans and laborers to be employed by district public administrators.
Although bittering agents had been used in very early times, the first clear indication of the use of hops (and, with it the early beginnings of modern beer) occurs in 768, when, in the record of a gift by Pepin, a hop garden is mentioned. A public document from the year 822 certifies that hops were used in the production of beer, but the official creditation usually goes to the Abbess Hildard (1079) of Rupertsberg, who wrote in her "Physica Sacia": "If one intends to make beer from oats, it is prepared with hops, but is boiled with grug (herbs, most likely), and mostly with ash leaves."
By this time the beer trade was well established and firmly in the hands of the clergy. Of course, since there were no "states" at this time, most cultural and economic activities were conducted by the clergy, as this class was the only tangible representation of society at that time. Christian clergymen were the wholesalers of beer and the Jews were the retailers, because the Christian clergymen were forbidden to make a profit. Beer was used in medieval Europe for tithing, trading, payment, and taxing; indeed, it was fully a part of the economics of that time.
As early as the eleventh century the larger cities began to press for freedom of action by acquiring privileges from their territorial and spiritual lords. Over the next two hundred years this became more of a reality with the formation of the trade guilds, each forming a corporation for itself. The guilds were represented on the councils, and commerce between the large cities flourished. In the fourteenth century great brewing houses were formed, especially in Germany. Since it had a wide reputation, there was even substantial export of German beer. In 1376, the great brewing center of the Middle Ages, Hamburg, had over a thousand brew-masters.
Aside from the great beers of Hamburg, the most famous beer of the Middle Ages was that from the city of Einbeck, whose inhabitants were principally occupied with the making of beer and linen. It was on draught everywhere and exported as far as Jerusalem. Brewed only in winter, it was top fermented, heavily malted, and strongly hopped, enabling it to keep its quality a very long time. For almost two hundred years the growth of beer popularity and brewing continued unabated. Then suddenly the situation reversed.
Brewing had long been a favorite object of taxation and more heavier levies were laid on beer and grain as funds were required. Restrictions on trade appeared with the subsequent appearance of the usual counter-restrictions.
Brewers lowered the quality of the product to offset economic pressures and consumers reacted by switching to the new coffees, teas, and spirituous liquors. Although these effects caused a great contraction in the industry, it was a temporary situation.
Man's preference for and use of malt beverages continued: he could still make a palatable brew at home. In 1614 the brewers at Munich discovered that they could successfully imitate the great beers of Einbeck and began a segment of the brewing trade that remains famous to this time. Many beer lovers today are grateful for the efforts of those Munich brewers. In 1602 Weiss (white) beer, which had been made locally and occasionally for several hundred years, attained renewed favor, and that favor grew for over two hundred years. Today Weiss Bier is still by made a few Munich brewers, but it is usually referred to as Berliner Weiss.
As for early Celtic brews, the beer of the Britons was ale-like in nature. The British preference for ale continues to the present, with pale lager style beers making serious in-roads into the British markets only in the large cosmopolitan areas. The ale of Britain's past and the presently available brews are not the same. Hops were not introduced there until about 1500. Even then, there is evidence that the hops were not used in the ale for some time. Ale was made of malt and water and drunk new, with great pride taken in avoiding, "unnatural" ingredients. The hops were used only for beer in place of preserving it with various leaves and barks. Before the introduction of hops into Britain, the word "ale" was meant to indicate pure malted liquor and the word "beer" meant imported German brew. When hops were finally added to the venerable ale (late in the sixteenth century) , ale came to mean a stronger malted drink, which contained a greater quantity of unfermented extract than beer.
Although the end of the sixteenth century saw a softening of the brewing trades in Germany, it was the beginning of the heyday, of Britain's fledgling Industry. London was the center of this rapidly growing industry and considerable amounts of beer were being exported to France. The produce of the British brewers was as lusty a brew as had ever been placed on the market. It was very strong and could be stored for several years without spoiling. The prosperity and growth continued through the seventeenth and into the eighteenth century, when porter was introduced (by Harwood in 1722). It had become popular in public houses to drink half-and-half (half ale and half "twopenny") or "three shreads" (ale, beer. and twopenny). Porter combined the taste of the various beers and eliminated the need to draw from different casks.
By this time the growth of brewing was so great that the country had a general problem with drunkenness and the attendant pauperism and rowdyism. Steps were taken to stem the tide of drunkenness, but no effective measures were devised until the tax man, who regarded the brewing industry as another source of income, took an interest in matters.
The colonies in America never suffered a problem of widespread drunkenness. Even though the Pilgrims may have made landfall at Plymouth because they had run out of beer, alcoholic beverages in the colonies were regulated from the start. Breweries were born in America almost with the communities. The first brewery was built in New Amsterdam in 1612. Twenty years later Peter Minuit established the first public brewery in America. Taxes on malt liquors appeared in 1644. Governor general Peter Stuyvesant, a crusader in regulating public morals, leaned heavily on brewers and tavernkeepers.
William Penn built the first brewhouse in Philadelphia in 1685. Most of the famous figures of colonial New England began or participated in brewing ventures beginning early in the seventeenth century, but the industry did not flourish there, as barley could not be raised in that climate. Perhaps a more important reason for the failure of the brewing industry in early New England was that a brewhouse was regarded as an essential part of a homestead. The few cities were seaports and had ready access to imports from England and thus did not offer much of a market for a local brewing industry. This changed with the taxation that led to the Revolution, and after independence was achieved, the brewing industry thrived there for over a century.
The founding fathers of the new republic were kindly disposed toward beer and cider (but not to distilled spirits) and the popular bodies of the States viewed the subject similarly; in doing so, they believed they were upholding the cause of temperance. They even encouraged the brewing industry by withholding taxes on brewery property. Such leading citizens as Adams, Jefferson, and Madison either owned or promoted breweries and George Washington himself maintained a small brewery at Mt.Vernon.
About 1820, German immigrants began to arrive in large numbers. Since immigrants tended to settle in ethnic colonies, wherever Germans settled there was an instant market for beer. With them came young men already educated and experienced in the field of brewing. Breweries sprang up by the hundreds and many flourished in the benign atmosphere of the new country. At this time, the beers were mostly ales and porter. There were also a considerable number of breweries, especially in the New York City area, devoted to making Weiss beer. The new chill-brewed lager first appeared in the United States in Philadelphia in 1840, manufactured by a man named John Wagner. Shortly thereafter, most of the German brewers began to produce malt beverages made in accordance with the new recipe from the old country. The lager enjoyed immediate public acceptance. And although it caused difficulties for brewers because it required the use of refrigeration facilities for brewing and storage. more and more brewers built plants to handle the rapidly growing market for the new lager beer.
The conquest of the American market by this pale lager (more appropriately call Dortmunder or Pilsener) beer is so complete that the number of true ales still brewed in America is quite small; there are few Weiss beers, few dark beers, and even less porter. One truly American phenomenon in brewing was the steam beer of the Pacific Coast. Because ice was prohibitive in San Francisco in the mid nineteenth century, there was a great demand for malt liquor that could not be satisfied by imports. A technique of beer making was developed that employed bottom fermentation in the 60'-68'F range, and cellaring -at 60'-70'F (in other words, brewed with lager yeast at ale temperatures). This beer too disappeared for a time, and only one brewery (Anchor Steam in San Francisco) producing this uniquely American product remains in operation today.
