Beer

1988 Words4 Pages

Beer

Historically hops, yeast, malted barley, and water have all played the greatest and most important role in society. For almost 8000 years these ingredients have been mixed and have been appreciated by all classes of society in almost all civilizations.
The old cliche "accident is the mother of invention" is a phrase that definitely holds true in the world of beer. The discovery was made way back when the Mediterranean region was the seat of civilization and barley flourished as a dietary staple. The climate of the Mediterranean was perfect for the cultivation of barley, and was used as the primary ingredient in breads, cakes, and other common food products. A farmer during this period discovered that if barley become wet, germinates, and eventually dried, the resulting barley would be sweeter and would not be as perishable as the original state of the barley.
There is not any first hand knowledge on how beer was discovered, but we can imagine the incident step by step. When the farmer discovered that his barley crop was wet, in order for him to salvage the crop, he probably spread it out to dry in the sun. Chances are that germination had already begun, and the grain had therefore malted and developed a much sweeter taste. The sweet result of what the farmer considered a disaster is now modern-day malted barley. This malted barley gave a sweeter taste to breads, cakes, or anything which had previously been prepared with unmalted barley. After a while when barley malt became a common ingredient it is thought that a loaf or bowl of this malt was accidentally left in the rain. When wet, the dissolved starches and sugars in the malted barley became susceptible to wild yeast, which started spontaneous fermentation (5). The discoverer of this new mix probably tasted it and realized how good it was. Unbeknownst to this ancient farmer, he had brewed the first beer ever.
Sumerian clay tablets dating from 6000 B.C. contain the first ever written recipes for beer. The tablets also detail specific religious rituals that one had to perform before he could consume the beverage. The Sumerians also left the first record of bureaucratic interference when their governments taxed and put tariffs on beer distribution.
Some anthropologists say that ancient strains of grain...

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...nically illegal forty-seven years after Prohibition ended. Jimmy Carter erased that glitch with the stroke of his pen in February 1979. Now it is legal for every adult in a household to brew one hundred gallons of beer a year.
Today the the American Homebrewers Association counts twenty-seven thousand members, and their numbers are growing drastically.
Now the microbrewery industry is in its second decade, and the number of breweries in America has jumped from eighty to almost five hundred in less than
10 years. The microbreweries are doing great and are here to stay. In 1992 sales for microbreweries have increased more than 44 percent. In 1993 the story was quite the same when sales increased yet another 40 percent.
Recently Becks beer has done some brewing experiments aboard the space shuttle to study zero gravity brewing. So you can bet that by the time we take our vacation to the moon we will have a beer waiting for us there.
Beer has been through a lot in its over 8000 years on this earth, and by the looks of the beer market it may continue to be one of the oldest beverages in the world.

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