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The history of beer

Beer has already been well-known for thousands of years on the different continents, whether it was brewed from water and bread leftovers, as it was done in the ancients Sumer, Babylon and Egypt, or with corn, like in Central America, or rice, like in Southeast Asia, as the grain component. These peoples considered beer as a basic food due to its nutritiousness and its various production possibilities, which permitted many flavours. Furthermore it was also used as a "medicine", since it was very striking against pain due to its intoxicant effect.

Peoples of the Near East even dedicated to the brew own characters and hieroglyphics when writing was developed there, a fact which stresses the meaning of beer distinctly. Not very popular with the Greeks and Romans and, since they plain preferred wine, used only as a "medicine" or "drug", beer enjoyed great popularity with Celtic, Scandinavian, Germanic and Gallic peoples within modern Europe. In those societies beer was an important part of everyday's life, with bread the base of life of every family. Besides baking bread and brewing beer remained exclusive domestic obligations of the woman up to the beginning of the Middle Ages. However this changed by the turn of the millenium: The beer's production gradually became a task of many monasteries, since the monks noticed that the beverage was the best replacement for missing food during the lent and specialized themselves on brewing.

Beer production also became a vital branch of the economy of that time, so that guilds developed, e.g. the very exclusive one of the brewing master. This evolved particularly in the cities and also at the courts of the national rulers, who made up new beer taxes and, because they were allowed to give the brewing and selling rights for beer, closed some monasterial breweries due to the unwanted competition. The cause was that enormous incomes were secured by beer sellings.

As the quality started to worsen, since much got added to the beer because of its durability or effect, various sovereigners started to issue different guidelines and laws in order to ensure high quality beer. The probably best known and most determining law in this connection was the Bavarian "Reinheitsgebot" (Purity Law), the oldest and still valid food law, which meant the birth of modern beer as well. Due to technical achievements in the following centuries, e.g. the invention of pasteurisation, refridgerators and microscopes, hidden details of beer production could be recognized and the largest obstacles eliminated, so that more effectively production and exports in far regions became possible, since durability and success of fermentation represented no further problems.

But also beer changed during the passing time, because of different renewals in our lives, and so everybody must realize that "ancient" beer has nothing in common with beer of the Middle Ages and nothing at all with the modern one. So it can be stated that our beer has an about five hundred years old and proud tradition, which, as already mentioned, is linked to Bavarian Purity Law.

Thank Gambrinus - the patron saint of every brewer - for it!