Saturday, November 24, 2012

History of Beer

The History of Beer

    It has been said to believe that prehistoric nomads may have made beer from grain and water before learning to make bread.

4300 BC, Babylonian clay tablets detail recipes for beer.

Beer was an important part of civilization in the Babylonian, Assyrian, Egyptian, Hebrew, Chinese, and Inca cultures. 

Babylonians produced a variety of flavors of beer and generally in large quantities. 

Different grains were used in different cultures:
a) Africa used millet, maize and cassava.
b) North America used persimmon although agave was used in Mexico.
c) South America used corn although sweet potatoes were used in Brazil.
d) Japan used rice to make sake.
e) China used wheat to make samshu.
f) Other Asian cultures used sorghum.
g) Russians used rye to make quass or kvass.
h) Egyptians used barley and may have cultivated it strictly for brewing as it made poor bread
55 BC Roman Legions introduce beer to Northern Europe

49 BC Caesar toasted his troops after crossing the Rubicon

23 BC Chinese brewed beer called "kiu"

1000 AD hops begins to be used in the brewing process

1200 AD beer making is established and commercialized in Germany, Austria, and England

1420 German brewers develop large method for brewing

1553 Beck's Brewery was founded (still running today)

1612 first commercial brewery opens in New Amsterdam

1620 Pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock for beer supplies

1674 Harvard College has its own brewhouse

Before the 1800's beer was really "Ale"

1810 Munich declares Oktoberfest as an official celebration

Modern era of brewing in the US began in late 1800's with commercial refrigeration, automatic bottling, pasteurization, and railroad distributions. 

1890 Pabst is the first US brew to sell over 1 million barrels

1933 Prohibition ends for beer

1935 the beer can was introduced

1966 Budweiser is the first brand to sell 10 million barrels in a year

1991 the US produces 20% of the world beer volume

1993 US retail beer sales exceed $45 billion
Five brewers produced 89.4% of domestic product:
a) Anheuser-Busch (A-B), 44.5%
b) Miller Brewing, 21.8%
c) Coors, 10.4%
d) Stroh, 7.4%
                          e) G. Heileman, 5.3%



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