Before you start brewing your own beer, you may want to learn about the history of brewing beer. Beer is one of the oldest forms of manufacturing known to man kind. Many believe that beer is even as old as the creations of bread; some even believe that one was the derivative of the other.

 

The Earliest Beer

The beginning of beer history starts with the Chinese beer called Kui, which is said to been invented some 5,000 years ago. Then approximately 4,000 years old a tablet found in Mesopotamia proved that brewing (mostly done by woman) was one of the respected of all professions during that time.

In stories from Babylon, women (also known as priestesses) were responsible for brewing. In fact, certain ancient goddesses were known to be the patrons of beer. Beer was the drink used for many different ceremonies celebrated in the temple of the goddess saris and the goddess Nimkasi.

Sometime around 2100 BC, the king of Babylon regulated how tavern keepers were to sell beer and instituted laws designed for like protection of the consumers. There is even an ancient tablet that points out the types of beer, which are listed as:

• Beer with a head
• Beer without a head
• Dark Beer
• Three Fold Beer
• And Pale beer

In addition to these findings, beer mugs were also found that was more than 3,000 years old. There is even a tablet from Assyria that shows that Noah bought beer with him when he was stocking the ark.

In Egypt, not only was beer an important drink, it also became a part of the medical world. Many prescriptions were found from 1,600 BC; show that many medicines had beer listed as a diagnosis.

Other places such as Greece, Rome, and Britain each have ancient records that prove that people made a big deal of brewing beer, and the social status attributed to those who were able to make it well. Beer was even known as an important gift to kings and queens as well as being one of the top medications of the time.

 

Beer & Christianity

During the Christian era, beer took a turn for the better, through techniques developed in monasteries by monks, who fine tuned the beer making process and created the first known breweries. There are also many ceremonies throughout Christian culture where beer is part of the festivities.

Medieval Beer

During this time Charlemagne, the ruler during (AD 742-814) was the official trainer of the people in charge of brewing beer throughout this era. In these times, most brewers were women, who were well respected for this ability.

Events throughout the medieval times were called something that reflected the importance of beer. In monasteries, the women who made the ale were €œale-wives€. When women were getting married they would sell ale to re-coup the cost of the wedding, thus the term €˜bride-ale€™, became bridal. Even at Christmas, the term €œYule Tide, has the actual meaning of €œale tide.€

Modern Times

Nowadays, ale (beer as it is commonly known today) has changed over the years. During the 15th centenary ale, which was primarily malt, yeast and water changed into what is know as beer, which was made more bitter by the use of hops. Because beer was better kept, and generally tasted better than English sweet ale of the past, it became the most used form of beer in the more modern times.

Somewhere around the 16th century, beer was primarily made by the family, for the family and was kept for their consumption. King and Queens of this modern day community though highly of the making of beer and went out of their way to seek out the best beer makers in the land to make their royal beer.

Bottled ale was first invented by Dr. Alexander Norwell or the Dean of St. Paul€™s during the 16th Century. European beer came along with Christopher Columbus where on one of these journeys, he discovered the natives had their own representation of beer, which reminded him of beer made in England.

Later throughout the world, beer has been further tuned, new fermentation process invented and better sanitation procedures have helped to make the drinking of beer a favorite most people.