The Importance of Beer in Society
Ever wondered when the first beer was brewed? Or when it came to the United States? The brewing process is much older than the discovery of the United States and goes back centuries, on other continents. Historically, beer came to America on the Mayflower as an alternative to drinking water. Beer in America’s early history was a stipend, driving the colonists to grow the necessary supplies to make beer. There is a rich, interesting history behind the process. Throughout the centuries beer has been a big impact on different societies and cultures. Beer has evolved from being drank out of glasses with straws because of the grains to being drink out of bottles or pint glasses. To some beer is just a drink, but to others it is considered a job, hobby, and lifestyle.
Beer brewing has been a part of cultures as early as 4300 B.C. (Raley) Beer had a big impact on several different societies at the time such as the Egyptians. The Egyptians used beer for royalty and medicine. Raley Egyptians had one hundred medical prescriptions that required beer by 1600 B.C. (Raley) Depending on what part of the world these cultures were from, which would decide what kind of grains were used in the brewing process. For Egypt that grain was barley, but for other cultures the grains consisted of maize, persimmon, rice, wheat, rye, corn, and sweet potato (Raley). Although hops are the main grain used in today’s society, hops hadn’t been used until around 1000 A.D.
Beer, the first beverage appeared as a result of changed lifestyle for the early humans. Before, humans were nomads, who would follow their food (pg. 9). But starting about 12,000 years ago humans had picked up on a new lifestyle (pg. 9). These small bands of about 30 people were now settling down in more permanent areas and had abandoned their old ways of constantly traveling (pg. 9). This drastic turning point in human history seemed to primarily come from one reason, the discovery of beer (pg.11). As beer was basically formed from the gathering of barley and wheat, humans had to form some type of permanent residency, and abandon their old nomadic lifestyle (pg.11).
When beer was first created remains unknown, but it is known that there was no beer before 10,000 BCE and it was common in the Near East by 4,000 BCE.
Each drink has changed the world in many ways (good or bad). Starting with beer, beer steered people out of the hunting and gathering way of life into the agricultural lifestyle. People grew grains in order to make beer, but eventually in gave the people the idea that can also grow more crops instead of just grain. "Beer drinking was one of the many factors that helped tip the balance away from hunting and gathering and towards farming and sedentary lifestyle based on small settlements". Beer was also safer to drink than water because water was mostly contaminated. In the Stone Age, beer became the main drink, and it is still a popular drink today.
In a world where large, corporate breweries rule the market, craft beer is created to please an audience that applauds the styles, techniques and flavors. Though craft beer can be purchased through several different outlets, the best place to thoroughly enjoy the entire experience of the specially made beer is in the brewery where it was made. The article titled, “In Lean Times, a Stout Dream” in The Wall Street Journal1 states that, despite the hard economic times and consequent consumer cutbacks, sales of craft beer, the industry 's fastest-growing segment, rose
In terms of quality, the company created a premium beer by its selective use of ingredients and less water. Boston Beer has won honors such as being the first American beer sold in Germany due to its use of only barley, yeast, hops, and water as its ingredients. With the increase in health consciousness among beer drinkers and the rise in more distinctive and flavorful brews, the Boston Beer Company has been able
As beer started becoming a necessity, it showed the strong need for agriculture in society. People came together, to make an industry of beer, and creating civilizations.
Beer started out as gruel, and as the gruel fermented it turned into beer. Now it was not the first form of alcohol, but it was an important kind of alcohol. Beer was made from cereal crops, which were very abundant, and because it was so abundant it could be made whenever it was needed. They then found an even easier way to make beer by using beer-bread. Beer bread is basically everything needed to make beer in a loaf, making it convenient to store the raw beer materials. Beer started as just a social drink but then blossomed into a “hallmark of civilization”, as seen by the Mesopotamians. Grain was the basis of the national diet, it was
Beer: Beer was not invented, it was discovered. Exactly when the first beer was brewed is unknown but there was almost certainly no beer before 10,000 BCE. The rise of beer was closely associated with the domestication of the cereal grains rom which it is made and the adoption of farming. Beer originated in the Fertile Crescent in Egypt and Mesopotamia. To beer drinkers in the Neolithic period, beer’s ability to intoxicate and induce a state of altered consciousness seemed magical. This caused them to believe beer was a gift from the Gods. Since it was a gift from the gods, it was presented as a religious offering in religious ceremonies, agricultural fertility rites, and in
People drank more alcohol during this time than any other era. Alcohol was a huge part of everyday life. They drank it for many reasons, fear of unsanitary water, its medicinal properties and to keep them warm. Average Americans drank 8oz of alcohol on a daily basis. They had it with breakfast, lunch, dinner and also in the evening. They drank many different types of alcohol such as beer, rum, wine and a mix of other concoctions. One explanation for drinking so much alcohol was that the English had claimed that water was bad for your health. They felt that it was unsanitary and this may have been true during this time period. A “healthy” substitute for water was beer which was thought of as a type of food. Beer often replaced water as a daily drink. Children consumed beer in place of water. Many believed only the very poor drank water. It was even believed that it was bad for your health to drink cold water on a hot day. It was better to drink warm beer on a hot day. There were signs posted to warn people of this belief. When the Pilgrims came to America they brought more beer than water. Settlers of the frontier began to turn corn into whiskey as a substitute for beer. They felt this gave them strength to endure the manual labor that was required of living in the wilderness. Ingredients found in beer did not grow well in some parts of the colonies and soon cider became a popular drink. Apple orchards were
Beer originated in Egypt and Mesopotamia during the Neolithic period. Beer was not so much an ‘invention’ as it was a ‘discovery.’ It was a very social drink, meaning both the rich and the poor consumed it and due to the fact it was used in many religious ceremonies. Beer was also a reason that people during the Neolithic period adopted agriculture. Some purposes for the use of beer include wages for workers. Instead of paying workers with physical money, they instead paid them with beer. Beer also proved to have many medicinal benefits.
The discovery of beer happened around 10000 BCE. The hunter-gatherers, located in the Fertile Crescent, collected cereal grains because they could be stored for a number of months if kept dry and safe. The storage of grains made it harder to have a nomadic lifestyle; therefore the people started staying in one place. They would try to make water tight storage areas, however water did eventually get into them. After the grain would get wet and the people would cook it, it turned into gruel and when that was left sitting around for a few days it would turn into beer. Beer became important because it was safer to drink, due to the fact that you cooked it which got rid of bacteria. In the
Beer shows us that early civilizations were encouraged by the cultivation and storage of grain to develop permanent settlements. The history of beer also shows us that ancient civilizations were civilized enough to understand that contaminated water was unsafe to drink. Beer also shows us how the association of beer with a settled down lifestyle was more important to the people rather than the savage ways of prehistoric times. The use of beer as currency demonstrates the prosperity of the new civilizations as well as how beer had become a necessity to the people. The popularization of beer in the ancient world pushed civilization to develop a written language as a way to record the distribution of grain, beer, bread, and other goods.
Alcohol has been the lifeblood of civilization dating thousands of years back in time, and it is clear to see the culture impact it has made throughout history. People perceive alcohol in many different ways; depending on gender, age, religious background, or social upbringing. Throughout history alcohol has affected different cultures and various demographics. It has been a source of pleasure and aesthetic in many cultures, along with being one of the oldest rites of passage, especially in modern day American society. Alcohol and drinking were also an integral part of religious observances throughout history and culture. The use of alcohol can be seen as a social lubricant, and besides being a thirst quencher, it can play a pivotal role
Eventually beer also had other qualities that allowed farming to progress and that is that beer was not harmful to humans as water was (21). Because of this people found out different ways in which they could produce this drink by having different forms of agriculture advancing its form from regular seeds being planted to massive productions, just as did the Greeks and Romans did by using their slave population to farm all of their grapes for the wine in order to drive a successful wine market (71). Farming allowed for populations to grow from small villages to cities to then allow the adoption of beer and wine to become an essential product that drove agriculture to the civilization and growth of people. Along the same lines we can also see how this development of beer due to farming allowed people to become more than just any regular barbaric man, and show that they were people with class.
Beer has a long history. In 2000 B.C.E., Sumerians had prepared eight different beer types, ranging from “strong,” “red brown,” and “good dark” (Mauk, 2013). Breweries have created their own recipes, brewed their own beers—some with alcohol, some without. Over the past few years, craft beer gained steady market share away from the national and international breweries (Murray & O 'Neill, 2012). Separating one beer from the next is the product itself, and what the product has to offer. Competition is ferocious due to more informed, sophisticated consumers, as well as globalization and the spread of technology (Murray & O 'Neill, 2012).