The accidental drink
Humans have been brewing and drinking beer for thousands of years. It is now the third most widely drunk beverage in the world (after tea and coffee), and it is brewed and drunk in almost every country (with the exception of strict Islamic nations such as Iran and Saudi Arabia). And yet it seems that beer was not actually invented, but came about by accident.
The arrival of beer coincided with the early cultivation of cereal crops several thousand years ago. No one knows exactly how or when it happened, but it seems likely that a crop such as barley was left standing in water somewhere in the cradle of civilisation, the Middle East. The atmosphere contains naturally occurring wild yeasts, which would have activated on contact with this mixture. Result: fermentation. Eureka! Beer had arrived. The earliest physical evidence of beer has been found in traces in containers found in present-day Iran, which date back 7,000 years.
Soon the recipe was being refined, with the addition of spices and other flavourings. Water was often unsafe to drink, so beer became a safe source of hydration. Ancient Sumerian society is famous for its love of beer: they used to drink it through straws (a technique also used in ancient Egypt). One of the earliest written references to beer came in the “Hymn to Ninkasi”, written around 1,800 years ago in tribute to the Sumerian goddess of beer:
“When you pour out the filtered beer of the collector vat,
It is the onrush of the Tigris and Euphrates.”
Pyramids built on beer
Meanwhile in ancient Egypt, beer became a kind of currency – labourers working on the pyramids were paid in beer. Beer ingredients and containers were included in Egyptian burial chambers. Detailed evidence of ancient Egyptian beer-making techniques has survived to this day, leading to a number of brewers, archaeologists and historians brewing replicas of Egyptian beer. In the 1990s the Courage brewery marketed Tutankhamun Ale, a beer brewed using emmer wheat similar to that used in ancient Egypt. And recently the British Museum led a project to create an authentic Egyptian beer, the results of which can be seen on YouTube in its entertaining and informative Pleasant Vices series. Flavourings such as coriander, cumin and rose petals were added to some of the brews, one of which, in the British Museum’s experiment, was brewed in a terracotta container for extra authenticity. The tasters, who included a bio-archaeologist, all seemed to think that the beers were eminently palatable (“citrusy”, “winey”).
The first pubs
By the time the ancient Romans arrived in Britain, beer was already well established. But the Romans moved things forward with the introduction of tabernae – taverns – the forbears of today’s pubs and inns. With these tabernae came the earliest pub furniture, which would have been very crude trestles, planks placed across barrels and suchlike. Individual pub chairs were a luxury that didn’t become commonplace for many hundreds of years.
Many early north European beers were brewed using “gruit”, a combination of flavourings and spices such as dandelion and burdock, but around 1,000AD, brewers began to use hops – or, more specifically, the flowers of the climbing hop plant (which had been used for centuries as a salad ingredient). Hops introduced new bitter flavours to beer, and also had anti-bacterial qualities, which meant less spoilage. Hops spread across Europe, arriving in Britain in the 1300s, being grown in huge quantities in Kent; here they were traditionally picked by holidaying East Enders, for whom this was often the only break from the smoky city they would get. There are, however, some brewers who have stuck to the old ways: today gruit beer is still made in Belgium and The Netherlands.
Beer for breakfast
By the late Middle Ages, in Britain, beer was drunk at every meal, including breakfast; as in ancient Egypt, it was a safer alternative to water, and much of it was of low strength (known as “small beer”). Average beer consumption at this time was more than a pint per person per day. In Germany, meanwhile, in the 16th century the powers that be in Bavaria decided that quality control was needed, so they came up with the famous beer purity laws of 1516 that are still in force in Germany today: only barley, hops and water can be used (elsewhere, ingredients such as rice and maize have become commonplace).
The subsequent centuries saw new types of beer being brewed: lager, using cool fermentation, and Pilsner, first brewed in the city of Pilsen, now in the Czech Republic. The lagers use yeasts and fermentation techniques that are different to those used in the brewing of ale. Other variations include white beer, so called because of its cloudy appearance, caused by yeast and wheat proteins suspended in the liquid.
Gin vs beer
In Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries, beer consumption fell as a result of the “gin craze”, the effects of which were depicted by the artist William Hogarth in his engraving, Gin Lane (which was shown alongside his Beer Street, showing the benefits of drinking beer). Legislation to reduce gin sales included the introduction of a new kind of pub, the beerhouse, which was cheaper to set up and run than the “gin palaces”. These premises were crudely furnished, with beer often served in jugs or straight from the barrel. The battle between gin and beer had been won by beer, with a little help from the government.
Fast-forward to the mid-20th century, when ubiquitous, fizzy, mass-produced beers such as Watneys Red Barrel gave rise to a backlash: the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), which was formed in 1971 to encourage smaller breweries that produced real ale, and which aimed to preserve the traditional British pub. “Real ale”, according to CAMRA’s definition, is beer that finishes the fermentation process in the barrel, or cask (hence “cask conditioned”). Although CAMRA has been subjected to some ridicule for its image as a haven for a certain type of bearded male beer drinker, its female membership has grown, and its campaigning has borne fruit: today Britain has a thriving brewing industry, with more than 2,000 breweries and microbreweries, many of them brewing the new generation of craft beers. Among the beers on offer today are gluten-free beers and beer made from leftover bread. CAMRA now has a membership of more than 190,000.
Elsewhere in the world, beer has been viewed very differently. In Russia, for instance, for centuries it wasn’t really seen as an alcoholic drink – this status was reserved for spirits such as vodka. Beer was marketed as a healthier alternative to spirits. However, in 2011 it was finally classified as an alcoholic beverage. In Iceland, by contrast, although beer was brewed and drunk by ancient Norsemen, beer was banned for most of the 20th century for reasons of temperance and also patriotism (beer was seen as Danish, and therefore unpatriotic). Only in 1989 was it finally legalised, which has led to a growth in Icelandic breweries, and a shift away from “hard” liquors towards beer.
Beer from a beard
Today beer comes in a glorious spectrum of flavours and variations. Among them is the New Belgium Brewery’s multi-flavoured Coconut Curry Hefeweizen, which would surely fall foul of Germany’s beer purity laws if it were brewed there. In Mexico, the Unknown Brewing Company has created a beer whose name roughly translates as “The Path of the Fiery Scorpion through the House of the Dead Chupacabra”. It is strong, around 10 per cent ABV, and among its ingredients are the remains of dead (food-grade) scorpions. The Wynkoop Brewing Company of Denver puts bull testicles in its stout. And Rogue Ales of Oregon came up with a beer that has a truly unique ingredient: it is made from yeast that was cultivated in the brewery owner’s beard. It is called, of course, Beard Beer.
Finally, which country in the world drinks the most beer? By volume, unsurprisingly, it is China. Per person? It’s the Czech Republic, at 143 litres per capita annually. As for Britain: surprisingly, given our long history of beer drinking, it comes in at a measly 25th in the league table of beer drunk per head.