THE HISTORY OF BEER
G'day folks,
Ever wondered about beer and its origins? Look no further.
If you’re
searching for an original brewmaster to toast the next time you knock back a
cold one, you might be out of luck. It’s difficult to attribute the invention
of beer to a particular culture or time period, but the world’s first fermented
beverages most likely emerged alongside the development of cereal agriculture
some 12,000 years ago. As hunter-gatherer tribes settled into agrarian
civilizations based around staple crops like wheat, rice, barley and maize,
they may have also stumbled upon the fermentation process and started brewing
beer. In fact, some anthropologists have argued that these early peoples’
insatiable thirst for hooch may have contributed to the Neolithic Revolution by
inspiring new agricultural technologies.
The earliest
known alcoholic beverage is a 9,000-year-old Chinese concoction made from rice,
honey and fruit, but the first barley beer was most likely born in the Middle
East. While people were no doubt imbibing it much earlier, hard evidence of
beer production dates back about 5,000 years to the Sumerians of ancient
Mesopotamia. Archeologists have unearthed ceramic vessels from 3400 B.C. still
sticky with beer residue, and 1800 B.C.’s “Hymn to Ninkasi”—an ode to the
Sumerian goddess of beer—describes a recipe for a beloved ancient brew made by
female priestesses. These nutrient-rich suds were a cornerstone of the Sumerian
diet, and were likely a safer alternative to drinking water from nearby rivers
and canals, which were often contaminated by animal waste.
Beer
consumption also flourished under the Babylonian Empire, but few ancient
cultures loved knocking back a few as much as the Egyptians. Workers along the
Nile were often paid with an allotment of a nutritious, sweet brew, and everyone
from pharaohs to peasants and even children drank beer as part of their
everyday diet. Many of these ancient beers were flavored with unusual additives
such as mandrake, dates and olive oil. More modern-tasting libations would not
arrive until the Middle Ages, when Christian monks and other artisans began
brewing beers seasoned with hops.
Now, here are a few shots of beer taken at various locations by a great Thai photographer, Wipaporn.Wi is a tour guide, and she often leaves these pictures on Facebook. Naturally, I saved them for a day like today. These are some of my favourite beers, not to mention their locations.
Clancy's comment: I love beer, having served heaps of it to others and drunk much of it all over the world.
Hic ... I'm ...
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