Wikipedia Tour: Beer 101 (1 of 20)
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Wikipedia Tour: Beer 101
Welcome to our Wikipedia Tour: Beer 101. Each day we’ll send you a link to a new article about beer on Wikipedia. The introduction to each day’s article is included in the installment so you can choose to read just the introduction or the full article.
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History of beer
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Beer is one of the world's oldest beverages,[1][2] with the history of beer dating back to the 6th millennium BC, and being recorded in the written history of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia.[3] The earliest Sumerian writings contain references to beer. A prayer to the goddess Ninkasi known as "The Hymn to Ninkasi" serves as both a prayer as well as a method of remembering the recipe for beer in a culture with few literate people.[4][5]
As almost any substance containing carbohydrates, mainly sugar or starch, can naturally undergo fermentation, it is likely that beer-like beverages were independently invented among various cultures throughout the world. The invention of bread and beer has been argued to be responsible for humanity's ability to develop technology and build civilization.[6][7][8] The earliest known chemical evidence of beer dates to circa 3500–3100 BC from the site of Godin Tepe in the Zagros Mountains of western Iran.[9]
Beer was known to Germanic and Celtic tribes in Europe as far back as 3000 BC,[10] though was mainly brewed on a domestic scale.[11]
Beer produced before the Industrial Revolution continued to be made and sold on a domestic scale, although by the 7th century AD beer was also being produced and sold by European monasteries. During the Industrial Revolution, the production of beer moved from artisanal manufacture to industrial manufacture, and domestic manufacture ceased to be significant by the end of the 19th century.[12] The development of hydrometers and thermometers changed brewing by allowing the brewer more control of the process, and greater knowledge of the results.
Today, the brewing industry is a global business, consisting of several dominant multinational companies and many thousands of smaller producers ranging from brewpubs to regional breweries.[13] More than 133 billion liters (35 billion gallons) are sold per year—producing total global revenues of $294.5 billion (£147.7 billion) in 2006.[14]
Contents
- 1 Early beers
- 2 Medieval Europe
- 3 Early modern Europe
- 4 Asia
- 5 The Industrial Revolution
- 6 Modern beer
- 7 Mythology
- 8 References
- 9 Bibliography
- 10 External links
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Wikipedia Tour: Beer 101
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Wikipedia Tour: Beer 101
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