Brief History of Beer Flashcards
Give a brief history of beer
4000 BC - middle east - Sumer people
3000 BC - Babylonians
1550 BC - Egyptians
100 AD - Roman Empire
1000 AD - Most beer - ‘GRUIT’/‘GRUT’(German for herb) - bittered
822 AD - Introduction of Hops - mentioned in records in Germany.
Saint - Hidegarde of Bingen, - 1150 - hops added to beer ‘reduced the putrefaction’ caused by spoilage organisms.
Addition - slowly spread throughout EU; reached Britain - middle of 15th cent
1516 - The Reinheitsgebot
Who were the Sumer people and what did they contribute to beer
Sumer people - fermenting a form of bread to make a fermented pulp which had an intoxicating effect - a “divine drink”
Who were the Babylonians and what did they contribute to beer
up to 20 different types of beer.
Early beer - cloudy & unfiltered = usually drunk through a straw - avoid bitter solids from the brew
Who were the Egyptions and what did they contribute to beer?
beer and malt found buried in the tombs of the Pharaohs to provide sustenance for the afterlife.
What is Midas touch?
attempt to recreate ancient beer - made from ingredients found in 2,700-year-old drinking vessels from the tomb of King Midas = sweet & dry beer; taste is between beer, wine and mead.
What did the roman empire contribute to beer?
beer drunk extensively but preferred wine = introduced grapes into Southern part of the Empire
What was the beer like in the roman empire?
Beer - consumed fresh; served cloudy; little/no foam.
For taste - bitter herbs and spices used
Beer - didnt travel well - no preservatives(hops)introduced yet - easier to store and transport grains = brewers became part of lixae (roman camp followers for trading purposes).
What was the Reinheitsgebot?
world’s first food ingredient regulation is the German Purity Law - introduced in the Munich area in 1447 and extended to the whole of Bavaria in 1516. It later included the rest of Germany.
The law stipulated that beer could only be brewed from water, hops and malt – the use of yeast would come later - after it - identified as org = fermentation.
Where do we get the name ‘beer’ and ‘cerveza’ from?
The intoxicant known in English as beer' takes its name from the Latin bibere’ (by way of the German bier') meaning to drink’ and the Spanish word for beer, cerveza’ comes from the Latin word cerevisia' for of beer’, giving some indication of the long span human beings have been enjoying the drink. Even so, beer brewing did not originate with the Romans but began thousands of years earlier.
How do we know drink dates so far back? (Sumerians and Babylonians)
Paintings, poems, and myths depict both human beings and their gods enjoying beer which was consumed through a straw to filter out pieces of bread or herbs in the drink. The brew was thick, of the consistency of modern-day porridge, and the straw was invented by the Sumerians or the Babylonians, it is thought, specifically for the purpose of drinking beer
When was the first recipe of beer written down?
The Sumerian poem Hymn to Ninkasi is both a song of praise to the goddess of beer, Ninkasi, and a recipe for beer, first written down around 1800 BCE.
The beer had an alcohol concentration of 3.5%, very similar to modern beers, and had a ‘dry taste lacking in bitterness,’ ‘similar to hard apple cider.’
What word did sumerians use for beer?
The Sumerians had many different words for beer from sikaru to dida to ebir (which meant `beer mug’) and regarded the drink as a gift from the gods to promote human happiness and well being.
What was beer made from in sumerians society?
Beer was made from bippar (twice-baked barley bread) which was then fermented and beer brewing was always associated with baking.
What was the most popular beer in Egypt and why was beer consumed?
The most popular beer in Egypt was Heqet (or Hecht) which was a honey-flavored brew and their word for beer in general was zytum. The workers at the Giza plateau received beer rations three times a day and beer was often used throughout Egypt as compensation for labor.
What did the Egyptians think of beer?
The Egyptians believed that brewing was taught to human beings by the great god Osiris himself and in this, and other regards, they viewed beer in much the same way as the Mesopotamians did.
What did the Greeks and Romans think of beer?
Beer brewing traveled from Egypt to Greece (as we know from the Greek word for beer, zythos from the Egyptian zytum) but did not find the same receptive climate there. The Greeks favored strong wine over beer, as did the Romans after them, and both cultures considered beer a low-class drink of barbarians.
Wheres evidence for beer in germany?
known from great quantities of beer jugs, still containing evidence of the beer, in a tomb in the Village of Kasendorf in northern Bavaria, near Kulmbach.
What is beer without hops known as?
‘Gruit’ (or ‘grut’)
wild herbs: bog myrtle/lemon balm(Melissa officinalis), borage, St John’s wort, elderberries
Who is credited for adding hops to beer?
Saint - Hidegarde of Bingen, - 1150 - hops added to beer ‘reduced the putrefaction’ caused by spoilage organisms.
published a book called Physica Sacra, which translates best as “The Natural World”, “De Hoppho”, or “Concerning the hop”, - preservative qualities of hops when added to a beverage like beer.
What are the two main steps for brewing beer?
The brewer must derive the wort from malted grain
Then the wort is fermented
