History of Beer

The origins of beer are lost in the nights of time, between stories and legends. Those from ancient Egypt attribute its origin to a whim of Osiris.

Numerous anthropologists assure us that a thousand years ago, primitive man elaborated a drink based on cereal roots and wild fruits that were chewed beforehand in order to unlock their alcoholic fermentation. The resulting liquid was consumed with pleasure for relaxation. The oldest mention of beer, “a drink obtained from the fermentation of grains called siraku”, is found on clay tablets written in the Sumerian language, dated to approximately 4,000 years BC. A household recipe for making beer is revealed on the tablets: bread is baked and broken into crumbs; a mixture is prepared with water to obtain a drink that transforms people into “joyful, extroverted and happy”.

From the Middle East, beer extends along the oriental Mediterranean basin. The Egyptians collected Sumerian recipes and made a beer they named “zythum”, they discovered malt and added saffron, honey, ginger and cumin aiming to provide aroma and colour. While the Romans and Greeks considered it a drink of ordinary people, the peoples of northern Europe celebrated with beer at family events, religious solemnities and triumphs over their enemies.

In the Middle Ages, the “cerevisa monacorum” was born, high quality beer made by monks, whose secret was jealously guarded by each friar-chemist. The monks managed to improve the aspect, flavour and aroma of the drink.

Between the 14th and 16th Centuries, the first large beer breweries arose; those of Hamburg and Zirtau were among the most distinguished. At the end of the 15th Century, the Duke William IV of Bavaria passed the first law of German beer purity that ordered that barley malt, water, hops and yeast be used exclusively for its fabrication.

The authentic golden age of beer began at the end of the 18th Century with the incorporation of steam machinery into the brewing industry and the discovery of the new cold production formula, and peaked in the last third of the 19th Century, with the Pasteur’s findings of relevance to the fermentation process.