History of Craft Beer: from the origins to today
This is the most loved alcoholic drink all over the world, beer is rooted in ancient times.
It is the result of the fermentation of the cereals, beer was born 7000 years ago when the primitive people, tired to be nomad, decided to become stable on the territory committed to the cultivation of the land and, more specifically, of the cereals.
The legend tells that the birth of beer happens, actually, by chance: leftover of bread, forgot in a corner, fermented for some days catching the attention of the inhabitants of the village that appreciated its smell, inebriating and alcoholic, so that they wanted to reply the process until they produced the liquid with the same organoleptic properties.
The beer was born, and it is defined the nectar of gods, a blond, red, dark beverage that with its pungent smell and its soft and velvety taste, has literally conquered the human beings since the origins.
History of Craft Beer: Sumer
One of the first certain proof of the existence of beer is preserved inside the museum Louvre of Paris.
A cloy stele, called Blue Monument that can be dated back to the origins of the Sumer dynasty. It tells in details the offer to the Gods and here it is clearly highlighted a steam of beer next to honey and goats.
In this way we can lead back the origin of this drink to the first populations of the Asiatic countries where the primitive tribes stabilized the first settlements and gave life to the cultivation of barley and wheat, both of them are the main ingredients of the production of beer. From the beginning, the beer wasn’t filtered and it has a cloudy colour: given its thick consistency and it was tasted through a straw, and it was considered a precious product and used as salary for the workers of the age.
History of Craft Beer: the Egyptians
But it is during the Egyptian age that the beer was given the title of nectar of the Gods, becoming a precious beverage with magical powers.
Its inebriant effects, given by the alcoholic volume and the benefits of its structure and on the soul of its lovers. Beer was considered as a tool for the eternal life, so that inside some graves of the Egyptian age there are some reproductions of mini breweries, aimed to guarantee to the deceased the eternal life.
In this age, people perfected the techniques of production of beer and the professional figure of the brew master was born. There are numerous artistic proofs that portrait the ancient Egyptian producing beer, that have always more healing properties.
History of Craft Beer: Medieval time
In the medieval time, thanks to the development of the cultivations and the widening of the land properties, the drink is the result of the fermentation of the cereals. It lives a wide expansions and it becomes the main beverage of that age, served daily on the tables of thousand of people. The medieval age is ruled by the great phenomenon of the production of the beer for the religious monks, above all in the German regions that make them a real holy art, passed down from generations till today. Moreover, in the ‘800 the hop was introduced as main ingredient for the preservation of beer.
History of Craft Beer: the industrial revolution
In the XIX century, during the phenomenon of the industrial revolution, the craft tradition of the beer becomes viral and taking advantages of some inventions as the steam engine and the refrigeration, gained an aspect closer to the one known in the contemporary world.
The production of beer become, thus, becomes industrial and it lives a commercial development never seen before, becoming tasty and fresh, perfect for the summer months.
Thanks, finally, to the studies of Paseur on the yeast fermentation, also the taste of the beer was refined reducing the bad taste given by the proliferation of the bacteria at high temperatures.
The history of Craft Beer, glorious and fascinating, give to the beer a prestigious aurous of delicacy that made it consumption even more tasty.
