Fun Beer Facts

POUR ~ SMELL ~ SIP ~ SAVOR

• The oldest beverage known to mankind, Beer is traced back as far as 5000BC, and furthering evidence suggests Beer may go back as far as around 7000BC-8000BC.
• New studies provide further evidence that one of the main reasons mankind evolved from a hunter-gatherer race to one of agricultural and settled means was the harvesting of grains for sustenance, especially Beer.
• Long before the actual science behind fermentation was discovered and understood, Beer (and spirits in general) was considered to be a magical gift and blessing from the heavens above. A miraculous event, one which was not lost on religion and politics.
• The history of the United States of America would be quite different if the Mayflower had landed in New York, its original destination. Instead, it landed in PA because its supplies were running low, especially Beer.
• Our founding fathers, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin were all avid Beer enthusiasts and avid homebrewers. Many a day spent planning our revolution and writing our Declaration of Independence was spent over a pint at home or at their local pub.
• Beer may seem a silly reason to land sooner than later, but the modern convenience and marvel of clean, safe, and plentiful water is very new. For millennia, Beer was one of the safest beverages to drink because the boiling of water during brewing produced a sanitary, germ and virus free beverage. Besides being a safe source of refreshment, Beer was also highly nourishing, invigorating, and soothing during oft-times very harsh living conditions.
• The oldest written recipe is a poem written to the Goddess of Brewing, Ninkasi, praising her gift from the heavens, Beer, while also at the same time recording their native recipe for all times.
• The first unequivocal evidence of Hops being used in Beer as a flavoring, bittering, and preservative agent was recorded by the Abbess Hildegard. It describes in detail the use of and positive qualities of Hops in Beer.
• For centuries and throughout various civilizations and cultures, Woman was the brewer and purveyor of that thirst-quenching beverage known as Beer. Commonly known as a Brewmistress or Ale Wife, it is one of the earliest positions of power, control, and influence that Woman had. She could barter, sell, trade, and control her wares: Beer. Man, in his jealousy of the power Ale Wives and Brewmistresses held, revoked their right to brew and deemed that brewing be a profession of man, not woman. Today, brewmasters are both man and woman, with women enjoying a growing presence in the Beer brewing scene.
• In spite of or because of the near-death of Beer diversity in the face of universally mass-marketed, watered-down, adjunct riddled pale lagers, Beer is now enjoying a huge revival in styles, variety, and taste. Beer is truly the final frontier of fermentable beverages which enjoys a horizon with no end in sight.
• Beer does not taste like “Beer”. Beer can have aromas and flavors that run the gamut of sweet, sour, tart, dry, heavy, light; chocolate, coffee, tropical fruits, freshly squeezed lemons and limes and oranges, berries, plums, prunes, raisins, and dates, licorice root, spices and herbs, roots and vegetables, freshly baked breads, butter rolls, sweet rolls, vinous acidic notes, fields of grain, leather, saddlebags, barnyard funk, champagne-esque delicacy and pin-point carbonation, oats, and far more than I can list. Beer encompasses the best tastes of all the flavors in the world and then some, all conveniently packaged in a 12oz bottle, 220z bomber, or corked 750ml champagne bottle.