The Basics 

all you need to know about:

Wines 

Beer  

Beer History 

Beer Brewing 

Beer Varieties 

How to taste beer 

 

Spirits 

Others 

home     The Basics     Beer     Beer History

Beer: The History

The first product that humans learned to make from grain and water, was beer. That was even before they learned how to make bread, which is made with the same ingredients. One of the first great works of the literature, the Gilgamesh Epic, references that human’s fondness of beer and other alcoholic drinks was a factor in our evolution from hunters to an agricultural society. Instead of going out and hunt al day, they prefered to stay in and drink beer.

The word "beer" comes from the Latin word 'bibere' meaning 'to drink'. The Greek goddess of agriculture, Ceres, is the root of the Spanish word for beer, Cerveza. Through chemical tests of ancient pottery jars it was revealed that beer was produced about 7000 years ago in what we know today as Iran. The first civilization to brew beer was the Samarians in Mesopotamia, who considered it a divine drink and offered it to their gods.

The art of brewery continued to spread to Israel, Egypt and Greece. Since it was perceived as a divine drink, it played an important role during temple ceremonies. It is believed that the Egyptians taught the Greeks how to brew beer. From the Greeks the knowledge was passed over to the Romans, who in turn taught the savage tribes in Britain. However, once wine became more prevalent in Rome, beer was only brewed on the extreme outskirts of the empire, where one could not get wine. Because of this, beer became known as a drink of the savages.
 

However, the drink got its stature back when the Christian monasteries began to brew it and improved it. Beer developed into what it is today, through industrial revolutions and the continued progression of the same cultures that brought it through the medieval times.