The most popular drink in the world after tea is beer, an alcoholic beverage made from grain by a brewing method that involves fermentation, a chemical process converting starch to alcohol. The origin of the word beer is obscure; it may come from the Hebrew word for grain (based on the root bre), the Saxon word for barley (bere), or the Latin bibere (meaning “to drink”).Alcoholic beverages differ in the way they are made and in the amount of alcohol they contain. Beer is distinguished from others in that it is made from a variety of cereal grains such as barley, wheat, oats, rice, millet, maize, and sorghum. Starchy roots such as sweet potatoes and cassava (the tropical plant from which tapioca is obtained) are also used to make some beers. Brewing ProcessAll vegetable matter, if exposed to similar conditions of moisture, temperature, and yeasts, undergoes the process of decomposition that is called fermentation. Starch contained in cereal grains, however, cannot be fermented directly. It must be changed first into a sugar called maltose. The initial stage of brewing, therefore, is called malting. Malting. In the malting process grain, usually barley, is spread in a thin layer and steeped in water so that it can germinate, or develop, to a certain point. The choice of grain determines the flavor, body, and color of the final product. The germinated grain, which forms inside the husk, is called malt. This material is dried in a special oven, called a kiln, and is then cracked, liberating the malt from the husk. Mashing. The malt and the husks are then mashed in a mash tank or tun. Unmalted cereal grains such as rice, corn, wheat flour, or some form of barley are sometimes added to the malt in order to change the various qualities of the beer. Heated water is added so that the starches are converted to fermentable sugars. A high water temperature at this point produces a beer with less alcohol but more flavor. In a process called lautering, the mash is then filtered into a brew kettle, and the liquid is called the wort. Wort boiling. - The brewing process varies but usually includes these basic steps: grain is steeped in water while …
The next major stage involves the addition of hops or hop extracts; the hop is a climbing plant that produces cones, called hops, that are dried and used in brewing (see Hops). Hops are boiled with the wort to give the liquid a bitterness, aroma, and color not provided by the cereals or fermentation process. Hops also act somewhat as a preservative. The hop cones are removed after the boiling process and are used in making fertilizer. The leftover wort, called bittered wort, is pumped through a cooling system and filtered again. Fermentation. Bittered wort is fermented by the addition of strains of yeast. This process uses either a bottom-fermenting yeast strain, which falls to the bottom of the container when fermentation is complete, or a top-fermenting strain, which releases carbon dioxide and rises to the surface, forming a frothy “head.” When most of the fermentable material has been converted to alcohol, the beer is transferred to tanks for a slow, secondary fermentation, during which carbon dioxide is produced. After a period, called lagering, of several days to several months, the beer is ready for final processing and packaging. This process may include chill-proofing treatment and charging the liquid with carbon dioxide gas or adding other agents for flavor or color. The earliest brewing process was probably similar to this modern method. Barley was buried in pots and allowed to germinate. The resulting malt, mixed with water, fermented by exposure to airborne yeasts. Beer is often pasteurized at a temperature of 140° F (60° C) for 10 to 20 minutes. Draft, or draught, beer is not pasteurized but is placed in aluminum or stainless steel barrels and kept refrigerated until used. In England and parts of Europe, the term draught signifies noncarbonated. NATIONAL STYLESBeer comes in varied forms and styles. Terms used to describe it are often indistinct. “Beer” and “ale” are often erroneously used interchangeably in the United States, and “beer” and “lager” are often synonymous in Europe. United StatesMost beers produced in the United States are lager beers, produced by bottom-fermenting yeasts. The word lager is derived from the German word for storehouse. It is stored at a low temperature for several months, as it becomes carbonated and mellowed, and develops a medium hop flavor. Subcategories of lager beer include pilsner, Dortmunder, Munich, and California steam beer. In the late 20th century Dortmunder and pilsner were the most popular styles produced in the United States. The term pilsner, which describes light lagers, comes from Pilsen (now Plze, Czech Republic), where the brewery has been in continuous operation for more than 800 years. The terms pilsner and lager are interchangeable in much of the world. Munich beers are dark brown, creamy, full-bodied, and relatively malty tasting. Their color usually comes from the addition of roasted barley during the brewing process. Light Munich beers are called Dortmunder, a term that has almost disappeared from use in the United States. Steam beer is a unique United States beer. Brewed in San Francisco since the mid-19th century, it is made like a lager, with a bottom-fermenting yeast, but tastes and looks more like ale. It is fermented at a higher temperature than are lager beers. Another form of lager beer produced in the United States is malt liquor. This is darker and more bitter than regular beer, and it has a higher alcoholic content. A new style emerged during the weight-conscious decade of the 1970s—low-calorie beer, supported by heavy advertising campaigns. By the end of that decade, so-called light beers had achieved a significant share of the United States beer market. American beers in general often contain corn and rice in order to attain their characteristic dryness and distinct flavor. Beers brewed in the United States use hops grown in Oregon and Washington. These impart to the beer a harsher, more bitter taste than do the hops of the Czech Republic and Bavaria. EuropeEuropean beers rely almost exclusively on barley for the basic grain in brewing, providing the beer with a rich, malty taste and a relatively heavy texture. Several distinct German types are produced, however. One, called weissbier (white beer), is made from wheat and barley malt. First made in England, this tart, yeasty beer is served with fruit syrup and is now very popular in Germany, especially in Berlin. Another originally German product is bock beer, believed to have originated in Einbeck. This beer, which is heavy, dark, and strongly flavored, is brewed traditionally in the winter for consumption in the spring. Other German varieties include hell (pale), dunkel (dark), and Märzen, a seasonal product. Brewing is a leading component of the food and beverage industry in Germany. The Germans, who lead the Common Market countries in beer consumption, can boast of the Weihenstephan brewery in Munich, reputedly the oldest brewery in the world. Beer is the most popular alcoholic beverage in England and Ireland, accounting for more than three quarters of the total alcohol consumed. This marked preference is also seen in countries influenced by the British such as Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. Top-fermented beers are popular in Great Britain. The most widely sold beer in England is an ale called bitter, which is brewed from pale-ale malts with the addition of some corn and rice. Ale is more winelike than lager and requires additional aging in the bottle to develop its maximum strength and flavor. It is also fermented at a higher temperature for a shorter time. Porter, which is sweeter and dry, is made with charcoal or colored malt and has a less pronounced hop flavor than does ale. Porter was developed in the 1720s as a blend of ale and other beer. Finally, stout, which is brewed like ale, contains some roasted barley or malt to give it a darker color. Ale, porter, and stout all have a sharper, more strongly hopped flavor than do lagers and contain a slightly higher alcohol content, ranging from 4 to 6.5 percent. Other beverages termed beers are spruce beer, a fermented, sugary solution flavored with an extract of spruce leaves; mum, a beer treated with fir bark and various herbs; bragget, fermented honey and ale; mulled ale, ale heated and flavored with spices; and lambswool, which is flavored with roasted apples. Faro and Lambic, beers produced in Belgium by spontaneous fermentation with “wild” yeasts from the atmosphere, possess a very acidic taste. Kvass, a beer made from fermented rye bread, is produced in Russia. Most countries also produce “near beers” that contain either no alcohol or less than 0.5 percent alcohol. Asia and AfricaAlthough both Asia's and Africa's shares of world beer production remain relatively small, production on both continents increased sharply after 1970. The rate of growth from 1975 to 1979 was more than 35 percent in Asia and nearly 20 percent in Africa. African beers include khadi, made in Botswana, brewed from honey and wild berries; two sorghum-based drinks—burukutu (Nigeria) and Kaffir beer (South Africa), which are essentially fermented extracts of malted sorghum seeds with the addition, especially in Nigeria, of a starchy cassava preparation called gari; and bosa, a beer made from millet. Japan, the fifth largest world producer, dominates Asian production. The Germans built China's first brewery in 1903 in Qingdao (Ch'ing-tao), and at the founding of the republic in 1949 there were still only ten breweries in all of China. By the 1990s, however, China had over a hundred breweries. Asian beers made from materials other than barley include the Chinese samshu, Korean suk, and Japanese sake—all brewed from rice. Sake, the traditional beverage of Japan, is often called rice wine but is more properly a beer containing 14 to 17 percent alcohol. To make sake, rice is steamed and fermented, as in the malting process, with a yeast prepared from rice straw. HISTORYBeer was known to many early civilizations and was popular in climates not conducive to grape cultivation. Most of the beverages made from cereals over the last 8,000 years would now be considered beers. Ancient CivilizationsThe invention of fermented beverages from grain has been attributed to both the Sumerians and the Egyptians. Both civilizations are known to have produced an alcoholic drink more than 5,000 years ago. According to Egyptian legend, Osiris, the god of agriculture, taught humans to prepare beer. Beer was often an essential ingredient in Sumerian and Egyptian medicine. The Babylonians are thought to have made at least 16 types of beer from barley, wheat, and honey by 4000 BC. In South America, for centuries before the arrival of conquerors from Spain, the ancient Incas enjoyed a corn-based beer. There are ancient references to millet beers in China and Japan, and the similar African beer is a traditional beverage of Zaire and neighboring countries. EuropeThe process of brewing probably reached Western culture from Egypt via Greece, where the Roman author Pliny the Younger recorded the practice, including the use of hops. It is believed that beer was introduced into England by Roman armies, though in Great Britain the use of mead, made from honey and water, predates the Roman invasions by centuries. Most of the English terms used in modern brewing are of Anglo-Saxon or Northern European origin. Hops became popular in Europe as an herb that added flavor. Known in some parts of the world as early as the 8th century, hops were unknown in England until the 16th. Substitutes for hops once included pine buds, willow bark, and gentian. Ale was originally made of malt and water. When hops were added, ale came to mean a stronger malted drink. Medieval monks improved brewing techniques and served, in a way, as wholesalers. Beer was used in the Middle Ages as a commodity for trading, payment, and taxing. As towns developed, simple commercial operations also grew, and brewing and selling beer in the same establishment became a common practice. In the 14th century Hamburg, Germany, was the brewing center of Europe, home to more than 1,000 brewmasters. After the Industrial Revolution the large commercial brewery was developed, and breweries became distribution centers. North AmericaIn America beer was a popular item from the time of the first European settlements. The first colonial brewery was built in New Amsterdam in 1612. The brewing industry was encouraged by a policy of withholding taxes on brewery property. William Penn opened the first commercial brewery in Pennsylvania, and George Washington maintained a brewery on his estate at Mount Vernon, Va. Until about 1840, British-style ale predominated in the United States. With the influx of German immigrants, however, a lighter, milder beer became popular. Beer has continued to increase in popularity, though the number of breweries in the United States has declined: 82 million barrels (96 million hectoliters) were brewed by 407 companies in 1950, but 170 million barrels (200 million hectoliters) were brewed by 41 companies in 1979. Large manufacturers were replacing the traditional smaller local breweries. This trend began to reverse in the mid-1980s with the growth in popularity of so-called brew pubs, which also served food, and limited-production microbreweries. MARKETING AND REGULATIONAttempts to regulate the marketing and consumption of beer have existed since laws were first recorded. The oldest known code of laws, that of Hammurabi of Babylon (about 1770 BC), states that the death penalty could be imposed on those who watered down the beer they sold. Egyptian papyruses from around 1300 BC refer to the regulation of beer shops. Tavern keeping has paralleled the growth of trade, travel, and industry, and regulations applying to taverns have existed for centuries. In some countries alcoholic beverages themselves have been legally defined. In Germany, for example, beer must contain germinated barley, yeast, and hops. In the United States malt liquors were taxed as early as 1644, though brewing in general was exempt from restrictive legislation. It was in the latter part of the 18th century that the drinking of alcoholic beverages became an issue. Temperance organizations, founded in the early 1800s, developed into an antialcohol movement that culminated in the approval of the Prohibition Amendment to the Constitution, the Volstead Act, in 1919. After the closing of breweries, brewers produced commodities such as yeast, corn and malt syrup, and soft drinks. But with others they actively sought to have Prohibition repealed, which was achieved in 1933. Finland adopted national Prohibition in 1919 and repealed the legislation in 1931. India, Sweden, and Iceland are among the other countries that have attempted some form of prohibition. Many countries and communities regulate drinking ages, times, and selling conditions. But in countries where the enjoyment of beer has been a tradition, sales figures indicate that, no matter what the restrictions, the tradition is likely to continue. Recommended readings on the subject of beer and brewing include ‘The Simon & Schuster Pocket Guide to Beer', by Michael Jackson (revised, updated, and enlarged edition, 1991), and ‘Making Beer', by William J. Mares (Knopf, 1984). |