Beer is a generic term used to describe a number of alcoholic beverages. Within this group are such fine thirst quenchers as Ales, Lagers and Porters & Stouts. More commonly known as Bitter, Lar-Gur and Guinness.

A brief history of beer.

But beer is a really old drink. The Egyptians used to drink it. Some theories put forward that the reason people shifted from the nomadic lifestyle, settled in the area of the Nile and Euphrates and became the Egyptians was so that they could grow grain. But for beer not bread. Archaeo-Botonist Dr. Delwen Sumnel even found traces of malted grain on one excavation and with the help of English brewer Scottish Courage, produced an approximation of what an Egyptian beer would have been like. Of course they couldn’t get it exactly right, for a start it was a lot clearer and weaker than what was produced in Ancient Egypt. The stuff they used to drink is better described as being as thick as porridge and as strong as whiskey. In some unscrupulous pubs you can still get beer that looks like porridge. It shouldn’t do, but it does. The Egyptians used to bottle their beer. Later, people seemed happy to just stick it in a wooden barrel for a week or two.

Beer around the globe

Where the styles came from

Almost every country seemed to have developed its own version of beer and every district its own variety. The climate affected the way the beer was brewed and the end product. The wetter the nation, the darker and heavier bodied the drink. Hence Ireland producing Guinness.

Lager came from central Europe, the word Lager actually means ‘to store’ and reflects the way the beer was traditionally brewed. Having been stored for six months before being drunk.

England came up with Ale, a sort of heavy going drink that kept out the cold of winter but wasn’t too heavy in the short summer season.

The development of beer

The different varieties available became refined through the generations of brewers into beers that would be more recognisable to us today

Some nations were more famed for their drinking than others, the Vikings being probably the most notable for their imbibing. There is a large amount of national pride in the beers produced, with each country saying that theirs are the best beers. High amongst these is the unlikely candidate of Belgium, where almost every beer has its own glass style to accompany it. Germany even went so far to protect it’s image as a nation of great brewers that it introduced the Purity Laws to guarantee the quality of the beer produced within its borders, while England put an age limit on who could drink the it. Around the globe though, there are a lot of laws relating to beer, some sensible, some curious, some confusing and some that are just down right silly.

Beer today

There is a vast culture surrounding beer that changes from country to country and if not observed can land the drinker in serious trouble, or at least without a beer.

But beer has become part of our lives and as our society becomes more and more high-tech is there a future for beer?

Almost certainly. Lots of breweries already have web sites advertising their wares, some of these even have on-line communities and one or two have chat rooms. Experiments in Cyber Pubs have already taken place in the US. You can sit in a bar in one state and by a drink for your friend sat at a bar in another state. What state you’ll end up in is another matter as they haven’t quite figured out about closing times across the time zones.

Video conferencing is already with us, video socialising is on its way!