• Privacy
  • Cookies
  • Disclaimer Notice
  • Terms and Conditions
No Result
View All Result
Contact Us
  • Login
BeerExpert
  • Introduction to Beer
    The U.K. Union Jack flag flying against a blue sky

    Beer In The U.K. – A Changing Industry

    Campaigns that Have Raised the Profile of Beer

    Campaigns that Have Raised the Profile of Beer

    an empty wallet

    Beer & Taxation-A History

    Historical beer brewing scene

    History of Beer

    A field of barley

    What Makes a Beer?

    Real Ale at the New Inn, Whetherby

    The Revival of Real Ale in Uk

    a glass of beer sitting on a cask

    What is Cask Conditioned Beer?

    Louis Pasteur

    How Does Non Pasteurised Beer Differ?

    Is Guinness Better in the ‘Old Country’?

    Is Guinness Better in the ‘Old Country’?

  • Types of Beer
    Many bottles of beer on shelves

    Bottled Beer

    Draught bear pouring into a glass

    Draught Beer

    Bitter Beer

    Bitter Beer

    A mug of real ale surrounded by ingredients

    What is Real Ale?

    A mug of stout sitting on a bar

    Stout

    A tin of germs lager and an empty beer mug

    The History of Lager

    Beer By Region

    A selection of beers in a pub

    Strong, Light and Heavy Beers

    Facts About Beer, Beer Names And Breweries

  • Brewing Beer
    A neon craft bear sign in a bar

    Brewers: Craft Brewers

    A glass of beer on a wooden table

    Beer Recipes

    A rustic scene of home beer brewing

    How to Brew Your Own Beer

    Brewers: Family Brewers

    Brewers: Family Brewers

    Honey bees flying onto their hive

    How Can I Make My Own Honey Beer?

  • Drinking Beer
    Two women drinking pints of beer

    Finding The Ideal Beer For The Female Palette

    Man drinking and approving of a glass of beer

    The Beer Expert’s Top Five Beers To Savour

    A beer cocktail just prepared and about to be served

    Beer Cocktails

    A selection of beer glasses

    Beer Glasses

    A tray of beers

    Serving Beer

    A partially consumed pint of Guiness

    The Art of Guinness

    A refreshing glass of beer surrounded by seasonal berries

    Seasonal Beer

    Wide view of Oktoberfest German beer festival

    Beer Festivals

    A man getting out of bed with a hangover

    Avoiding that Hangover

  • World Beer
    Italian flag flying in the wind against a blue sky

    Italian Beer

    Boddington's Strangeways brewery chimney

    Is it Best for Local Breweries to be Locally Owned?

    bottles of beer oin an industrial production line

    Which Are the Big Brewing Corporations?

    Craft Brewing Revolution in the USA

    Craft Brewing Revolution in the USA

    cans of Budweiser lager

    How a Czech Beer Became the all American Budweiser

    Barrels of alcohol being destroyed during US Prohibition

    The Reason Mass Market US Beer is Tasteless

    a map showing India with the Indian flag laying on top

    Indian Beer

    What You Need To Know About Belgian Beer

    Beer from the Czech Republic

  • About Pubs
    An ice cold picture of amber beer

    How the Economy effects Beer Consumption

    A traditional English pub

    History of the Pub

    The Prospect of Whitby pub in London

    Famous Pubs

    Good Pub Essentials

    Good Pub Essentials

    Pub Games and Their History

    Pub Games and Their History

    Licensing Laws

    Licensing Laws

    Microbreweries: Saviour of British Pub Culture?

    The Decline of British Pubs

    Support Your Local Pub

  • Beer and Food
    Beer being poured from a bottle into a simmering pan of food

    Using Beer as an Ingredient

    A roast guinea fowl with a glass of beer in the background

    Recipes Using Beer

    Delicious food served with Glasses of beer

    Serving Beer With Food

    People celebrating with beer during a beach picnic

    Beer for Every Occasion

BeerExpert
  • Introduction to Beer
    The U.K. Union Jack flag flying against a blue sky

    Beer In The U.K. – A Changing Industry

    Campaigns that Have Raised the Profile of Beer

    Campaigns that Have Raised the Profile of Beer

    an empty wallet

    Beer & Taxation-A History

    Historical beer brewing scene

    History of Beer

    A field of barley

    What Makes a Beer?

    Real Ale at the New Inn, Whetherby

    The Revival of Real Ale in Uk

    a glass of beer sitting on a cask

    What is Cask Conditioned Beer?

    Louis Pasteur

    How Does Non Pasteurised Beer Differ?

    Is Guinness Better in the ‘Old Country’?

    Is Guinness Better in the ‘Old Country’?

  • Types of Beer
    Many bottles of beer on shelves

    Bottled Beer

    Draught bear pouring into a glass

    Draught Beer

    Bitter Beer

    Bitter Beer

    A mug of real ale surrounded by ingredients

    What is Real Ale?

    A mug of stout sitting on a bar

    Stout

    A tin of germs lager and an empty beer mug

    The History of Lager

    Beer By Region

    A selection of beers in a pub

    Strong, Light and Heavy Beers

    Facts About Beer, Beer Names And Breweries

  • Brewing Beer
    A neon craft bear sign in a bar

    Brewers: Craft Brewers

    A glass of beer on a wooden table

    Beer Recipes

    A rustic scene of home beer brewing

    How to Brew Your Own Beer

    Brewers: Family Brewers

    Brewers: Family Brewers

    Honey bees flying onto their hive

    How Can I Make My Own Honey Beer?

  • Drinking Beer
    Two women drinking pints of beer

    Finding The Ideal Beer For The Female Palette

    Man drinking and approving of a glass of beer

    The Beer Expert’s Top Five Beers To Savour

    A beer cocktail just prepared and about to be served

    Beer Cocktails

    A selection of beer glasses

    Beer Glasses

    A tray of beers

    Serving Beer

    A partially consumed pint of Guiness

    The Art of Guinness

    A refreshing glass of beer surrounded by seasonal berries

    Seasonal Beer

    Wide view of Oktoberfest German beer festival

    Beer Festivals

    A man getting out of bed with a hangover

    Avoiding that Hangover

  • World Beer
    Italian flag flying in the wind against a blue sky

    Italian Beer

    Boddington's Strangeways brewery chimney

    Is it Best for Local Breweries to be Locally Owned?

    bottles of beer oin an industrial production line

    Which Are the Big Brewing Corporations?

    Craft Brewing Revolution in the USA

    Craft Brewing Revolution in the USA

    cans of Budweiser lager

    How a Czech Beer Became the all American Budweiser

    Barrels of alcohol being destroyed during US Prohibition

    The Reason Mass Market US Beer is Tasteless

    a map showing India with the Indian flag laying on top

    Indian Beer

    What You Need To Know About Belgian Beer

    Beer from the Czech Republic

  • About Pubs
    An ice cold picture of amber beer

    How the Economy effects Beer Consumption

    A traditional English pub

    History of the Pub

    The Prospect of Whitby pub in London

    Famous Pubs

    Good Pub Essentials

    Good Pub Essentials

    Pub Games and Their History

    Pub Games and Their History

    Licensing Laws

    Licensing Laws

    Microbreweries: Saviour of British Pub Culture?

    The Decline of British Pubs

    Support Your Local Pub

  • Beer and Food
    Beer being poured from a bottle into a simmering pan of food

    Using Beer as an Ingredient

    A roast guinea fowl with a glass of beer in the background

    Recipes Using Beer

    Delicious food served with Glasses of beer

    Serving Beer With Food

    People celebrating with beer during a beach picnic

    Beer for Every Occasion

No Result
View All Result
Plugin Install : Cart Icon need WooCommerce plugin to be installed.
BeerExpert
No Result
View All Result
Home Introduction to Beer

History of Beer

Mike Watson by Mike Watson
4 years ago
in Introduction to Beer
44
0
Historical beer brewing scene

Image by G.C. from Pixabay

23
SHARES
227
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Made of barley, fermented yeast and water and various other ingredients (depending upon the recipe and region), beer is known to have been made by the ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians, and is likely to have been in production throughout the world since the 5th millennium B.C. Due to its relatively simple production and also the fact that it can be made from readily available crops (such as barley, sugar and hops) the development of beer is likely to have evolved separately across the five continents.

Beer Comes to the U.K

It is unclear exactly when beer was introduced to the U.K. but it is known that it moved westwards and northwards from it’s beginnings in North West Africa, migrating with the cultivation of barley and the movement of peoples. Beer was likely to have been drunk along by the Celtic druid populations that populated Britain before the arrival of the Romans.

The Romans noted that the Britons largely drank ‘ale’, comprising of barley, fermented yeast and water. The Roman occupiers of Britain attempted to introduce wine, but to no avail – the climate was not favourable to the growing of grapes.

By the Middle Ages, ‘ale’ was Britain’s number one drink, even being enjoyed for breakfast. However, it was not until the 1400’s that beer, as we understand it now, was enjoyed in Britain as merchants introduced ‘hops’ from Flanders and Holland: The tradition of drinking Belgian and Dutch imported beer goes back that far! At that point the distinction between beer and ale was born, ‘beer’ being ‘ale’ with the addition of hops (that gave a ‘bitter’ taste).

Up until the late Middle Ages individual households generally brewed beer on a small scale. Following this, monasteries and Abbeys started to brew ale and beer on a large scale for themselves and to quench the thirst of pilgrims. This led to further advances in the scale of production, whilst by 1550 hops became integral ingredient to beer. These days, beer is generally taken to be an ale with hops added, whilst ale is now generally taken to be a ‘dark’ beer – there are few real ‘ales’ left in production.

The Modern History of Beer

Beer is now in mass production with just a few major international breweries accounting for most of the annual turnover in profit from this highly popular beverage. Over the last 50 years lager, which previously accounted for only a small proportion of beer sales in the U.K. (chiefly in Scotland), has become Britain’s most popular variety of beer. Lager is brewed for longer than other beers (the German ‘lager’ meaning ‘storage’), hence undergoing further carbonation, and producing more ‘fizz’.

Whilst multinational breweries dominate the beer industry, small-scale ‘regional’ breweries and ‘pub breweries’, who produce lagers using traditional methods have become popular over the last 10-20 years, conveying a desire for a return to diverse and varied selection of beers, that reflect local tastes and brewing methods.

Beer is a staple part of the national diet across nations and can be enjoyed on a variety of occasions. Its rich history reflects its cross-cultural appeal, whilst the range of tastes available invites the sampling of beer going far beyond the confines of the pub.

Whilst a resurgence of interest in traditional beer and pubs has done much recently to increase our enjoyment of beer, the emergence of ‘gastro pubs’ and the increased popularity of restaurant eating in an era relative prosperity beckon forth the consideration of beer as an accompaniment to quality food.

Crack open a beverage, relax, read on and discover the wealth of experiences open to the beer drinker in the 21st century!

Share9Tweet6
Mike Watson

Mike Watson

Related Posts

A pint cold pint of Guinness

Is Guinness Really a ‘Meal in a Glass’?

by Haydn Mullineux
27 May 2021
0

Popularly referred to as a “meal in a glass”, does Guinness really offer sufficient nourishment required to keep a body...

Campaigns that Have Raised the Profile of Beer

Campaigns that Have Raised the Profile of Beer

by Mike Watson
27 May 2021
0

Beer has been a staple product of the British diet and social scene for well over one thousand years (the...

Is Guinness Better in the ‘Old Country’?

Is Guinness Better in the ‘Old Country’?

by Haydn Mullineux
27 May 2021
0

There are those that claim you’ve never tasted the best Guinness unless you’ve supped one in Ireland, but is this...

Next Post
Man drinking and approving of a glass of beer

The Beer Expert's Top Five Beers To Savour

Please login to join discussion
  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
Is Guinness Better in the ‘Old Country’?

Is Guinness Better in the ‘Old Country’?

27 May 2021
A pint of beer on a table in an old pub

Why Brits Traditionally Enjoy Warm Beer

27 May 2021
A pint cold pint of Guinness

Is Guinness Really a ‘Meal in a Glass’?

27 May 2021
Two women drinking pints of beer

Finding The Ideal Beer For The Female Palette

27 May 2021

What You Need To Know About Belgian Beer

0

Beer from the Czech Republic

0

France

0

German Beer

0
Two women drinking pints of beer

Finding The Ideal Beer For The Female Palette

27 May 2021

Facts About Beer, Beer Names And Breweries

27 May 2021
People celebrating with beer during a beach picnic

Beer for Every Occasion

27 May 2021
Delicious food served with Glasses of beer

Serving Beer With Food

27 May 2021
BeerExpert

Boasting a culture and heritage at least as rich and varied as wine or spirits, beer is no longer seen as merely a crude intoxicant knocked back on a Friday night to help blot out the everyday. It has become not only something you drink, but something you taste, appreciate, cook with, brew yourself and celebrate! In the absence of a single UK beer information resource, BeerExpert has been brewed up by a team of aficionados with the aim of aiding navigation through the heady waters of the beer world.

Categories

  • About Pubs
  • Beer and Food
  • Brewing Beer
  • Drinking Beer
  • Introduction to Beer
  • Types of Beer
  • World Beer

Recent News

Two women drinking pints of beer

Finding The Ideal Beer For The Female Palette

27 May 2021

Facts About Beer, Beer Names And Breweries

27 May 2021
People celebrating with beer during a beach picnic

Beer for Every Occasion

27 May 2021

© 2024 BeerExpert.co.uk

Welcome Back!

Sign In with Google
OR

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
BeerExpert
No Result
View All Result
  • Introduction to Beer
  • Types of Beer
  • Brewing Beer
  • Drinking Beer
  • World Beer
  • About Pubs
  • Beer and Food

© 2024 BeerExpert.co.uk