History of Beer Essay

Beer was probably discovered by accident, when some of the nomadic tribes of the Middle East decided to settle down to an agricultural life depending on the cultivation of grain. In times of plenty the excess might have been stored for a possible future period of failure. Due to the damp storage condition the grain might have sprouted and germinated in a desperate bid to salvage the crop they must have made porridge by boiling the sprouted grain with water. This must have released sugar into the liquid resulting in a sweet tasting porridge. This was probably left in open to cool allowing the natural yeast of the atmosphere to settle on the porridge forming alcohol or what was a crude wash. There is evidence that the brewing process was established in Babylon as early as 6000 B.C. The Egyptians improved upon this process, which was diffused along the trade routes by the Greeks & the Romans. The Romans started brewing on a commercial basis to provide a substitute to wine. The term bear today covers all beer drinks such as ales, lagers & stout. Beer gets it’s name from Anglo Saxon Word called â€Å"Beer† meaning â€Å"BARLEY†. Beer is the national alconolic beverage of Great Britain. Although the basic traditional method of brewing beer is still being used now the whole production process is controlled by the programme equipment so that each phase is carried out at the exact time required and can be corrected if necessary. By this centralised control, consistency of the brew from batch to batch is better.