Beer has recently been recognised as the world's most popular drink

Feature Story:

Raising a glass to beer's sucess

BEER HAS RECENTLY BEEN RECOGNIZED AS THE WORLD’S MOST POPULAR DRINK. PAUL SYLVESTER TAKES US THROUGH BEER’S EVENTFUL JOURNEY FROM ‘LIQUID BREAD’ MADE 6,000 YEARS AGO TO TODAY’S MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR INDUSTRY.

Sharing a beer with friends is a common theme across the globe
Where and when brewing began has been the subject of much discussion over the years by
academics, historians and archaeologists. The truth is that no single civilization can claim to have invented beer – or ‘liquid bread’ as it was once known – as it was certainly being produced in many different countries across the world from about 4500BC onwards and possibly even before then. And therein lies the beverage’s essential beauty: every country has mastered its own beer with its own distinctive characteristics and taste. That’s still the case today, even with the world’s superbrewers spreading their reach to the furthermost parts of the globe.

Early ‘bread ’ beers
But let’s go back to the beginning. Beer, the world’s oldest man-made drink, is the product of
fermentation of sugar into alcohol by yeast. Art from 4500BC showed the Sumerians (who lived in what is now Iraq, between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers) drinking beer communally through a straw, and that early spirit of people sharing a drink lives on to the present. Sharing a beer with friends is a common theme across the globe. And throughout the centuries beer makers have tested out new recipes and refined the process. The Babylonians (rulers of Mesopotamia), who derived their culture from the Sumerians, were among the first people to develop the science of brewing: there is evidence from that period of 20 different recipes using wheat, barley and honey to make cloudy and unfiltered beer ... Download the Magazine (below) to read the complete article

<--- Link to PDF file