In the beginning...

In the first in a new series on the history of beer Dominic Roskrow looks at its earliest origins

The length of time human kind has spent perfecting the production of alcohol from grain is probably matched only by the time spent improving weapons to kill other humans.

Indeed which came first would make for an interesting debate.

There are parallels between the two pursuits. An alcoholic beer-like drink, for instance, was almost certainly discovered as a by-product of growing cereal for food. Perfecting weapons for killing other human beings was as a result of the pursuit of animals for meat.

In other words, both represent a movement from need to desire. Though given the pleasurable aspects of beer consumption, coupled with the importance of alcohol as a medicine, a cleanser and a tonic, it’s a pity that our ancestors didn’t spend more time with the drink than they did on the more difficult task of harnessing fire and projecting hard objects at each other.

Making alcohol is of course a relatively easy process because natural yeasts will cause fermentation in fruit without help. Indeed, as countless wildlife programmes have shown us, even wild animals have discovered the joys of rotting fruit at the end of the summer – and suffered as a consequence.

Extracting alcohol from grain is a little more complex, but many historians agree that beer was probably discovered by accident by the Sumerians at some point between the time when the first people gave up their nomadic lifestyle and started farming barley between 10,000 and 15,000 years BC, and the first clearly recorded r.....

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By Dominic Roskrow

Section : Beer history

Page number : 44