How The Discovery of Beer Led to Civilization As We Know It

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

[font=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif]A[/font][font=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif]ccording to one prominent anthropologist, what lured our ancient ancestors out of their caves may not have been a thirst for knowledge, but a thirst for beer.[/font]

[font=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif]Dr. Solomon Katz theorizes that when man learned to ferment grain into beer more than 10,000 years ago, it became one of his most important sources of nutrition. Beer gave people protein that unfermented grain couldn't supply. And besides, it tasted a whole lot better than the unfermented grain did. [/font][font=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif]But in order to have a steady supply of beer, it was necessary to have a steady supply of beer's ingredients. Man had to give up his nomadic ways, settle down, and begin farming. And once he did, civilization was just a stone's throw away. [/font]

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OK this is from a site that definitely has vested interests, but worth a read nonetheless: http://www.beerinstitute.org/history1.htm

 

[Lacedaemonian]

Seems a bit of a sketchy hypothesis, but interesting non the less.

 

[Hypes]

I prefer the how to cook with beer part... Amazing stuff.

 

[Brian G Turner]

I've heard of this and it is actually quite an interesting argument.

 

[scalem X]

You forgot the part of beer also being a way to keep your water in a drinkable state for a long time.mmmm beer

 

[Cricket]

I believe it sounds very nice good. Only, I believe it was women who would have done this. Moving around is so tiring. To get the men to settle down, they had to think of something. Gathering berries and plants along the path of migration is not as nice as living in one place. To get men to do this, we had to think of something very powerful to keep them in one place. I guess it worked somewhat well. Now they just go to games and come home after drinking. Our mothers tried.

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

A plausible addition to the theory. And the next time a girl tells me off for drinking too much beer, I shall be sure to quote you.

 

[littlemissattitude]

Well, I certainly know a few people who would love this theory (as much as they love beer, I'd wager ). And I agree with Cricket that there was probably some female input into the whole process, since the women probably had to do all the work whenever the men would decide to pick up and move.

 

[Cricket]

I forgot to put, "Hehe," after my answer above so everyone knew I was a little serious, but also joking.

But, I did see such a show on Discovery about the early man and how they came to establish the first farms. It did not mention beer, I think, but it did say many of the farms and first settlement were at the place for generations the women had planted seeds along the route of migration, so that the next year when they passed there would be food to pick. So, I kind of early farming. It stayed in their memory, and they were intelligent enough to understand that planting seeds in one place would bring more and more food. I remember, however, that instead of beer, they believed it was wine that they did discover then. I don't know. That is what the show said, and it is not something we talk about in school.

But men do their part. Hehe.

 

[Esioul]

When was yeast discovered? I've always wondered that.

I like food cooked with beer, but I despise it as a drink.

 

[littlemissattitude]

I find beer to be an acquired taste. I quite surprised myself when I acquired a taste for it, because I've always absolutely hated how beer smells. I'm not a big beer drinker, but a nice cold one is a good thing once in awhile.

 

[Brian G Turner]

The yeast question has also bugged me, actually. When? Where? How?

 

[Esioul]

I've no idea. I have a vague memory that Heiser discussed it in his book 'Seed to Civilisation' but I can't quite remember the details. I think it may be one of those things that no one is sure about- the question was, was yeast discovered before things like wheat and barley, or was it discovered in order to make beer. So did bread or beer come first? But the Sumerians drank beer so I'm assuming that it was invented in the Near East.

 

[scalem X]

I live in the beer country, so if you want to taste real beer; come to Belgium.

We have over 200 different brands, so Esioul, there must be some that you like.(the 'kriek' is most favored among women)

Look out nevertheless while drinking Belgian beer the way you drink English, some are served in 33cl glasses, but have over 12.5 degrees of alcohol in it(same as wine, you usually drink wine in 12.5cl glasses).

Approximately 2.3 glasses= 1 bottle of wine that is .

 

[Sirathiel]

Beer does not equal beer. I myself don't like it too much, but I know that Germans don't have the taste for English beer. They're not too impressed with French beer either... What they think about Belgian beer I don't know. But they drink lots of German beer...

I'm sure you all know the stereotypical representation of a German... 'nuff said...

 

[scalem X]

Well the Germans try to hide their lesser quality by huge quantity. Do the French make beer??? What most people dislike about English beer in general is the weird habit to serve it tepid. Some Belgian beer isn't drinkable either, but we all know Dutch beer is the worst. The best foreign beer is probably Guinness (hope I wrote it right).

 

[Sirathiel]

Lesser quality?! I dare to doubt that. I never tasted Belgian beer, but I know that Germans take quite some pride in their beer, especially following the (in)famous "Reinheitsgebot" (please excuse my lack of a translation), which regulated strictly the ingredients allowed for beer production. I'm not sure if that rule is still in effect with the EU and everything.

And yes, the French make beer. Kronenbourg, for example, is produced in Strasbourg. I'm sure there are other brands, but I'm not so well versed in what concerns French beer.

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

My own favourite beer, naturally, is Kingfisher Premium Lager, served cold. I understand it is available in some places in the UK, Indian retaruants I suppose.

 

[Esioul]

Oh dear.... I'd better not discuss archaeology. I've annoyed people on another forum by insisting that Atlantis doesn't exist. You know which forum, Scalem.

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

No, no, please do talk archaeology. Anything but Latin.