SERVUS

We owe beer much more than it might seem at first glance. Of course, we can be endlessly grateful to the Spaten brewery and Carl von Linde, who, at their request, invented the refrigerator – but that’s just a small part of what beer has given us.

The rise of civilization, which began with the cultivation of barley and wheat, is an undisputed fact. That small step for man, that giant leap for mankind nudged us toward a sedentary lifestyle, the emergence of the first cities, writing, and organized states.

What remains a mystery are the motives that drove humans to switch from hunting to farming. The mild climate of the Fertile Crescent allowed grass to stay green year-round – meaning game was abundant and easy to hunt. Early wild grains had disastrously low yields and didn’t even ripen all at once. Farming required far more labor than hunting, delivered fewer calories, and the grain dust from stone grinding wore teeth down to stubs by age thirty. So why would our ancestors give up a lifestyle of 20 hours of hunting and gathering per week just to become overworked hamsters in a wheel?

    According to one theory (put forward by evolutionary biologist Dr. Josef Reichholf – naturally, from Munich), it was all about the drink. A brew made from cooked and fermented grains that brought on a gentle, cheerful buzz. The earliest “breweries” found in southern Turkey and northern Israel seem to have had ritual purposes – monastery-style breweries in prehistoric Turkey, if you will – and brought together nomadic tribes for annual beer festivals. At some point, someone probably suggested meeting more often, and… well, you know how that goes.

However it started, beer has been with us for at least 12 to 15 thousand years. It’s no coincidence that the English and German words for bread and brewing share the same roots – for millennia, it was women (yes, they were the first brewers) who prepared both regular and “liquid bread” from grain. Though perhaps, more accurately, we should call bread solid beer 😉

    But we didn’t stop there. Beer, which began essentially as sour porridge that Sumerians and Egyptians drank through a straw from a clay pot – and Vikings quaffed as something dark, smoky, and resinous – now dazzles with its diversity of styles, flavors, and aromas. Today, beer can be bitter, sweet, sour, salty, even gluten-free and alcohol-free!

Just look at its color, admire the foamy head, breathe in the aroma of malt and hops, and take a deep sip to treat your taste buds – you’re enjoying the oldest prepared beverage known to humankind…

    Prost!