BeerSaturday Challenge #45. Travel through the history of beer.

We all know the pleasure of having a beer, but have we thought about its history? How many times have we tasted some beer with friends and on very few occasions we stop to think about the interesting aspects of their past and their origins.

It is known that beer has been consumed in almost all cultures, anthropological studies locate their origins in Mesopotamia, that is more than 7000 years ago, as proof of the antiquity of beer there is a Sumerian tablet where several people appear beer from the same container or jar through a hollow cane. Sumeria is a historical region that is located in the Middle East, towards the southern part of Mesopotamia, between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. That region is conceptualized as the cradle of our civilization.

In Sumeria, festivities and celebrations were very common, in fact the Sumerian word for a great meal or banquet is "Kas-de-a", which can be translated as "pouring beer". From this it can be said that the main fun at parties was ingesting large quantities of beer. As for the Sumerian society the consumption of beer was extended to all members of their society, so we find that prominent members such as queens and kings enjoyed tasting the delicious drink. The devotion for beer came and touched even the gods, so we can see that in the sacred places for the worship of the gods it was demanded that monumental offerings of food were presented every day and of course that they were accompanied with beer and wine.

In the year 5000 a.c. in Mesopotamia there were more than 20 types of different beers, which was given the generic name of "kas" intoxicating drink. This drink was offered at social events although there are sources that indicate that they were also offered at funeral mortuaries. In Sumeria the drink was malted and then subjected to a crushing process by means of a millstone to obtain a flour, which due to its almost liquid consistency was subjected to a fermentation process. This already fermented mixture was drunk by the upper class and by the rest of the town. In Mesopotamia they had as I mentioned a lot of beers, for example the so-called "munu" which corresponded to the "blond and white" beers, the so-called "titab", which corresponded to the "dark and black" beers, there were other beers, the "hiku", which were characterized by their watery composition, until they reached the so-called "iblakku", which were less watery in composition. The popularity of beer was so great that there was also a drink designed and specially made for women and it was called "ulusinu". To consume the beer, it was served in a vessel and it was taken using a cane to absorb the liquid, it was also served in individual long glasses which have been the reference to give the name of cane to the glasses that are served today in the taverns or bars.

Beer was of such importance in Mesopotamia that the craft of the brewery was regulated by the famous Hammurabi Code in terms of how to obtain its production and consumption of beer. The Code established that the tavern keeper was condemned to dying if he committed any fraud with the price of beer.

The Egyptians, negotiated with beer and were one of the first towns to do so, given the popularity that came to take beer for them, it was used to cancel or negotiate taxes. The name given by the Egyptians was "Zythum", they added their own touch, with the addition of ingredients to increase their aroma and color. The Chinese in antiquity also experimented with beer and made one which they gave the name of "kiu". The beer of the Chinese had ingredients such as: millet, rice, barley, spelled wheat. Also the pre-Columbian civilizations of America experimented with beer but used corn instead of barley.

Thanks to the trade they had with the Egyptians, both the Greeks and the Romans enjoyed beer, but it did not reach the popularity of wine among its population and this was largely due to the problem of producing it in the lands located in the Mediterranean.

Some towns located in northern Europe like the Germans, because they had better land, could adopt beer and learn the manufacturing process, perfecting the methods of obtaining an excellent beer. The reception was of such magnitude that they used it for the celebration of war victories and important dates.

One of the most popular and best-known beers in the world is the Pilsen beer, which began to be known when it was developed in the city of Pilsen in the 19th century, the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, today the Czech Republic, the pilsen is a beer which is characterized by being clear, bitter, with the main distinction of presenting a low fermentation, opposite to those exhibited by sweet and dark beers such as those made in Munich (Germany). This beer obtained a remarkable success, the Pilsen began to take that name precisely because it had its origin of manufacture in the city of Czech origin called Pilsen.

The name of cane related to beer comes from Sumeria itself. This drink was stored first in large tanks or jars and then it was served collectively in jars. To drink it as we mentioned earlier, long rods were used to enter the vessels to drink in groups, although beer was also drunk privately in homes. The objective of using the canes was basically to avoid ingesting the residual components that were on the surface of the beer.

In some Sumerian tombs located in the city of Ur de Caldea and which belonged to influential figures of the Sumerian society, there were found beer-drinking canes made of gold and lapis lazuli material (this is a material formed by alumina silicate, lime and bland, of intense blue color and great hardness). Even the Sumerians invented the custom of toasts with beer in specific glasses for it, especially long, which today in many parts are called "cañas".