Beer started Civilization in Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt, when hunter gatherers found by accident that barley remaining in a container in the rain for a couple of days would start fermenting into an alcoholic beverage, and beer was born.
Proof of early beer predates barley bread by 3,000 years, and the desire to have more beer is the probable reason for the domestication of barley as well as the end of hunter gathering which led to the start of Civilization because of beer.
The effect Beer had on Civilization led to irrigation, the plough, the wheel, geometry for calculating land mass, mathematics for accounting, and writing to keep data.
Beer’s impact on starting Civilization is also evident from the fact that several of humanity’s earliest known writings including the Code Of Hammurabi refer to the distribution of beer including laws regulating public beer drinking venues.
A prayer to the Mesopotamian Goddess of beer served as both a prayer and as a technique of recalling the formula for beer.
Civilization in Ancient Egypt also started with beer which was regarded as a gift from the Gods. Wages of Egyptian employees were paid in beer, and the people who built the pyramids had been paid in Beer.
The age-old beer that helped start Civilization in Egypt had just 3 % alcohol compared to 4 to 6 % today.
Egypt’s beer was a staple food, serving as the national currency, and it was also utilized as a medical therapy.
Proof likewise shows that Beer helped modern Urban Civilization through a 1000 year old medieval beer brewing recipe that helped make unsafe water drinkable, saving millions of lives.
Monks had been the Master Brewers that made a huge profit by making as well as promoting beer, enticing individuals to come to church by the promise of an after mass brew.
America may also not have been settled if it weren’t for beer.
Water would spoil in the hold of a ship during a lengthy passage but beer was naturally preserved, therefore beer was essential to the profitable voyage of the Mayflower to Plymouth.
In-fact the Mayflower had been destined for Virginia, but when they ran out of beer, they landed at probably the nearest point which was Plymouth Rock.
The Settlers learnt how to make Beer using Acorns and created the very first network of Taverns, and from Taverns came the American revolution.
In December 1773, in Boston’s Green Dragon Tavern, the American Revolution began when the Sons of Liberty gathered to consume a couple of pints, and made their way to Boston Harbour with the Dutch Courage they had gathered after a few drinks.
America’s national anthem was also borrowed from an 18th century drinking song that had been used as a sobriety test to determine if a person was still good for another round.
In the 1850s Louis Pasteur attempted to discover the reason beer often spoiled, and after discovering bacteria in yeast, he concluded that if bacteria could make beer spoil, maybe it was also responsible for making folks ill.
From that realisation he created pasteurization, and recommended hand washing in the 1840s.
Lager beer arrived with German immigrants like Frederick Miller and Adolph Coors, but unlike the traditional Ales, Lagers had to be brewed gradually. Therefore, in 1881 an ammonia refrigeration machine was created for the Lager brewing process.
This invention also solved the problem of storage for perishable foods.
Beer Brewing companies also automated the production line at least 10 years before Henry Ford did so for the Ford Model T.
These days beer is the world’s most widely consumed alcoholic beverage, as well as being the third most famous drink after tea and drinking water.
In light of Beer’s impact on Human development, its safe to say the invention of Beer started Civilization as we know it today.
