A Brief History Of Beer - Part 1 4300 Bc - Ad1502

4300 Bc

Babylonian clay tablets detail recipes for beer.

3000 Bc

Chinese brewed beer called "Kui."

3000Bc

The imperial Egypt of the Pharaohs- beer was already an foremost food item in the daily diet and was made from lightly baked barley bread. Beer was also used as a sacrament.

2100 Bc

Hammuabi, the 6th king of Babylonia specified provisions regulating the firm of tavern keepers in his great law code exterior the sale of beer. These laws were designed to safe the public. If an innkeeper gave a short portion their punishment was drowning.

2000Bc

Mesopotamia-A 4000 year old clay tablet recommend that brewing was a highly belief of profession, the maltsters being women.

2000 Bc

Shards of drinking cups found on the Isle of Skye in the Scottish Highlands recommend that beverages were made with heather flowers.

2000 Bc

An Assyrian tablet suggests that beer was among the first provisions that Noah took onto the ark.

1800 Bc

A hymn to Ninkasi, the Sumarian goddess of brewing,is a song of praise and also the oldest recorded beer recipe.

1600 Bc

A medical document list about 700 prescriptions, 100 of these contained the word 'beer'.

1550-1100 Bc

Archaeological excavations have found the proximity of beer-making utensils in the kitchen of Queen Nefertiti's temple at Tel el-Armana.

1200 Bc

Pharaoh Rameses ll made a each year gift of 30 000 gallons of beer to the Gods.

1000 Bc

· 3000 year old beer mugs were unearthed in Israel in the 1960's.
· Residue from a Norse ceremonial drinking pail gives evidence that the Danes were production beer from wheat, berries and bog myrtle.

450 Bc

Famous Greek writer Sophocles stressed moderation and recommended a diet of "bread, meat, green vegetables and zythos (beer)."

55 Bc

Roman Legions introduced beer to Northern Europe.

49 Bc

Julius Caesar, following the fateful crossing in 49 Bc of the River Rubicon, toasted his officers with beer. This was the starting of the Roman Civil War.

Ad 438-441

Senchus Mor, the book of the old laws of Ireland states that Saint Patrick had surrounded by his household a brewer, - a minister called Mescan.

Ad 540

Saint Mungo, the patron saint of Scotland's oldest city, Glasgow, established a religious brotherhood and one of the brothers started brewing to contribute the others.

Ad 580

Arnold who was ordained bishop of Metz, France in Ad 612 was the patron saint of brewing.

Ad 616

During the reign of King Ethelbert of Kent ale was made using spices instead of hops. This ale called Gruit was the chosen beverage for 500 years in England.

Ad 742-814

Christian ruler and emperor Charlemagne, who belief beer was an foremost item for moderate living, trained the realm's brewmasters himself.

Ad 822

Hops began to be grown in England.

Ad 1000

Hops began to be used in brewing processes.

Ad 1040

'Weihenstephan' a Benedictine monastery in Germany was the first known brewery.
12th Century
Hofbraus in Freising, Germany was originally the household brewery of the Bishop.

Ad 1158

When Saint Thomas A'Becket went to France in 1158 to seek the hand of a French princess for Prince Henry of England, he took several barrels of British ale as gifts.

Ad1200

Beer production is firmly established as a market firm in Germany, Austria and England.

Ad1251-1295

Duke Jan Primus of Belgium was acclaimed as the 'king of beer' and could drink 144 mugs during a singular feast. He also passed a law forbidding adulteration of beer.

Ad 1260

Duke Ludwig of Bavaria maintained his own brewery.

Ad 1295

King Wenceslas grants Pilsen of Bohemia brewing rights. (formerly Czechoslovakia, now Slovakia and Czech Republic).

Ad 1300's (late)

London had 2000 pubs to serve its 35000 citizens.

Ad 1367-1404

William of Wykeham founded a Pilgrim's Dole of ale and bread.

Ad 1400's

The primary 'lager' beer was made in Germany by storing beer in caves at the foothills of the Alps, which promoted slow clean fermentation.
15th Century

· Dutch beer begins to be imported to England.

· Before the fifteenth century beer was always known as ale and made from malted barley (or other grains) and water.

· In the fifteenth century beer was introduced from Flanders in Belgium using Hops for bittering and preserving.

· By the end of the century beer had almost substituted the old English sweet ale and was being exported to Europe.

Ad 1489

Germany's first brewing Guild, 'Brauerei Beck,' was established.

Ad1490

Columbus found Indians production beer from corn and black birch sap.

Ad 16th Century

· Flemish hop farmers migrate to Kent in England bringing their skills of growing hops and its uses in the production of beer.

· The Dean of St Pauls is credited with the invention of bottled ale.

· Beer first arrived in America on Christopher Columbus's ships.

Ad 1502

· Columbus found the natives of Central America production beer from "maize, resembling English beer".

· The Pilgrim Fathers landed at Plymouth Rock, instead of supplementary south as planned, partly because they were out of beer.

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