A legend tells us that beer was created by mistake. A woman forgot a plate of cereal outside her house. After a storm the seeds got wet, so beer was born.
The true story of beer
Beer was born in Mesopotamia around 4500 BC. The first producers were the Sumerians, a minimum quantity was guaranteed for each segment of the population. The Babylonians then regulated its production in the famous Hammurabi Code. There was even a death sentence for those who watered down beer. Beer became a common drink in different civilizations and peoples, Egyptians, Greeks, Jews, it was a fundamental food for all. It was considered by many to be the favorite drink of the gods. Beer in the third millennium B.C. arrived in China where it was obtained from various cereals and obviously from rice.
Many consider the production of beer one of the factors that favored the development of modern civilization, as an element of socialization and human aggregation.
The Celts were a fundamental people in the spread of beer. Its consumption was very wide among Gauls, Britons and Irish.
In Ireland, legend has it that it was the hero Mag Meld who snatched the secret of brewing from the Fornorian monsters.
However, it was the monasteries that regulated its production and used hops to flavour it instead of other spices.
The master brewer was born as a professional figure around the year 1000 in Germany. Beer began to be brewed industrially throughout northern Europe. The first edict on purity was issued in 1516. The production was codified and it was declared that it could only consist of water, barley malt and hops.
Of course, beer production also remained in abbeys and monasteries. It was called "beer of the fathers" that intended for the monks, "convent beer" that intended for the nuns. The first schools of master brewers were born in northern Europe, the most famous became the one in Munich, still active today. In England and all over the Anglo-Saxon world the characteristic Pubs spread. Its diffusion was so wide that of course they began to tax it!!
Beer in modern times
The arrival in America took place thanks to the pilgrim fathers on the famous Mayflower in 1620. They landed at Plymouth Rock and the first building they thought of building was a brewery. The landing in the Americas was a revolution, new techniques were introduced that allowed to produce beer all year round, even the method of preservation was revolutionized.
Beer in Italy
The first diffusion of beer in Italy dates back to Etruscan times. At that time it was called "pevakh" and was produced from spelt and rye. Later they began to use wheat and honey. Among the Romans it was not very widespread. The Romans preferred wine. With the fall of the Empire, following the barbarian invasions, a greater use was made of it.
At the marriage of Maximilian I of Hapsburg with Bianca Maria Visconti in 1494, a mug of beer was offered to all Milanese, but still beer was only imported into Italy.
It was only thanks to the presence of the Austrians and in the 18th century that a properly Italian production began, especially in the North. The beers were high fermentation and very strong. The Italians unfortunately watered them down to make their taste more acceptable. Thanks to the Germans and Austrians, production improved a lot in Italy. "Le Malterie Italiane" in Avezzano was the first real factory in 1890.