Worldwide, 20,000 brands of beer are brewed in 180 styles, from ales, lagers, pilsner and stouts to bitters, cream ales and iced beers.
Beer has been a popular beverage for a long time. Babylonian clay tablets show detailed recipes of beer making in 4300 BC. Beer was also brewed by the ancient Chinese, Assyrians and Incas.
An Egyptian text of 1600 BC gives 100 medical prescriptions using beer. A few years ago, the New Castle Brewery in England brewed 1,000 bottles Tutankhamun Ale from a 3,200-year old recipe found in the sun temple of Queen Nefertiti.
Commercial beer making was established in 1200 AD in present-day Germany. In 1506, the German Purity Law is issued, specifying that beer ingredients must only be water, barley, wheat and hops. Bottling of beer started in 1605.
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The oldest brewery in Munich, the Augustiner brewery, was founded in 1294, when, on the order of the bishop of Freising, an Augustinian monastery was established at the Haberfeld, just outside the gates of the city. Munich was famous for its breweries operated by monks.
A true pilsner comes from the Pilsner, Czech Republic. The original pilsner was Pilsner Urquell (Plzensky Prazrod), meaning “The Original Spring of Pilsen.” It still is one of the most popular pilsner in the world.
The first beer brewery in the US opened in Manhattan in 1623. But the oldest contiuing brewery, running since 1829 is Yuengling in Schuylkill County in Pennsylvania.
The first Octoberfest was held in 1810 in Munich, Germany. It started as a wedding celebration.
Löwenbrau of Munich was founded 1373.
The Czech Republic has the highest per capita beer consumption in the world, at 155 litres (40 gal).
Sake, the Japanese rice brew, is closer to beer than wine by its production method.
The English word “brewer” refers to a male beer-maker; “brewster” to a female.
