One of the oldest known beer recipes was found in a Sumerian poem in honour of Ninkasi, the patron goddess of brewing, and is around 3,900 years old. It is mentioned again on Sumerian clay tablets, with cuneiform inscriptions believed to date from 2050 BCE. However, its history goes back even further, practically to the origins of our civilization. These origins are somewhat blurred since its emergence took place independently in different parts of the planet.
The most remote origins of beer
In what is now Iran, ceramic jars with evidence of the production of a drink related to beer have been found some 7,000 years ago. Other sources point to the oldest evidence in Mesopotamia, on another Sumerian tablet about 6,000 years old, which depicts several people drinking from a common vessel what is believed to be this alcoholic concoction. But the earliest confirmed evidence of barley, at least to date, was discovered in jar fragments found at the Iranian archaeological site of Godin Tepe, in the central Zagros, with an age of at least 5,000 years.
Also 5,000 years ago, knowledge of the drink was established in Neolithic Europe, where it was produced domestically, although some historians date its birth back to the Upper Paleolithic. Specifically, to the emergence of agriculture in 10,000 BC. And we must not forget the remains found in China that indicate that more than 7,000 years ago, the inhabitants of this Asian country were already producing and consuming a drink based on fermented barley.
And despite all this, despite so much evidence and clues found, it is not possible to determine a precise date. The reason? It could be the result of spontaneous alcoholic fermentation. Wheat or barley, like almost all cereals with certain sugars, are susceptible to coming into contact with wild yeasts carried by the wind and surrounded by certain additional circumstances, difficult but not impossible, to trigger the process.
In any case, the ability to produce bread and beer is considered to have been partly responsible for the abandonment of human itinerancy and the establishment of villages. The way in which human beings began to build civilization and equipped themselves with the conditions to develop technology. So they are an important part of who we are, even if we cannot place them in a specific timeline.
The connection between beer and bread
When early human societies evolved from gathering fruits, hunting or fishing to cultivating the land and raising animals, from being nomadic to sedentary, one of the first human plantations is believed to have been that of an ancestor of modern wheat.
This cereal, which on its own, like the rest of cereals, is not digested by the digestive system, is believed to have begun to be ground rudimentarily with stones by those ancestors in an attempt to make its consumption easier. Between one thing and another, at some point the grains would have been moistened, this sort of resulting paste would have been cooked by leaving it in the sun or near a fire. Bread, then, would have become part of human life.
But how do these commonly accepted speculations connect with beer? One of the most plausible hypotheses suggests that these porridges, used for bread, could have been left unused at some point. The passage of time would have caused fermentation in them, and that fermentation, a concoction with a certain sweet taste and sensations that could be described as comforting. The proximity of a heat source, again, would have allowed an infusion of cereals and a result like the one we imagine. The casual process would have been repeated intentionally and the rest, never better said, would be history.
The evolution of beer until the Middle Ages
The Sumerian civilization is considered the first and oldest civilization on the planet. It was located in the Middle East, occupying part of southern Mesopotamia, and the origin of its inhabitants is still unknown today. However, as we have seen, it is believed with considerable firmness that these first people, precursors of human societies, made beer or a very similar nectar.
But it was not only the Sumerians who enjoyed it. It is also known from ancient Armenian villages, ancient Babylon – from remains found -, notably Ancient Egypt and even Ancient Rome, although in Ancient Rome the most popular drink was wine. The drink became vital for civilizations that exploited the cultivation of cereal grains in Eurasia and North Africa, and ancient Greece also succumbed to it, becoming a prominent element in its diet.
In medieval Europe, beer continued to be consumed in great quantities. It was one of the most common drinks, mainly among the lower classes and especially in those areas where grape cultivation was more complex and, therefore, making wine was not an easy task. However, despite the belief that beer was consumed during this historical period more than water, it is nothing more than that: a belief, a myth related to the poor potability of medieval water. But it was cheaper than wine.
We cannot forget the important role played by the abbeys and monasteries of this period in the production of beer. Many religious orders dedicated themselves to the cultivation of cereals and the production of beer for their own consumption. In fact, during periods of fasting, beer was the only food source for these medieval monks, and the oldest brewery in the world, Weihenstephaner, dates back to this era.
The first treatise on beer was written in the 14th century, and it continued to evolve from its origins, perfecting its recipes and moving away from what it was at the beginning. It was during the medieval period, in fact, when one of the most common ingredients of the drink today, hops, would come onto the scene, eventually replacing gruit.
They would go from using almost all kinds of herbs for flavouring to mainly using this plant of the Humulus genus, which, in addition to providing organoleptic qualities, added preservative qualities. The origin, however, is not clear. It is suggested that the first to use it was a Carolingian abbot in the year 822, but the most widespread theory is that it was an abbess with a well-known name and surname, Hildegard of Bingen, who added hops to the beer wort some 300 years later.
The expansion and increase in demand for beer at a European level would continue over the following centuries with the improvement of societies until, in the year 1516, Emperor William IV of Bavaria decreed the so-called German Purity Law or Reinheitsgebot. This established the basic ingredients that the brew had to have: water, malted barley, and hops since the existence of yeast was still unknown. It would be added when the great French researcher Louis Pasteur identified it three centuries later.
The Modern Age, the Industrial Revolution, and the birth of the great beer styles
With the production of beer practically standardised with its basic and necessary ingredients, the profession of brewer continued to spread throughout Europe, especially in countries such as England and Germany, where authentic guilds were formed around this activity. However, it was still made in a rather artisanal way in small premises, supervised by the good eye of the master brewer and using wood fires to cook the ingredients.
This way of brewing beer would change radically with the arrival of the Industrial Revolution, its famous steam engine, and the various innovations typical of the time. The invention of the new malting machines and the application of the thermometer and densitometer to beer making, achieving much greater efficiencies, led to a certain industrialization of the process.
It is also a very interesting time because of the birth of many of the great styles we know today. It was, for example, at the beginning of the 19th century when bottom-fermented beers were perfected, as opposed to English ales. It was the German Gabriel Sedlmayr and the Austrian Anton Dreher who managed to popularize lager beers in Europe, and later Josef Groll who would apply his techniques to a new type of malt to create pilsner beer, styles that have ended up being among the most popular in the world.
The origin of other, somewhat earlier styles has more to do with finding a solution to transporting beer by sea without it deteriorating. Two very clear examples are the birth of the famous IPA or India Pale Ale and the Russian Imperial Stout.
In the first case, the aim was to send beer in good condition from England to its colonies in India, enduring a long sea voyage. The solution was to increase the amount of hops in its production, acting as a preservative, resulting in a much more bitter and aromatic beer. The second case is very similar. Rumours say that Tsar Peter the Great had fallen in love with English dark beers and had them sent to him from the British Isles. The solution to ensure that they arrived in good condition, enduring the freezing temperatures of the Baltic, was to increase the amount of alcohol and hops, giving rise to a new style of beer.
Already in the 20th century, specifically during the First World War, another style that endures to this day was born: session beers. During this time, workers in English ammunition and weapons factories worked piecework to supply their army and had very few hours of rest between shifts, the so-called session breaks. As it could not be otherwise, they took advantage of these short spaces of time to go to the nearest pub and have a few beers. Since it was not very effective for thousands of workers to return to their jobs in less than optimal conditions, low-alcohol beers, between 3 and 4%, began to become very popular, which inherited the name of session beers.
The boom of craft beer
It is not known exactly when, possibly between the 1970s and 1980s, a new wave of craft beer production began to emerge in the United States. The industrialization of beer has its advantages, but also its disadvantages. It is cheaper and standardizes flavors. In fact, one of the ideas of industrialization is that a beer should taste the same, regardless of where it is made.
But that also makes the beers more monotonous. Hundreds and thousands of people, tired of the same old boring flavours and beers with practically no aroma, make their own references at home, bringing back classic styles that seem to have been lost over time and innovating and experimenting with new ones. From making beer in the garage at home to setting up a small brewpub is just one step that requires a certain financial investment.
This movement soon landed in Europe , mainly through the United Kingdom, but also through Italy, with a nascent and very interesting beer scene. Other countries such as Belgium and Germany, where there is a preference for more classic styles, have also ended up succumbing to this force.
Without a doubt, the main protagonist of the craft beer boom is the IPA, that style born in the 18th century that is now experiencing a second youth thanks to the growing demand for increasingly hoppy, bitter, and aromatic beers. It is also the style that brewers are focusing on when presenting their innovations in the sector. We can no longer only enjoy the classic American or British IPAs, but these have given rise to a multitude of substyles such as NEIPA, Brut IPA or even Milkshake IPA with added lactose.
The beer industry, both industrial and craft, is experiencing a magnificent period and is in enviable health. On the one hand, it is worth noting that Belgian beer, with its multitude of styles ranging from lambic to tripel, was named Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2016, a real milestone in the world of beer.
On the other hand, the rise of craft beer has awakened the big industry, now aware that the consumer wants something more than a bland standard beer, and it spares no effort in trying to respond to that demand. Obviously, not all the incursions into the craft world by the big breweries are received equally well by the public, but the future is more than promising.
The history of beer in Spain
Although it may be hard to believe given the large amount of beer consumed in Spain today (it is estimated that each Spaniard drinks an average of 50 litres a year), our country has historically not been a big beer drinker, tending more towards wine. It was not until around the 1970s when this trend began to reverse, at a time of great social change, and when the beginning of mass tourism also influenced the rise of this drink.
But let’s start at the beginning. The first signs of beer making in our peninsula date back to the time of the Iberian peoples who consumed a fermented barley drink quite frequently. The arrival of the Greeks and Romans to our territory, their predilection for wine, and the ease of growing vines in this climate, slowed the evolution of beer in favour of wine, and it was not until the fall of the Roman Empire and the first contacts with the barbarian peoples of northern Europe that it regained certain popularity, but without going too far into local production.
In the Middle Ages, the same trend continued. Although it is possible that some monasteries devoted themselves to the production of this drink, their impact was minimal, and the assimilation of Roman customs by the Visigoths meant that wine continued to dominate the panorama of fermented drinks.
It was not until the arrival of the Austrians to power that beer achieved a new status in Spain. Let us remember that both Charles V and Philip the Handsome were kings born in Ghent and Bruges respectively, with a court of Flemish origin with tastes from northern Europe, including beer. In fact, Charles himself imported his favorite beer from Flanders, and over time it has become a true beer icon with various brands and references based on his figure. See, for example, the Spanish Legado de Yuste or the Belgian Charles Quint.
This taste for beer continued to be present during the Spanish reign of the first Bourbons, although never to belittle wine, especially considering the origin of this house of monarchs. But it was not until the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century that there was a real boom in beer in Spain thanks to the industrialization of this product and the appearance of the first industrial brands established in our country.
In the second half of the 1800s, some of the beer names that are still in use in our country began to emerge. Thus, Moritz and Damm were born in Barcelona, both founded by Alsatian immigrants, while Mahou appeared in Madrid, created by the Frenchman Casimiro Mahou. The trend soon spread to other parts of Spain such as Zaragoza (La Zaragozana, current manufacturer of Ámbar), Galicia (Hijos de Rivera – Estrella de Galicia), Seville (Cruzcampo), Malaga (Cervezas Victoria) and even overseas colonies, such as Manila (Philippines) where San Miguel was born.
With these elements and the growing import of foreign brands such as Carlsberg, Heineken, and Guinness, beer began to close the gap with wine until it reached the same level of per capita consumption for the first time in 1982 and has continued to grow steadily since then, with some small ups and downs, thanks above all to our well-established bar culture, the afternoon or tapas.
And as it could not be otherwise in the globalized world in which we live, craft beer has also made an appearance in Spain, perhaps later than in other countries, but it is here. Over the last 10 years, Spanish craft beer has grown significantly and it is estimated that there are already some 500 microbreweries in our country producing more than 40 million liters annually. In fact, Spain hosts what is possibly the most important craft beer festival in southern Europe: the Barcelona Beer Festival.
The big brands are not immune to this boom and have not been slow to invest in small breweries to get their piece of the pie. Thus, over the last few years brands such as La Cibeles, Tyris, Nómada, La Sagra or La Virgen have received strong financial injections from industrial breweries, both national and international. Now the question is to see how this market evolves and if there is enough market share for so many players because although artisanal beers are growing exponentially, their percentage of consumption compared to industrial beers is still practically insignificant.