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Beer

This article is about the alcoholic drink. For other uses, see Beer (disambiguation).

Schlenkerla Rauchbier, a traditional smoked beer, being poured from a cask into a beer glass

Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grains—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The fermentation of the starch sugars in the wort produces ethanol and carbonation in the beer.[1] Beer is one of the oldest alcoholic drinks in the world,[2][3][4] the most widely consumed,[5] and the third most popular drink after water and tea.[6](p 1) Most modern beer is brewed with hops, which add bitterness and other flavours and act as a natural preservative and stabilising agent. Other flavouring agents, such as gruit, herbs, or fruits, may be included or used instead of hops. In commercial brewing, natural carbonation is often replaced with forced carbonation.[7]

Some of the earliest writings refer to the production and distribution of beer: the Code of Hammurabi included laws regulating it,[8] and "The Hymn to Ninkasi", a prayer to the Mesopotamian goddess of beer, a recipe for it.[9][10]

Beer is distributed in bottles and cans and is also commonly available on draught, particularly in pubs and bars. The brewing industry is a global business, consisting of several dominant multinational companies and many thousands of smaller producers ranging from brewpubs to regional breweries. The strength of modern beer is usually around 4% to 6% alcohol by volume (ABV).[11]

Beer forms part of the culture of many nations and is associated with social traditions such as beer festivals, as well as activities like pub crawling, pub quizzes, and pub games.

  1. ^ Barth, Roger (2013). The Chemistry of Beer: The Science in the suds. Wiley. ISBN 978-1-118-67497-0.
  2. ^ Rudgley, Richard (1993). The Alchemy of Culture: Intoxicants in society. London, UK: British Museum Press. ISBN 978-0714117362.
  3. ^ Arnold, John P. (2005). Origin and History of Beer and Brewing: From prehistoric times to the beginning of brewing science and technology (reprint ed.). Cleveland, OH: BeerBooks. ISBN 978-0-9662084-1-2.
  4. ^ McFarland, Ben (2009). World's Best Beers: One thousand craft brews from cask to glass. Sterling Publishing. p. 10. ISBN 978-1-4027-6694-7.
  5. ^ "Volume of world beer production". European Beer Guide. Retrieved 17 October 2006.
  6. ^ Nelson, Max (2005). The Barbarians' Beverage: A history of beer in ancient Europe. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-31121-2 – via Google Books.
  7. ^ "How beer is carbonated and why is beer fizzy?". Commercial Beers. about.com. Archived from the original on 23 January 2017. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
  8. ^ Helfferich, Carla (ed.). "Beer before bread". Alaska Science Forum. Geophysical Institute. Fairbanks, AK: University of Alaska. 1039. Archived from the original on 9 May 2008. Retrieved 13 May 2008.
  9. ^ Stuckey, Johanna, ed. (2006). "Nin-kasi: Mesopotamian goddess of beer". Spotlight. Matrifocus. Retrieved 13 May 2008.
  10. ^ Black, Jeremy A.; Cunningham, Graham; Robson, Eleanor (2004). The Literature of Ancient Sumer. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-926311-0.
  11. ^ "World's strongest beer reclaimed". BBC News. 16 February 2010. Retrieved 5 August 2015.

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