Who doesn’t enjoy a nice cold beer at the end of a hard week or day, being able to sit out on a patio with friends or in a nice homey pub? Some people like beer so much that they’ve even chosen to immortalize their favourite drink on their skin as a tattoo!


Many people go for a realistic depiction of their drink of choice, but neo-traditional, American traditional, new school, and black and grey are also popular.


Now for some cool facts; Did you know that beer is actually the oldest recorded recipe in the world? Ancient Egyptians first recorded their recipes on scrolls that date back to around 5000 BCE, and was brewed with ingredients such as dates, pomegranate, and other local fruits and herbs. This early form of beer was used mainly in religious ceremonies, and was controlled directly by the Pharaoh of the time.


While beer recipes were written down around 5000 BCE, it is believed that the ancient Mesopotamians were also brewing beer, around 10,000 BCE based on the malted barley and bowls with a beer-like residue that have been found by archaeologists. This beer eventually made its way over to Europe from the Middle East, and became an important part of life for nearly everyone. Northern Europe in particular brewed a lot of beer, in large part due to the crops like barley that they were able to grow. Beer even became a popular alternative to water because it was often cleaner to drink (lots of water at that time was pretty badly contaminated by human and animal waste).


Beer that is more similar to what you and I drink today was made in the early Middle Ages, combining hops and other herbs and spices to the barley that had already been used for a few hundred years. Around the year 1150, monks from Germany started using wild hops in beer and it caught on quick. It also acted as a natural preservative, allowing beer to last longer before needing to be drunk. While Pharaohs were the main brewers in Egypt thousands of years ago, monks were the main brewers in the Middle Ages, with almost all monasteries having an onsite brewery. Even today a number of Belgian monasteries still produce beer and rank as some of the best in the world.


What’s your favourite kind of beer?
Edited by Harrison R.
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