. Beer can be made using almost any cereal and undergo the fermentation process, making this popular beverage the first alcoholic beverage in the world. The process has changed throughout the years, as has the taste, but without the evolution, we could never be enjoying a draft beer at our favorite pub.

Around the World

Every country has its own history about beer that has helped put beer on the map. Egyptians used beer as far back as historians can trace for a beverage but also as a healing remedy. Five thousand years ago, the Chinese were busy brewing beer that they called kui. As Christianity grew across the globe, so did the production of beer as monks were responsible for brewing it in many cases.

The Packaging Process

The way in which beer was packaged has also evolved over the years. The ancients used the same container batch after batch for the fermentation process and often stored it in ceramic pots. Brewers would often travel with the fermenting containers so they could brew wherever they go. The history of beer packaging has evolved even more since being stored in a ceramic pot.

The ways in which we store beer now is in a keg, a can, or in a bottle. The beer bottle is older than the other packaging. Beer was bottled in Hertfordshire first, sometime towards the end of the 16^th century. The first keg as we know it was patented in 1910 and bought by the Milwaukee Brewing Company. In 1935, the Kreuger beer company marketed their beer in a can as a result of prohibition ending and the American Can Company producing a test batch of 2000 cans.

The Microbrewery

Beer and the microbrewery are often thought of as something recent because that’s what we’re hearing about lately. Every time we turn around, we hear of a new microbrewery that’s opened up, boasting some new unique combination of flavors. However, a microbrewery is much older than we typically think. In the 1980s, microbreweries started serving local communities and becoming more important than what the larger breweries expected them to be.

Today, there are over 1600 microbreweries in the US alone. The history about beer reveals the interest in beer across the globe and now microbreweries are popping up everywhere from Thailand to Scotland, Germany to Russia. Microbreweries are becoming a force to be reckoned with and are offering more unique flavors than the larger breweries can.

The history about beer can be found within almost every country in the world. Many have had their history of producing a beer of one sort or another and adds to the lists that you see at bars that list over a hundred or two hundred beers to choose from. Beer is no longer just a beer, it is being considered just as fancy as wine. Many restaurants now offer beer pairings, too, showing that beer is still evolving.

Beer fans all over the world, despite their particular favorites, are all united by one word: Oktoberfest. This is a 16-18 day festival that takes place every year in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It starts in late September and runs through the middle of October. It is, of course, one of the most famous events in Germany, and the largest fair in the world. More than 5 million people attend each year, visiting from all over the world. It is so popular, in fact, that many countries and cities across the globe celebrate similar events, inspired by and modeled after the festival.

Origins of Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest is a crucial part of Bavarian culture. It dates back to October 12, 1810 probably in relation to the parade celebration of the marriage between Prince Ludwig and Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. This was not an annual celebration, though, but was revived and continued in 1850, when the parades commemorating the event were once again added to the festival. Approximately 8,000 people, mostly from the Bavarian region, walk from Maximilian Street through the center of Munich to get to the festival. The march, which is always done in traditional costumes, is led by the Munchner Kindl.

While this is an important part of Bavarian culture, the festival did not always go as planned. In 1854, for example, approximately 3,000 Munich residents became afflicted by cholera and the festival was cancelled, for obvious reasons. During 1866, Bavaria was part of the Austro-Prussian War, which also caused a cancellation of the festival. Similarly, in 1870, the France-Prussian War gave cause to cancellation, and another cholera epidemic caused a cancellation in 1873. By 1880, though, Oktoberfest was finally hitting a new stride, perhaps partially due to the introduction of electric light and the growth in size to over 400 booths and tents.

As you may have gathered, Oktoberfest was put on hold between the years of 1914 and 1918 because of World War I. This was the longest period of time that did not consistently celebrate the festival at that time. However, the two years after the war concluded also saw no festival because of inflation. It should be only obvious, then, that when Hitler began his reign, and swastika flags replaced those of Bavaria’s blue and white one, there was no festival. During World War II, between 1933 and 1945, there were no festivals. From 1946 to 1948, though, Munich only celebrated the “Autumn Fest.” Since its inception, the festival has been cancelled 24 times.

Since 1950, though, Oktoberfest has been a widely-celebrated and worldly-anticipated event. It has since grown to see approximately seven million people over the two and a half week period. About three-quarters of the fair visitors will likely be from Bavaria. Of course, the other 25% of visitors will likely hail from other countries of the European Union as well as the countries of the Americas. Visitors will taste beer, wine, sparkling wine, coffee, and tea from the region as well as dine on local delicacies made from chicken, pork sausages, fish, pork knuckles, and oxen.

, though the rough concept has been the same. It requires a grain and a fermentation process and different flavors can be added in. Many different fermenting barrels and machinery can also simplify the process.

Choosing the Yeast

A beer company or home brewer will need to select what kind of yeast that they’ll use. The choices are top fermenting and bottom fermenting. Once this decision is made, they will have decided whether they will make ale or lager.

The Basic Process

The process for how beer is made is actually much simpler than one would imagine. You get a bottle of beer in a restaurant and never give it a second thought as you drink it down, however it’s only comprised of four ingredients: water, hops, malted barley, and yeast go into beer and actually 95% of the beer is water. Each beer will be a slight variation but will still only use the 4 ingredients.

A brewer will need to break down the barley with hot water to release all of the fermentable sugar. The product is mashed and formed into a grist or porridge. The result is a sweet liquid called wort. Once the wort is produced, it will be clarified through another process called lautering. The result is a clear liquid that is full of all of the extracted sugar. The wort is then boiled and the hops are added. The hops will vary slightly depending upon the beer and they may be added early into the process or towards the end of the boil. At this point, the wort can be tasted too.

The next step for how beer is made is the addition of the yeast. The hops will be removed and the yeast will be added once the wort is cool. The fermentation process happens fairly rapidly and the foaming will start to die down after the first few days. Depending upon the flavors that are being developed in the beer, the remaining process will take up to four weeks.

Bottling

The bottling process can be more complicated than the actual beer making. Once you’ve discovered how beer is made, the bottling is a whole new experience. If it’s for a large beer company, they will have machines and conveyor belts that move the bottles along a path while the beer is dispensed into each bottle. If it’s a home brewer, they can purchase bottles to bottle up their beer or sanitize and dispense it into several other containers as well.

How beer is made is a simple process, though it can be just like any other recipe. There are variations that will depend upon what kind of ingredients a brewing company adds to make it unique. Once the beer is made and the fermentation process is done, it can then be bottled into glass bottles, cans, or kegs to be shared and enjoyed by many.