National Beer Day in the US: When and where was beer invented?

Today, Sunday 7 April 2024, is National Beer Day in the United States. Conceived in 2009, the festival marks the anniversary of the implementation of 1933′s Cullen-Harrison Act - legislation which signalled the beginning of the end of Prohibition in the country.

What are beer’s origins?

National Beer Day celebrates an alcoholic drink that has its roots all over the ancient world. Produced by the fermentation of cereals, beer is a beverage that does not need modern technology to be produced. This meant ancient civilisations such as the Sumerians, based in Mesopotamia, could produce the drink. In the ancient poem The Epic of Gilgamesh, the eponymous hero “ate until he was full, drank seven pitchers of beer, his heart grew light, his face glowed and he sang out with joy.”

Due to beer’s prevalence in pretty much every ancient civilisation, it is difficult to pin down who discovered it first. Given the nature of its production, beer was safer to drink than water, the latter of which was unpurified and unclean. Any civilisation built upon wheat farming discovered the way to make beer.

Large-scale beer production grows

Beer flourished during the Medieval period in Europe, especially in places that were too cold for grape production. In the centuries that followed, small-scale domestic production gave way to larger-scale export beers. The coming of the Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century further increased production, killing off local breweries. New technology, such as the hydrometer, made beer production more efficient as understanding of how to craft beer expanded.

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During the period in which European breweries dominated the market, immigrants in colonised lands brought beer with them and set up breweries abroad. In Qingdao in north-east China at the start of the 20th century, Germans created a new beer, Tsingtao, after the German name for the city. Today, Tsingtao is China’s second largest brewery.

Why is American beer typically weaker?

Compared to the rest of the world, the US has much weaker beer. This could be due to the fallout from moonshining during the Prohibition era. To make what beer that existed go further, water was added to dilute, cheapen, and worsen the product.