THE BEER FACTS
All beer can be classed as one of two types; Lager or Ale. The only difference is in the brewing process, and depends on the kind of yeast used and the brewing temperature. Lager beer is ferment with a heavy yeast which sinks to the bottom. It is brewed more slowly, and at cooler temperatures. Ales are brewed with a top-fermenting yeast at warm temperatures.
Germany consumes the largest amount of beer per capita than any other nation. Czechoslovakia is 2nd and Great Britain ranks 9th. The United States ranks a disappointing 11th. On the flip side, however, the US makes more than twice as much beer as any other nation. Germany is 2nd and Great Britain 3rd.
It is widely believed that beer is fattening. Friends pat your stomach and, blaming the beer, call it a beer belly. The truth is that beer is the least fattening alcoholic drink. Per ounce, drambuie has 110 calories, 100 proof spirits has 85 calories, 80 proof spirits has 65 calories, sherry has 36 calories, champagne has 25 calories, and chablis has 22 calories. Beer, on the other hand, has only 13 calories per ounce (of course there is a tendency to drink more!). In contrast, food has a much higher caloric count than alcoholic beverages. Per ounce, potato chips have 160 calories, Fritos have 155 calories, and a Baby Ruth bar has 135 calories.
References:
A History of Beer
History of Beer
Fosters’ – History of Beer
The History of Beer
Brighiid – Goddess and Saint
Beer Today
Writing credits:
Arianell Cruithni (Fraoch, Drambuie)
Fedelm Cruithni (uisge, cider)
MacMorna Niafter (mead, poteen, beer)
Artists:
Alerissa Nestor
Arianell Cruithni
Special thanks to Fenian Niafer, who got this article started. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.
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BEER
There are just two kinds of beer… good beer and better beer!
The history of beer goes back further than history itself. The earliest written records regarding brewing are from Sumeria, and are some 6000 years old. It is estimated that the making of beer is at least twice that age. Anthropologists suspect that the first beer was most likely an accident. Possibly, some grain or bread was left in a pot which was then filled with water and forgotten for a few weeks. When the owner went to investigate the unusual smell, he discovered he had made BEER! This fact was celebrated with the "Hymn to Ninkasi". This bit of Sumerian history was inscribed on a "seal", which depicts bread being baked and then crumbled into water and allowed to ferment. The resulting brew was said to make folk feel "exhilarated, wonderful and blissful."
The Gilgamesh Epic, which dates to around 3000 BCE, we have an allegorical tale of the evolution from beast to man. "Enkidu, a shaggy, unkempt, almost bestial primitive man, who ate grass and could milk wild animals, wanted to test his strength against Gilgamesh, the demigod-like sovereign. Taking no chances, Gilgamesh sent a (prostitute) to Enkidu to learn of his strengths and weaknesses. Enkidu enjoyed a week with her, during which she taught him of civilization. Enkidu knew not what bread was nor how one ate it. He had also not learned to drink beer. The (prostitute) opened her mouth and spoke to Enkidu: 'Eat the bread now, O Enkidu, as it belongs to life. Drink also beer, as it is the custom of the land.' Enkidu drank seven cups of beer and his heart soared. In this condition he washed himself and became a human being."
The Sumerians were eventually replaced by the Babylonians, who reportedly had 20 different kinds of beer. It was cloudy and unfiltered, and had to be drunk through straws to avoid the bitter dregs. Hammurabi, the great Babylonian king and lawgiver, established the daily beer ration for each class of society. Two measures for a worker up to 5 measures for an administrator. The law also included penalties for innkeepers who short-changed their patrons on their beer. They were dragged off and drowned, thus preventing repeat offenses!
The science or art of brewing continued to be improved down through the ages. The Egyptians, Greeks and Romans each contributed something to the body of knowledge. However, when the Romans finally discovered wine, beer became the drink of the barbarians. The Celts and later, the Teutonic races, discovered that beer was just as good as their mead, but not so sweet. It became a very important part of their lives. In the Kalevela, a Finnish poetic saga, over 400 verses are devoted to beer while only 200 verses were used to describe the acts of creation. That fact should give some idea of their viewpoint.
The Patrons of Celtic Brewing
Practically every culture or people who have been involved in the brewing of beer, have also had at least one "Patron" of the art. For the Celts, there are two, Brighid and Goibniu. Interestingly, both are also patrons of smiths and metal-workers. This may explain why the Celts first started using copper vessels for brewing. That, and the fact that copper was one of the metals readily available, and was easy to work with. There are many stories about these two Celtic deities and their brewing.
Brighid’s main claims to fame were turning her bathwater into beer and making enough beer to serve 18 churches from only a handful of malt. One poem ascribed to her (in her Christianized form of St Brigit) goes:
"I'd like to give a lake of beer to God.
I'd love the Heavenly Host to be tippling for all eternity.
I'd love the people of Heaven to live with me. To dance and sing,
If they wanted, I'd give for their use vats of suffering.
I'd make Heaven cheerful because the happy heart is true,
I'd make the people contented, I'd like Jesus to be there too.
I'd like the people of Heaven to gather from all around,
I'd give a special welcome to women, the three Mary's of great renown.
I'd sit with the men and women of God. There by the lake of beer.
We'd drink good health forever, and every drop would be prayer."
Goibniu (or Govannon) was one of the Tuatha de Danann, the people of Eire who were eventually conquered by the "Modern Celts". With his brothers, Luichtne (the Carpenter) and Credne (the Wright), he created the invincible weapons used by his people. However, his prowess as a brewer was demonstrated by his immortal brew. One sip of this would make a man impervious to the weapons of the enemy. And, if anyone were injured during the day’s fighting, they would dunk him in a vat of the brew and he would be as good as new by the next morning.
The Impact of Brewing on the Celts
"Celtic art owes much to Celtic thirst." Maria Tymoczko, professor of comparative literature and an authority on Irish and Celtic literature, quotes this famous line by Celtic scholar Stewart Piggott when asked for a comment on the role of alcoholic beverages in ancient Britain. Piggott was referring, Tymoczko explains, to the high level of artistic expression with which the wandering Celts fashioned all manner of cauldrons, pitchers, cups, and other drinking vessels.
But the observation also is applicable to Celtic literature. In the earliest poems of the great Welsh bardic tradition, which memorialize one extravagantly gory battle after another, the mead flows as copiously as the blood. Tymoczko cites particularly vivid instances in the ancient Celtic poem "The Gododdin," which was written sometime in the early seventh century and which she describes as a series of elegies to warriors felled in bloody raids against the intruding Angles near Catterick in Yorkshire.
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