The oldest and most popular alcoholic beverage in the world, and also the third most popular overall after water and tea. Beer is made by brewing and fermentation of starches, which commonly is derived from cereal grains such as malted barley, wheat, maize (corn), and even rice.
Most types of beer is flavored with hops, which gives the beverage its distinct bitterness and acts as a preservative, herbs and fruit can also be used as flavoring in beer. Being one of the oldest prepared beverage, dating back as far as 9000 BC, it is mentioned in both ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, one of the earliest known civilizations, dating as far back as 6000 BC. Beer is mentioned in a few of the earliest recorded documents known to man, such as “The Hymn to Ninkasi”, which served as both a prayer and as a method for people who could not read to remember the recipe to make beer.
Today beer is a large part in many culture, associated with pubs, festivals and old traditions, a few mentionable beer festivals are called Oktoberfest, Cannstatter Volksfest, The Great British Beer Festival, Toronto's Festival of Beer, and hundreds of more.
There are a few different varieties of beer, these will be listed and shortly described below:
1. Ale – Defined by the strain of yeast and the fermenting temperature, usually brewed with top-fermenting yeasts, most commonly Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, at a temperature ranging from 15 to 24 degrees Celsius, or 60 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Lambic – A Belgian beer using wild rather than cultivated yeasts for fermentation, which gives the beer large difference in aroma and characeristics compared to other beers.
3. Stout/Porter – A dark type of ale using roasted malts or roast barley, along with the usual process of using top-fermenting ale yeast.
4. Lager – The English name for cool fermenting beers of Central European origin, the name is derived from the German word lagern which means “to store”, pale lagers are the most commonly consumed beer in the world.