Beer is one of the oldest alcoholic drinks in the world, the most widely consumed, and the third most popular drink after water and tea. Beer is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grains—most commonly maltedbarley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The fermentation of the starch sugars in the wort produces ethanol and carbonation in the beer. Most modern beer is brewed with hops, which add bitterness and other flavours and act as a natural preservative and stabilising agent. Other flavouring agents, such as gruit, herbs, or fruits, may be included or used instead of hops. In commercial brewing, natural carbonation is often replaced with forced carbonation.
Some of the earliest writings refer to the production and distribution of beer: the Code of Hammurabi included laws regulating it, and "The Hymn to Ninkasi", a prayer to the Mesopotamian goddess of beer, a recipe for it.
Beer is distributed in bottles and cans and is also commonly available on draught, particularly in pubs and bars. The brewing industry is a global business, consisting of several dominant multinational companies and many thousands of smaller producers ranging from brewpubs to regional breweries. The strength of modern beer is usually around 4% to 6% alcohol by volume (ABV).
Beer is the most-consumed alcoholic beverage in the Philippines and amounted to a 70% share of the domestic alcoholic drink market in terms of volume during 2005. Between 2003 and 2004, the Philippines had the world's fastest beer consumption growth rate at 15.6%. With a rise in consumption volume from 1.22 to 1.41 million liters, it was the 22nd largest beer market in the world in 2004. A Filipino will drink almost 20 liters of beer a year on average. (Full article...)
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Beer in Thailand was first brewed in 1933 when a licence was granted to the Boon Rawd Brewery, which still produces Thailand's best-known lager, Singha (pronounced "sing"), sold in standard (5 percent ABV), light (4.5 percent ABV), and draught versions.
Singha's largest competitor is Chang beer, made by Thai Beverages, whose sponsorship of Everton F.C. saw its name and logo appear on the team's kit from 2004 to 2017. (Full article...)
In the mid-19th century, Gabriel Sedlmayr took British pale ale brewing and malt making techniques back to the Spaten Brewery in Germany and applied them to existing lagering methods. The resulting beers gradually spread around the globe to become the most common form of beer consumed in the world today. (Full article...)
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Beer cheese with saltine crackers
Beer cheese is a cheese spread most commonly found in Kentucky. Similarly named cheese products can be found in other regions of the United States, but beer cheese spread itself is not widely distributed. Despite this fact, the product is nearly ubiquitous in Kentucky. There are a number of different brands that are popular – most are similar in taste and texture. Fans of the snack usually have their favorite brand, and there are many homemade versions which use a wide variety of ingredients to add personalization.
Commercially produced beer cheese spread usually consists of a processed cheese base with a sharp cheddar flavor, while homemade varieties almost always start with sharp cheddar cheese. To this, enough beer is added to provide flavor and texture, as well as garlic, and a variety of spices including dry mustard, horseradish, jalapeño peppers, and cayenne pepper. Most varieties come in "mild" and "hot" versions, but all tend to have a strong garlic flavor. Beer cheese is traditionally served with saltine crackers, although it can be found served with various other crackers and crudités, most often as an appetizer. (Full article...)
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The Beer Party (German: die Bierpartei, BIER) is an Austriansatirical political party. Founded in 2014, it was originally known as the Beer Party of Austria (Bierpartei Österreich) and used the corresponding abbreviation BPÖ until its renaming in 2020. The party's activity is confined to Vienna, where BIER first appeared on ballots in the 2019 Austrian legislative election and appeared again in the 2020 Viennese state election. As of 2020, it has been unable to amass the votes required for representation in the National Council, Federal Council, or the Landtage, claiming 0.6% of Viennese votes in 2019 and 1.8% in 2020. However, the party was able to win mandates in 11 of Vienna's districts. The party is organized purely at the federal level without state parties. (Full article...)
The country's problems with goods distribution and power output have forced North Korean brewers to innovate. To minimize distribution, many restaurants and hotels maintain their own microbreweries. Because unreliable power supply makes it difficult to refrigerate beer, North Koreans have developed their own steam beer, an originally American beer style brewed in higher than normal temperatures, that is widely available. (Full article...)
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A seasonal beer is a beer that is typically brewed during or for a particular season, holiday or festival period. Many breweries produce seasonal beers. Seasonal beers may be produced when fresh ingredients are available during various seasons, per climatic conditions during the time of the year, and also as a tradition. Furthermore, seasonal beer is produced based upon seasons, holidays, festivals and events. (Full article...)
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Finland has a long history of beer (Finnish: olut) dating back to the Middle Ages. The oldest still-existing commercial brewery in Finland and the other Nordic countries is Sinebrychoff, founded in 1819. The Finnish Beer Day (suomalaisen oluen päivä) is celebrated on 13 October to commemorate the founding of the Sinebrychoff brewery and the birth of Finnish beer. The largest Finnish brewers are Hartwall, Olvi and Sinebrychoff. Most of the beers brewed in Finland are pale lagers. , Finland's standing is 23rd in per capita consumption of beer: Finnish people consume 70.2 litres (15.4 imp gal; 18.5 US gal) of beer annually per capita, while the total annual consumption is 393 million litres (86,000,000 imp gal; 104,000,000 US gal). (Full article...)
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The Reinheitsgebot (German pronunciation:[ˈʁaɪnhaɪtsɡəboːt]ⓘ, literally "purity order") is a series of regulations limiting the ingredients in beer in Germany and the states of the former Holy Roman Empire. The best known version of the law was adopted in Bavaria in 1516 (by William IV), but similar regulations predate the Bavarian order, and modern regulations also significantly differ from the 1516 Bavarian version. Although today the Reinheitsgebot is mentioned in various texts about the history of beer, historically it was only applied in the duchy, electorate, then Kingdom of Bavaria and from 1906 in Germany as a whole, and it had little or no effect in other countries or regions. (Full article...)
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Ice beer is a beer that has undergone some degree of freezing during production. These beers generally have a higher alcohol content, and lower price relative to it.
The process of "icing" beer involves lowering the temperature until ice crystals form. Since ethanol has a much lower freezing point (-114 °C; -173.2 °F) than water (0 °C; 32 °F), when the ice is removed the alcohol concentration of the beer increases. The process is known as fractional freezing or freeze distillation. (Full article...)
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Beer (known as bia in Swahili) and alcohol is an integral part of Tanzanian society and local brands hold a strong sense of national pride among the Tanzanian population. There is a considerable amount of brewing and drinking done in the country. Tanzania ranks 6th in Africa for beer consumption and contributes to over 3% of the African consumption. However, over 90% of the national consumption is either homemade or from the informal sector. Bottled beer is expensive for the majority of the population and is almost 6 times more expensive than the maize beers. Nonetheless, beer sales and taxes are a vital part of the Tanzanian economy.
Beer is largely dominated by Tanzania Breweries Limited and East African Breweries Limited under the local company Serengeti Breweries Limited. Both companies have some of the largest revenues in the country and are listed on the stock exchange. Tanzania Breweries Limited is the largest taxpayer in the country and made over 3 trillion Tanzanian shillings in revenue in 2022. (Full article...)
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Beer is the most popular alcoholic drink in New Zealand, accounting for 63% of available alcohol for sale. At around 64.7 litres per person per annum, New Zealand is ranked 27th in global beer consumption per capita. The vast majority of beer produced in New Zealand is a type of lager, either pale or amber in colour, and typically 4–5% alcohol by volume.
Although the two largest breweries in New Zealand, Lion Nathan and DB Breweries, control almost 90% of sales by volume between them, there are over 150 smaller craft breweries and brewpubs producing a vast range of beer styles, including many ales. (Full article...)
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Craft beer tourism refers to tourism where the primary motivation of travel is to visit a brewery, beer festival, beer related activity or other event that allows attendees to experience all aspects of the craft beer-making, consuming and purchasing process. Travel and tourism constitute one of the largest industries in the world, with Americans spending a total of $1.1 trillion in domestic and international travel in 2018. The beer tourism industry has evolved from the larger culinary and beverage tourism category in which people began planning travels based around experiencing food and drink of different geographies. Informally, vacations centric to the theme of enjoying beer have been dubbed "beercations". (Full article...)
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Beer Nuts is an American brand of snack food building on the original product, peanuts with a sweet-and-salty glazing. According to the manufacturer, the ingredients include peanuts, coconut oil, corn syrup and salt. In the United States, Beer Nuts are a staple of bar snacks and are often referred to as "the quintessential American bar food".
Although Beer Nuts do not contain any beer, the name suggests that they are intended as a side dish to beer consumption. (Full article...)
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Colonies of yeast Brettanomyces bruxellensis on agar plates containing phloxine B
Brettanomyces is a non-spore forming genus of yeast in the family Saccharomycetaceae, and is often colloquially referred to as "Brett". The genus name Dekkera is used interchangeably with Brettanomyces, as it describes the teleomorph or spore forming form of the yeast, but is considered deprecated under the one fungus, one name change. The cellular morphology of the yeast can vary from ovoid to long "sausage" shaped cells. The yeast is acidogenic, and when grown on glucose rich media under aerobic conditions, produces large amounts of acetic acid. Brettanomyces is important to both the brewing and wine industries due to the sensory compounds it produces.
In the wild, Brettanomyces lives on the skins of fruit. (Full article...)
Stella Artois (/ɑːrˈtwɑː/ar-TWAH, French:[aʁtwɑ]) is a pilsner beer, first brewed in 1926 by Brouwerij Artois in Leuven, Belgium. In its original form, the beer is 5.2 per cent ABV, the country's standard for pilsners. The beer is also sold in other countries including the UK, Ireland, Canada and Australia, where it has a reduced ABV. Stella Artois is owned by Interbrew International B.V. which is a subsidiary of the world's largest brewer, Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV. (Full article...)
... that at the 1965 World Pentathlon Championships, Herbert Polzhuber was said to have drunk ten beers and a bottle of cognac before firing his pistol at the ground and passing out?
... that a beer named after the barley variety Golden Promise was not brewed using the variety?
Image 7World beer consumption per capita (from History of beer)
Image 8D. G. Yuengling & Son is the oldest operating brewing company in the US, established in 1829. It is also the largest craft brewer, and the 6th largest brewing company overall. (from Craft beer)
Image 9Open vessels showing fermentation taking place (from Brewing)
Image 10Brew kettles at Brasserie La Choulette in France (from Brewing)
Image 16Traditional fermenting building (center) and modern fermenting building (left) in Pilsner Urquell Brewery (Czech Republic) (from History of beer)
Image 36The Alulu beer receipt records a purchase of "best" beer from a brewer, c. 2050 BC from the Sumerian city of Umma in Mesopotamia (ancient Iraq). (from Brewing)
Image 37A selection of French craft beers (from Craft beer)
Image 48Alulu beer receipt recording a purchase of "best" beer from a brewer, c. 2050 BCE, from the Sumerian city of Umma in ancient Iraq. (from History of beer)
Image 49Microbreweries, regional breweries, and brew pubs per capita (from Craft beer)