Beer is many things to many people, but fundamentally it is a fermented beverage made from four basic ingredients: malt from various grains, hops, yeast, and water. In that way it is different from other fermented beverages, such as wine, which is made from fruit, mead, which is made from honey, or saki, which is made from rice.

Through its evolution beer has taken many forms, and drawn its character from a variety of grains and adjuncts. For centuries its production was cloaked in mystery, brewed by priests, called a gift from the gods. Even yeast, before it was understood, was called "godisgood" in old English.

Home Brew

People today have an unprecedented ability to brew almost anything they can imagine at home, and homebrewing has seen a surge in popularity in the last couple decades. More and more people are learning to brew, and becoming rather skilled at it. In fact, many microbreweries in operation today , such as Sam Adams and Dogfish Head, to name just a couple, were started by former or current homebrewers.

History of Home Brewing

History of Home brewing in the UK

The drink that we call "beer" today was originally called "ale".

Brewing can be traced back for many thousands of years to early civilisation.

At first an ale was made by fermenting an extract from cereals or grains. Wheat, Rye and maize (especially in Africa) was used as well as barley. Herbs of one kind or another were used for flavouring, the stinging nettle was popular. Families made their own ale. Estate workers received ale as part of their wages. As communications developed and taverns came into existence each one brewed their own ale and put a fresh bush outside to indicate that a fresh brew was available.

Although the Romans had imported hops to flavour their own beer, the taste never really caught on for more than a thousand years. Hopped ale which we now call beer did not come into common use until the beginning of the 15th century.

Throughout the country ale and beer was the drink of the common people, prior to the introduction of tea, coffee and cocoa and so on in the on the eighteenth century.

One of the earliest attempts to control home production was the Inland Revenue Act of 1880 which required a 5 shilling licence. The popularity hit an all time low in the years after the second world war. In 1963 the Chancellor removed the need for a licence and paved the way for the popularity to rise. The first real surge of home brewers came from within the ranks of the home wine makers. C.J.J Berry helped to generate an interest in the first home wine making boom by producing the Amateur Winemaker magazine. After Dave line wrote for Amateur Winemaker he wrote The Big Book of Brewing in 1974.

Over the next 20 or so the popularity peaked with major chain stores and chemists stocking equipment and ingredients. This meant that everybody had easy availability in their locality.

Today the local homebrew shop scene is a former shadow of its self. The dominance of a few larger Mail Order firms means its' easy to order standard Items from a few main distributors. Thankfully there are a few firms that are willing and able to supply imports from the USA where the range of ingredients and equipment is vastly superior to the UK. Camra who campaign for real ale are doing a good job in education the population and helping generate a new generation of home brewers.

History of Home brewing in the USA

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• The prohibition
• November 1978, Congress passed a bill repealing Federal restrictions on the homebrewing of small amounts of beer. Jimmy Carter signed the bill into law in February 1979
• Charlie Papazian founded the Association of Brewers. In 1984 Papazian published The Complete Joy of Home Brewing.

Main Articles

 Home Brewing Process 
 Brewing Equipment  
 Storing your beer (Bottles, Kegs, Casks Etc)
 Serving and Consumption of your beer   
 Styles of beer

External Links

Beer Advocate Homepage