Beers and brews are beverages produced by yeast-induced fermentation of malted cereal grains, usually barley malt, to which hops and water have been added. They generally contain 2 to 9 percent ethyl ALCOHOL, although some may contain as much as 15 percent. Various types and flavors are created by adding different combinations of malts and cereals and allowing the process to continue for varying lengths of time.

Brewing History

The origin of beer is unknown, but it was an important food to the people of the Near East, probably from Neolithic times, some 10,000 years ago. The making of beer and of bread developed at the same time. In Mesopotamia (the ancient land between the rivers as the Greeks called it), an early record from about 5,000 years ago describing the recipe of the "wine of the grain" was found written in Sumerian cuneiform on a clay tablet. In...