This holiday, which began as a religious celebration, has evolved into a global event honoring Irish culture with parades, music, food, and of course, beer.
For early humanity, beer was perhaps the most important staple in their diet—a valuable source of protein and vitamins, and a crucial milestone in ensuring our survival as a species.
Beer is a beverage that is ‘alive’, that changes over time, because from the very moment it leaves the brewery, its characteristics evolve, sometimes positively and often undesirably.
An essential part of the Eleusinian rites was the consumption of a beverage called ‘Kykeon,’ an infusion made from sacramental water, barley, and mint, which is also believed to have contained ergot fungus, a precursor to LSD.
Cantillon Rosé de Gambrinus is a traditional raspberry lambic (framboise) brewed annually in Brussels since 1909, although the current name was only first used in 1986.
In the early days of history, there were no hierarchies or private property, only vast savannas to explore and a new world to discover with seemingly endless natural resources. These were the beginnings of what we now understand as humanity.
In simple words, beer is an alcoholic beverage made from starches obtained from cereals and other grains, flavored and aromatized with hops, which are then fermented in water with yeasts of the genus Saccharomyces.
The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is found in beer, wine, and bread, but also in research laboratories, as it is the organism that initiated modern biochemistry and molecular biology and remains a fundamental testing ground for science.
Lambic, Gueuze, and their various variants are a living relic of a time when all beer was fermented at the mercy of nature.
Nowadays, hops are a primary ingredient in beer brewing, but this wasn’t always the case. Throughout history, they were just one of many different herbs and spices used to flavor and preserve beer.
A characteristic feature of beer history is that for almost its entire existence, it was produced with Ale yeast, until the early 20th century when brewing with Lager yeast was massively introduced.
“The Beer Hunter” is a late-1980s series featuring journalist and writer Michael Jackson as he travels the world in search of the finest beers.
