A brief beer history

Where records have been found of the ancient western civilizations in the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers evidence was also found of beer brewing in the same areas. As popuations gradually spread steadily westwards so too did the art of brewing via the Roman and Egyptian Empires.

Ale was the traditional brew in ancient times, this is less common today but ale is still used as a name for certain types of beer. Primarily made from malted barley originally the addition of hops spread at a later stage. The continent made gradual refinements to their brewing techniques through trial and error and gradually this evolved into the popular hopped drink we know today.

Whilst usually brewed at home, it was the monks who experimented to develop the finest brews being those of belgian trappist orders still being the most renowned today. There has been various resurgents in recent times of home brewing as a hobby with many more people making their own beer with the quality of ingredients and equipment becoming ever better.

Given acceptable conditions, decent equipment and good quality ingredients, it is possible to improve considerably on mass produced commercial substitutes and even develop a brewing repertoire that includes pale ales, through bitters and stouts (given the occasional poorer batch and assuming you have the patience to give the brew due time to perfect). Of course, it's just likely that your commendable homebrews cost about one tenth of the cost too!