Breweries in America are growing at an exponential rate. Beer brewing is becoming big business with a resurgence of traditional types of ales and lagers combining with more exotic offerings. With a colourful history, beer carries on its controversial way to regain the traditional role it’s always played as an every-day beverage, while taking on a more creative flavour to please every palate.
Back in 1620, when the Mayflower came to America’s shores, the boat fell a bit short of its destination due to a shortage of beer, according to a passenger’s journal. One doesn’t think Puritans would have drunk beer – they were Puritans, after all – however this was the every-day drink of choice. People drank beer as we drink pop, juice, milk and water today. Each tavern and inn brewed its own beer.
It is well known that beer has been with mankind for a long time. As beer itself changed, expanded, and improved, so did the way in which we actually got the beer to our mouths. The earlier vessels man used for drinking included earthenware, pottery, carved out wood, and even sewn-together pieces of leather.
This gradual transition happened very early (ca. 9000-7000 BC) in the Near East and the Fertile Crescent and the rest of the world followed. As a result, many historians are inclined to give credit the history of beer and brewing as starting with the Sumerians because of ancient records that tell of a prehistoric Eurasian cereal grains cultivated by the civilization at the time. It has been assumed that beer may have been brewing many years before then, primarily by the Chinese.
Not to say that we’re falling behind in other areas, but Europeans are tuned-into America’s lead when it comes to downsizing their palates in favor of niche, funky, unusual and quirky suds. The Big Beer folks on the other side of the Atlantic are feeling a little nervous. Shaky because mass-made lagers are no longer the end-all for guzzlers in other western countries.