Philippe Kechichian
Food and Beverage

What is beer?

“Beer is produced by the saccharification of starch and fermentation of the resulting sugar. The starch and saccharification enzymes are often derived from malted cereal grains; most commonly malted barley and malted wheat. Un-malted maize and rice are widely used adjuncts to lighten the flavour because of their lower cost. The preparation of beer is called brewing. Most beer is flavoured with hops, which add bitterness and act as a natural preservative, though other flavourings such as herbs or fruit may occasionally be included.” Beer definition

Beer is the most consumed alcoholic beverage in the world and the third-most drink overall after water and tea.

The strength of beer is usually around 4% to 6% alcohol by volume although it may vary between 0.5% (dealcoholized) and 20%.

Beer forms part of the culture of beer-drinking nations and is associated with social traditions such as beer festivals, as well as a rich pub culture, involving activities like pub crawling and pub games such as billiards.

History

The history of beer is linked with the one of its components and with the technological advances. The first cultures of cereals, especially the barley and wheat, were discovered in Mesopotamia and dated at around 8000 years before J.-C. Historians think beer was discovered 6000 years before J.-C. The first real proofs of its existence were discovered in the province of Sumer and are back to the 4th millennia before J-C.

The term of “beer” we know today was invented by Duc Jean Sans Peur, who also imposed the use of hops to make beer. In 1435, an edit imposed this recipe.

The industrial revolution brought many evolutions to the beer production. Baudelot de Sedan invented, in 1856, a cooler allowing producing beer all year long, Hansen identified the yeast and Pasteur advocated the