deserves
ent
European beer culture
Heineken beer is a pinnacle of the
centuries-old European beer culture.
Beer originally came from the Near
East. From the oldest-known brewers,
the Sumerians, it came to Europe via
the Babylonians, Egyptians and Ro
mans. Especially in Central European
countries beer caught on well. That was
where barley, beer's most important raw
material, grew best. Countries situated
more to the south preferred wine.
Initially, beer brewing was a task
for the housewife, just like baking
bread. Because of the growing fire
hazard many towns decided to set up
public brewhouses. These formed the
basis for the first breweries.
At the same time monastery brew
eries were set up. The monks had a
great advantage. They were able to read
and write, which meant that they could
record their complicated brewing reci
pes and pass them on to other brewers.
The monasteries brewed three different
beers: a weak beer for pilgrims, a
stronger beer to drink themselves, and
a special beer for important guests.
Beer like water
In the Middle Ages beer was drunk
in vast quantities: some 400 litres per
head of the population per year. At the
moment the average consumption in the
European beer-drinking countries is be
tween 40 and 140 litres per person.
Medieval people drank so much beer
because they had no other choice. Wine
was too expensive and you couldn't
trust the water: it was a source of con
tagious diseases. Strangely enough,
beer was safe to drink. The reason why
was only discovered centuries later:
brew water is boiled, and bacteria can't
survive that. Nor can they withstand al
cohol.
Beer played an important role in
everyday life. You could earn a lot of
money with it and so it was subjected
to heavy taxes. At first it was only the
brewer who had to pay duty. Later on
the innkeeper had to pay tax for tapping
beer, and the citizen for drinking it...
Whilst these taxes were pushing up
the cost of drinking beer, new and differ
ent drinks such as coffee, tea and cocoa
made their entry into Europe. Over the
years these became increasingly
cheaper and gradually took over beer's
position as the people's beverage. Many
of the smaller breweries had to close,
and with their demise countless local
beers also disappeared.
The first Pilsener
Until just over one hundred years
ago, all beer was top-fermented. In
other words: the yeast, an indispensable
ingredient of beer, floated on top of the
brew. In 1839 a completely different type
of beer was created in Pilsen, Czecho
slovakia. The brewers of Pilsen discov
ered that it was also possible for the
yeast to do its work at the bottom of the
beer, provided that the brew was cold
15
THE WORLD OF HEINEKEN