Portal:Beer

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Introduction

At the Café by Édouard Manet, circa 1879

Beer is the oldest and most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after potable water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from cereal grains—most commonly from malted barley, though wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. During the brewing process, fermentation of the starch sugars in the wort produces ethanol and carbonation in the resulting beer. Most modern beer is brewed with hops, which add bitterness and other flavours and act as a natural preservative and stabilizing agent. Other flavouring agents such as gruit, herbs, or fruits may be included or used instead of hops. In commercial brewing, the natural carbonation effect is often removed during processing and replaced with forced carbonation.

Some of humanity's earliest known writings refer to the production and distribution of beer: the Code of Hammurabi included laws regulating beer and beer parlours, and "The Hymn to Ninkasi", a prayer to the Mesopotamian goddess of beer, served as both a prayer and as a method of remembering the recipe for beer in a culture with few literate people.

Beer is distributed in bottles and cans and is also commonly available on draught, particularly in pubs and bars. The brewing industry is a global business, consisting of several dominant multinational companies and many thousands of smaller producers ranging from brewpubs to regional breweries. The strength of modern beer is usually around 4% to 6% alcohol by volume (ABV), although it may vary between 0.5% and 20%, with some breweries creating examples of 40% ABV and above.

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

When beer is distilled, the resulting liquor is a form of whisky. (Full article...)

Selected articles -

  • Beers with Authentic Trappist Product label from Trappist breweries in 2015: Achel, Chimay, Engelszell, La Trappe, Orval, Spencer, Rochefort, Tre Fontane, Westmalle, Westvleteren, and Zundert (not pictured: Mount St Bernard Abbey)

    Trappist beer is brewed by Trappist monks. Thirteen Trappist monasteries—six in Belgium, two in the Netherlands, and one each in Austria, Italy, England, France, and Spain—currently produce beer, but the Authentic Trappist Product label is assigned by the International Trappist Association (ITA) to just ten breweries which meet their strict criteria. , Achel is no longer recognized as a Trappist brewery because it does not have any living monks. (Full article...)
  • In India, traditional beer has been prepared from rice or millet for thousands of years. In the 18th century, the British introduced European beer to India. Beer is not as popular as stronger alcoholic beverages like desi daru and Indian-made foreign liquor, such as Indian whiskey. The most popular beers in India are strong beers.

    Beer-like sura has been produced in India since the Vedic era (c. 1500–1200 BCE, Rig Veda), rice beer has been produced by the native tribes since ancient times, European beer imports to India from England started in 1716, introduced by the British raj.
    Lion beer produced continuously since the 1820s is Asia's first beer brand and the first Indian brewed European style beer. (Full article...)
  • Brown ale in a glass

    Brown ale is a style of beer with a dark amber or brown colour. The term was first used by London brewers in the late 17th century to describe their products, such as mild ale, though the term has a rather different meaning today. 18th century brown ales were lightly hopped and brewed from 100% brown malt.

    Today there are brown ales made in several regions, most notably England, Belgium and America. Other than being top-fermented and having a darker colour than pale beers, brown ales share little in common in terms of flavour profile. Beers termed brown ale include sweet, low alcohol beers such as Manns Original Brown Ale, medium strength amber beers of moderate bitterness such as Newcastle Brown Ale, and malty but hoppy beers such as Sierra Nevada Brown Ale. (Full article...)
  • In Italy, beer is considered an ideal accompaniment to pizza.

    Italy is considered to be part of the wine belt of Europe. Nevertheless, beer, particularly mass-produced pale lagers, are common in the country. It is traditionally considered to be an ideal accompaniment to pizza; since the 1970s, beer has spread from pizzerias and has become much more popular for drinking in other situations.

    In the seventh century BC in Sicily, the Phoenicians traded and consumed beer. In Piedmont, Pombia, Province of Novara, an archaeological investigation found tombs from the Golasecca culture, including a tomb from 560 BC containing traces of beer. Ancient Rome knew of beer and produced small amounts, but the systems of production were destroyed in various barbarian invasions. The first medical school, the Schola Medica Salernitana, praised the substance stating that it "supports old age, flows through the veins, increases well-being, and strengthens the blood." (Full article...)
  • A Chimay tripel beer with its branded glass


    Beer in Belgium includes pale ales, lambics, Flemish red ales, sour brown ales, strong ales and stouts. In 2018, there were 304 active breweries in Belgium, including international companies, such as AB InBev, and traditional breweries including Trappist monasteries. On average, Belgians drink 68 liters of beer each year, down from around 200 each year in 1900. Most beers are bought or served in bottles, rather than cans, and almost every beer has its own branded, sometimes uniquely shaped, glass. In 2016, UNESCO inscribed Belgian beer culture on their list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity. (Full article...)
  • A beer sommelier tapping a barrel for a taste at Nebraska Brewing Company

    A beer sommelier, also known as a cicerone in the United States, is a trained professional, working in the hospitality and alcoholic beverage industry, who specializes in the service and knowledge of beer, similar to a traditional wine sommelier. The knowledge required for certification includes an understanding of styles, brewing, ingredients, history of beer and brewing, glassware, beer service, draught systems, beer tasting, and food pairings. The profession is relatively new but growing. (Full article...)
  • Red Stripe is a Jamaican brand, first produced in 1928.

    The beers of the Caribbean are unique to each island in the region, although many are variants of the same style. Each island generally brews its own unique pale lager, the occasional stout, and often a non-alcoholic malta beverage. Contract-brewing of international beers is also common, with Heineken Pilsener and Guinness Foreign Extra Stout being the most popular.
    The beers vary between the islands to suit the taste and the brewing method used. (Full article...)
  • A modern Belgian tafelbier

    Small beer (also known as small ale or table beer) is a lager or ale that contains a lower amount of alcohol by volume than most others, usually between 0.5% and 2.8%. Sometimes unfiltered and porridge-like, it was a favoured drink in Medieval Europe and colonial North America compared with more expensive beer containing higher levels of alcohol. Small beer was also produced in households for consumption by children and by servants. (Full article...)
  • The previous location of AleSmith Brewing Company in San Diego


    San Diego County, California, has been called "the Craft Beer Capital of America". , the county was home to 155 licensed craft breweries – the most of any county in the United States. Based on 2016 sales volume, three San Diego County breweries – Stone, Green Flash, and Karl Strauss – rank among the 50 largest craft brewers in the United States. San Diego County brewers pioneered the specialty beer style known as Double India Pale Ale (Double IPA), sometimes called San Diego Pale Ale. Its beer culture is a draw for tourism, particularly during major festivals such as San Diego Beer Week and the San Diego International Beer Competition. San Diego County breweries including Stone Brewing Co., AleSmith Brewing Company and Ballast Point Brewing Company are consistently rated among the top breweries in the world. (Full article...)
  • A small flight of three beers, meant to sample several styles in one sitting

    Beer styles differentiate and categorise beers by colour, flavour, strength, ingredients, production method, recipe, history, or origin.

    The modern concept of beer styles is largely based on the work of writer Michael Jackson in his 1977 book The World Guide To Beer. In 1989, Fred Eckhardt furthered Jackson's work publishing The Essentials of Beer Style. Although the systematic study of beer styles is a modern phenomenon, the practice of distinguishing between different varieties of beer is ancient, dating to at least 2000 BC. (Full article...)
  • Barley wine ranges in colour from translucent deep amber, to cloudy mahogany (left), to near opaque black (right).

    Barley wine is a strong ale between 6–12% alcohol by volume. (Full article...)
  • Köstritzer Schwarzbier

    Schwarzbier, black beer, is a dark lager that originated in Germany. It has an opaque, black colour with hints of chocolate or coffee flavours, and is generally around 5% ABV. It is similar to stout in that it is made from roasted malt, which gives it its dark colour. (Full article...)
  • Craft beer at the Taedonggang Microbrewery No. 3 in Pyongyang

    North Korea has at least ten major breweries and many microbreweries that supply a wide range of beer products. The top brand is the light lager Taedonggang by the state-owned Taedonggang Brewing Company.

    The country's problems with goods distribution and power output have forced North Korean brewers to innovate. To minimize distribution, many restaurants and hotels maintain their own microbreweries. Because unreliable power supply makes it difficult to refrigerate beer, North Koreans have developed their own steam beer, an originally American beer style brewed in higher than normal temperatures, that is widely available. (Full article...)

  • Beer (known as bia in Swahili) and alcohol is an integral part of Tanzanian society and local brands hold a strong sense of national pride among the Tanzanian population. There is a considerable amount of brewing and drinking done in the country. Tanzania ranks 6th in Africa for beer consumption and contributes to over 3% of the African consumption. However, over 90% of the national consumption is either homemade or from the informal sector. Bottled beer is expensive for the majority of the population and is almost 6 times more expensive than the maize beers. Nonetheless, beer sales and taxes are a vital part of the Tanzanian economy.

    Beer is a big part of the economy and is largely dominated by Tanzania Breweries Limited and East African Breweries Limited under the local company Serengeti Breweries Limited. Both companies have some of the largest revenues in the country and are listed on the stock exchange. Tanzania Breweries Limited is the largest taxpayer in the country and almost made over 1 Trillion Tanzanian shillings in revenue in 2014. (Full article...)
  • A glass of beer with a large head of foam

    Beer head (also head or collar) is the frothy foam on top of beer and carbonated beverages which is produced by bubbles of gas, predominantly carbon dioxide, rising to the surface. The elements that produce the head are wort protein, yeast and hop residue. The carbon dioxide that forms the bubbles in the head is produced during fermentation as yeasts break down sugar-rich molecules to produce ethanol and carbon dioxide. The carbonation can occur before or after bottling the beer. If the beer continues fermenting in the bottle, then it naturally carbonates and the head is formed upon opening and/or pouring the beer. If the beer is pasteurized or filtered then the beer must be force carbonated using pressurized gas.

    The density and longevity of the head will be determined by the type of malt and adjunct from which the beer was fermented. Different mash schedules and cereal sources influence head retention. In general, wheat tends to produce larger and longer-lasting heads than barley. (Full article...)

Selected brand -

Stella Artois (/ɑːrˈtwɑː/ ar-TWAH) is a pilsner beer, first brewed in 1926 by Brouwerij Artois in Leuven, Belgium. In its original form, the beer is 5.2 per cent ABV, the country's standard for pilsners. The beer is also sold in other countries like the UK, Ireland, Canada and Australia, where it has a reduced ABV. Stella Artois is owned by Interbrew International B.V. which is a subsidiary of the world's largest brewer, Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV. (Full article...)

Selected biography -

David Gottlieb Yuengling (March 2, 1808 – September 27, 1877) was an American businessman and brewer, the founder and first president of America's oldest brewery, D. G. Yuengling & Son. (Full article...)
List of selected biographies

Did you know (auto-generated) -

Selected brewery -

Bavaria S.A. is a Colombian beer company founded in April 1889. It forms part of SABMiller which is the world's second biggest brewery by volume, Bavaria is also the second biggest brewery in South America, with operations in four continents and a production that surpasses 184 hectoliters in beer annually in more than 170 brands. (Full article...)


Selected image -

Moritz Beer delivery truck in Barcelona, Spain.
Moritz Beer
Credit: 1997
Moritz Beer delivery truck in Barcelona, Spain.


General images

The following are images from various beer- and brewing-related articles on Wikipedia.

Beer topics

Categories

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Selected quote -

“ Water is drunk by the four legged beast; man prefers it with hops, malts, and yeast. ”


German Trinkspruch


Beer lists

Things you can do

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WikiProjects

WikiProject Beer is an association of Wikipedians with an interest in beer and beer-related subjects. They have come together to coordinate the development of beer and brewery articles here on Wikipedia. Additionally, other groups have formed other projects that entertain subjects that are directly related to beer, bartending and pubs. Additionally, the mixed drinks project covers topics that include beer cocktails. If any of these subjects pique your interest, please feel free to visit their projects. These groups would love to have you participate!

Parent project: WikiProject Food and Drink

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Child projects: Task forces: (All inactive)
  • Wikiproject Bacon (inactive)
  • WikiProject Bartending (inactive)
  • WikiProject Beer
  • WikiProject Breakfast (inactive)
  • WikiProject Fishing and Fisheries
  • WikiProject Spirits (semi-active)
  • Wikiproject Wine (inactive)
  • Beverages task force
  • Cheeses task force
  • Coffee and Tea task force
  • Desserts task force
  • Foodservice task force
  • Herbs and Spices task force
  • Pub task force
Related projects:
  • WikiProject Agriculture

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