Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer …. Agreed?!

Well, that is only part of the quotation... In full it reads:

“Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza.” -Dave Barry

There was also wise words from Plato : "He was a wise man who invented beer"

And Benjamin Franklin expressed his view thus:

“Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy”

So, yes beer is pretty great … but it also has a weird history such as: 

The Earliest Beer Recipe

Beer brewing dates to almost 6000 BC.

However, it was the Sumerians around 2000 BC who really loved the stuff. Their plaques and carvings often center on people or gods drinking from large jars of beer.

A hymn to one of their most important goddesses, Ninkasi, is actually a very detailed explanation of how to make beer; this was helpful in a society that was almost entirely illiterate. 

Want to make some beer but can’t read the recipe? Just start reciting the hymn and you’re set.

Beer was so important that the average Sumerian couldn’t be bothered to stop drinking it for anything apparently, as there is a carving of a woman drinking out of a beer jug in the middle of sexual intercourse. That’s some dedication to your booze.

People will do anything for Beer

Seriously, they will.

During Prohibition in America people took to drinking hair tonic and posing as members of the clergy to get alcohol. Sometimes people come together on a large scale in the never ending quest for free beer.

In Australia on Easter weekend in 2001, a beer truck blew a tyre and overturned into a river. The driver was able to escape but his cargo sank to the bottom of the river. Hearing about the accident, people gathered at the scene, some in full scuba gear, and spent the entire weekend recovering the beer. One man managed to get 400 bottles.

Did they return it to the company?

Of course not. Despite a warning from police that what they were doing was theft, the divers took off with the whole lot.

Brewing is Woman’s Work

In ancient and medieval times the job of making beer fell to women.

In some cultures it was considered such an honor that only beautiful or noble women could do it.

In medieval Europe brewing was one of a housewife’s regular tasks, just like cooking and cleaning and baby making. Some of these women became famous for being exceptional brewers and started supplying people other than their own families.

You never knew what you were getting though. One brewer let her chickens roost over her beer vats and when they defecated would simply stir the refuse into the beer. Yummy.