Had The Beer Developed Since Its Creation In Sumer

[Guest Romulus Augustulus]

I know Beer originated in Sumeria and was more of a thick form of oatmeal; where as the people of the time could keep bread/carbohydrates for longer periods of time. I was wondering if the beer of Sumer and Egypt became more the beer of today during the Roman period?

[Pantagathus]

It was constantly evolving and by the end of the Bronze Age it's safe to say that beer was getting closer to modern beer. Brewers were focusing more on the actual liquid element of the beer as apposed to keeping it together with the wort as was the Sumerian custom.

 

By the early Iron Age (early 1st Millennium BC) beer was much closer to what's available today because brewers were adding different botanicals to flavor and clarify beer (but still not there but I'll get to that in a second). We know from ~8th Century BC amphora residue in Phrygia that local beer was brewed with honey, muscat grapes and a number of aromatic plants. However, during this time there were certain regions that maintained a brewing practice that was closer to the original Sumerian. For instance, my understanding is that the Ligurians made a certain fermented barley drink that more than likely still contained the wort.

 

In my opinion beer made its evolutionary turn towards modern beer when hops began to dominate the botanical additive list. The Romans did set the stage for hop's scientific name (humulus lupulus) because they noted that hops grew wild like a "wolf among sheep" and called it Lupus Salictarius or the 'good wolf'. Apparently the earliest recorded use of hops in beer is left to us by the Jews while in exile in Babylon (6th Century BC) who noted its use in a strong drink of the region.

 

The reason why hops began to dominate is not only due to its great flavoring - bittering qualities but mainly due to its natural antiseptic properties. Really high alcohol wasn't required anymore to prevent spoilage so less grain could be used in the wort and beer could store for much longer.

 

Cultivated hops didn't start showing up (in the written record at least) until the post Roman period (8th -9th Century AD). So really in essence modern beer took firm roots after that period with the Flemings, Dutch & Germans because many other medieval brewers were reluctant to use hops for various reasons. In fact, even though the Romans brought hops to Britain for medicinal uses English brewers were not keen at all on using it in beer until the Flemings started importing hopped beer to England in the 14th Century. But let me tell you, if anyone could win someone over to hopped beer it's the Flemings!

 

I hope that helps answer your question.

Edited January 17, 2006 by Pantagathus

[Pertinax]

I can add a little more to the folk origins of naming of the Hop as Humulus Lupulus, "the wolf amongst sheep" , the hop if growning particularly amongst osiers , stealthily strangles them with a light ,climbing, grip-as the wolf is said to "take down" a sheep .( Pliny the Elder ,who else!).

Edited January 17, 2006 by Pertinax

[Pantagathus]

I can add a little more to the folk origins of naming of the Hop as Humulus Lupulus, "the wolf amongst sheep" , the hop if growning particularly amongst osiers , stealthily strangles them with a light ,climbing, grip-as the wolf is said to "take down" a sheep .

 

Wysteria does the same. I've seen even the mightiest oaks fall victim to that lovely flowered vine...

[Pertinax]

This thread has partly devolved into a selection of notes attached to the Hop entry in the Roman Herbal gallery.Mainly about beers again and natural herbal flavourings/ingredients.

Edited January 17, 2006 by Pertinax