BEERS

Beeris the world's most widely consumedalcoholic beverage; it is the third-most popular drink overall, afterwaterandtea. It is thought by some to be the oldest fermented beverageBeer is produced by the saccharificationofstarchandfermentationof the resulting sugar. The starch and saccharificationenzymesare often derived from malted cereal grains, most commonlymaltedbarley and malted wheat.Unmaltedmaize and rice are widely used adjuncts to lighten the flavour because of their lower cost. The preparation of beer is calledbrewing. Most beer is flavoured withhops, whichadd bitternessand act as a naturalpreservative, though other flavourings such as herbs or fruit may occasionally be included. Some of humanity's earliest known writings refer to the production and distribution of beer: theCode of Hammurabiincluded laws regulating beer Click to edit Master subtitle style and beer parlours, and "The Hymn toNinkasi", 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 peopleToday, the brewing industry is a global business, consisting of several dominant multinational companiesand many thousands of smaller producers ranging frombrewpubstoregional breweries. The strength of beer is usually around 4% to 6% alcohol by volume (abv) although it may vary between 0.5% (de-alcoholized) and 20%, with some breweries creating examples of 40% abv and above in recent years. Beer2/8/13 part of the culture of beer-drinking nations and is associated with forms

Contents [hide]1History 2Brewing 3Ingredients 4Production and trade 5Varieties

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Celtictribes as far back as 3000 BC,[23]and it was mainly brewed on a domestic scale.[24]The product that the early Europeans drank might not be recognised as beer by most people today. Alongside the basic starch source, the early European beers might contain fruits, honey, numerous 2/8/13