Hardly surprising in this age of advertisement driven sales, where often the manufacturing costs of a particular beer are dwarfed by the advertising budget of many of the large breweries. Giving rise to a common complaint of bland, overpriced beers with little, or no taste.
So lots of people are turning to home brewing to regain the quality and taste of old. You have control over every stage of the process, and of course these days it certainly doesn't hurt that your finished product, as well as being tasty, is considerably cheaper than the mass produced varieties.
Beer has been with us for thousands of years. It can be traced back at least 6,000 years when the Mesopotamians were known to have drunk a fermented bread mash. Via various routes it eventually arrived in Northern Europe. From where it rapidly spread all over the civilised world.
Early fermented drinks, made with grain, the early forerunner of our modern beers, made use of honey as a source of sugar. These drinks were always referred to as "ale". The term "beer" did not come into common use until much later.
Most early ales were brewed from malted grains such as barley, oats, and wheat. They were simple beers. The addition of such ingredients as hops, which we now think are pretty much indispensable were only introduced in the early 1500's when Flemish settlers broght over their recipes, which rapidly proved popular.
Until then many early recipes would contain such ingredients as saltpetre, tree bark, and all manner of root vegatables. The main purpose of many of these ingredients would be to offset the often "rank" taste of the brew. Obviously were it not for the alcoholic content nobody in their right mind would drink it!
Every large household in those days would brew their own beer. It generally being safer than a lot of the untreated water, was drunk by all. They would have a brewing day once a week, producing much stronger beers than are currently made commercially and were made in quite large quantities, stored in casks.
From the late 1700's onwards small breweries started producing beer in commercial quantities, brewing excellent, good drinking beers, which were deivered to ale houses within a fairly small radius. Over a period of time, with the increase in population and improvements in transport links, many of these small breweries either amalgamated or were taken over. To be replaced by fewer, larger breweries, making a lot less types of beer.
And so we now see a swing back, consumer driven, to a lot more "micro breweries" producing a much smaller quantity of beer, but providing the variety and taste that people want. The ultimate micro brewery being of course the home brewer.
The world has gone real beer crazy in the last few years. Many people are wanting to taste their beer and let me emphasize the word TASTE! Germany has a history steeped in beer, but America has a CrAzY BiG beer future ahead of it. Around the world some Americans come across as loud, braggadocios and arrogant. Well, I guess we have earned it, based on some of the pop stars in the press today. But, when it comes to beer, or should I say "Craft Beer," we have built a reputation worldwide for new, exciting, flavorful, extreme beers. Beers that are Loud, Braggadocios and Arrogant! America now has more Breweries by far than any other country in the world and new breweries are opening every day. If people could start a brewery will less capitol, there would be even more breweries. There are thousands of people who homebrew beer and their dream is to one day had have their own brewery, but who can afford a commercial brew system? You can buy a commercial scale brew systems that is ready to go, but that will set you back a quarter of a million bucks. Not many people have that kind on money just lying around? Back in 1995 there was a video called FrankenBrew. It was written and hosted by Tom Hennessy. He explained how to build a commercial scale brewery for as little as $12,000 using stainless vessels from old dairies and other sources. He told you where to find used tanks and how to modify them to function as brewery equipment. Tom explained every aspect of brewing and brew systems on a commercial scale. He explained how a brewery brews beer and shows you each step of the process and gives you countless tips. I had gotten a bootleg copy of this old video and when I first saw it my jaw dropped! MAN! Where had this video been all my home brewing life? I tried to find a source to buy one, but it was not available anymore. I am an avid home brewer and some may say I think I know it all, but there is a difference between home brewing and commercial scale brewing. I watched that video over and over and I learned something new each time. I host the Brewcast BrewCrAzY, so I gave Tom Hennessy a call and got him on the show, so he could tell our listeners about his video from last century. He was surprised to find that there was a FrankenBrew following. FrankenBrew Systems were all over the world. FrankenBrew had become a cult classic. With the popularity of homebrew and Craft Beer, this video needed to be brought back to life. So, just like the Monster Frankenstein-FrankenBrew has been brought back from the dead! In a joint effort between, Tom Hennessey, the original producer and BrewCrAzY, FrankenBrew LIVES AGAIN! BrewCrAzY had Tom send them one of the last four remaining original VHS tapes. We digitized and formatted it to DVD. You can only get it from BeerBooks online, but they are the number one source for books and DVD's about beer. If you are a home brewer and have no desire to start a commercial brewery, you still need to see this video, because you will learn so much. By the time you get halfway through it, you will be thinking about starting a microbrewery. If you don't brew beer, but love a good Craft Beer you need to see this video also. You will become the brewing expert amongst all your beer drinking friend. It will help you understand your beer.
Both Chris Haycock & Johnny Max are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Chris Haycock has sinced written about articles on various topics from Internet Marketing, Email Advertising and Investments. Chris Haycock is an information publisher. One of whose many hobbies is home brewing. Preferring the taste and variety of his own product to those commercially available. For more information go to:. Chris Haycock's top article generates over 33100 views. to your Favourites.
Johnny Max has sinced written about articles on various topics from Food And Drink. John B McKissack III, (aka Johnny Max) produces and hosts the podcast . For more information about starting your own Craft, or Micro-Brewery go to the source, the. Johnny Max's top article generates over 880 views. to your Favourites.