Beer has most likely been around since humans have existed. Because every starchy substance that is obtained through alcoholic fermentation is included under this term. A beer can practically come into being by itself. According to sources, brewing beer was as common in the ancient Egyptian empire as it was among the Sumerians over 5000 years ago. Brewing beer is comparable to baking bread in the long period of producing one's own food. So the word "liquid food" is not even far-fetched to begin with. The brewers, whether it was the farmers themselves or the urban craftsmen, made do with the basic substances that were available. After the Thirty Years' War, for example, it was the order of the day for the impoverished urban population to brew beer from stale bread.
At that time, beer served the health of the population to a large extent. Cooked drinks such as tea or coffee were not yet known at all. Wine was only available regionally and the water in the cities was often undrinkable and full of germs. It was only through the germ-killing fermentation process that people were able to do something with the vital water. The yeast necessary for fermentation was still unknown at that time, but naturally available. The brewmasters in the monasteries, who were particularly fond of the various methods of beer production, unconsciously transferred the yeast again and again to the next brewing process with a part of the old mash. They did not know what triggered the fermentation process, but they had learned that beer could not be produced without the addition of the old mash. To be continued....
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