BEER IS OUR WORLD - So here is your one-stop
brew & beverage resource for your daily need of
information about beer brewing and beverages.

Welcome to our information source for the brewing and beverage industry. This web page is your One Stop Brew & Beverage Resource.

It is a source of links where you can find useful information about beer brewing and the beverage industry in general. Just click on the gray links.The news links will take you to popular news search engines with the most recent news from the brewing, beverage and supply industry. Further links will take you to other useful web pages around the world - information, science, brew supply, engineering, education, guides and helpers. Where available the English language page of the appropriate site has been chosen. But don't expect a pure monolingual link repository as this would limit the extent and the simplicity of this webpage.

If you want to contact us for example in order to make an appointment, please use our >>>  e-mail form  .

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what is brewserv ?
services of brewserv
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essay LATEST ENTRY in English >> and Chinese >>
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欢迎访问啤酒酿造及饮料行业的资源网站。本网站为您提供一站式的啤酒及饮料资源链接。

大体而言,本网站是各种相关链接的荟萃,提供有关啤酒酿造和整个饮料行业的有用资料。

新闻链接将带您进入Google和Yahoo!的新闻搜索引擎,提供啤酒酿造、饮料制造和麦芽行业的最新消息。其它链接则将带您进入全球各个网页―信息、科学、啤酒供应、工程技术、教育、指南和协助等。这些链接将连接至各种语言网页。如已选择相关网站的英文网页(如有),则可轻易进入原语言网页。因此,毋须担心这单一语言链接库会限制本网站的范围和简易性。

如果您觉得有某一网站值得加入链接栏,请把链接建议发送给我们―语言不限;或使用我们的电子邮件表格,把您的改进意见发送给我们。本网站旨在为您提供方便,因此请告诉我们您对它的评价。本网站正在建设中,将会不断完善,您的建议对我们很有帮助。




 
Other News Sources     其它消息来源

If you didn't find what you were looking for, try the following links. They will provide you with more specific and in some cases even local news.

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Periodicals and Magazines     期刊与杂志

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Technical and other Books about Beer and Beverage Production     有关啤酒和饮料生产的技术及其它书籍

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Research Institutions for the Brewing and Beverage Industry      啤酒酿造和饮料行业的研究机构

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Raw Materials for the Beer and Beverage Production     啤酒和饮料生产的原材料

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Utilities & Engineering     公用设施与工程技术

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Machinery & Equipment     机器与设备

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Post Production & Sales     生产后与销售

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Craft Brewing     精酿啤酒

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Education     教育

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History     历史

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Guides     指南

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Associations / Organisations     协会/组织

National and International Brewers Associations

Europe

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The Americas

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Asia / Pacific

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Other Associations

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Terminology and Dictionaries     术语及字典

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Other Sources     其它资料来源

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BREWSERV

What is brewserv ?

Brewserv is a consultancy company which provides high quality technical, financial and marketing advice for the brewing, malting and the beverage industry. Having worked for large and medium sized European and Asian breweries and malt factories in the past we have specialized in the consulting business, covering the brewing, malting and the beverage industry. On the background of thirty years of experience within this very specialized industry, we are today sharing our wealth of knowledge with our clients.

Successful breweries and related industries worldwide have come to recognize the importance of decision making on the grounds of informed knowledge. As the brewing industry has evolved tremendously both technically and marketingwise during the past thirty years, there is sufficient evidence for this development will continue at an even accelerating pace. Any decision made today can have an unforeseen impact on the development of a company in the future. Most companies lack the qualified internal resources to make right decisions every time and for every project. So here is where brewserv can help.

Our approach is to analyse a task’s preconditions and from there to develop several solutions for the realization of a project. All this is done in close cooperation with our clients’ staff. If found helpful, other resources can be included as well to ensure optimized project solutions. During the development of a project we will show full consideration to the historical prerequisite of the client company and it's brands. Merging the past with the most promising emerging trends of today, will in our opinion lead to the best results.

Having been exposed to various cultures, we are confident that by consulting brewserv you will find a partner you can understand, a partner who will know your needs and a partner you can trust.

Based in Hong Kong we are located right in the centre of the most challenging markets for the beverage industry throughout Asia. Within a few hours we can be at your site and can start to develop tailor-made solutions quite to your requirements.

This is what we call to serve the brewing and the beverage industry - this is brewserv.

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博赏

什幺是博赏?

博赏是一家顾问公司,致力为啤酒酿造、麦芽制造和整个饮料行业提供一流的技术、财政和营销建议。本公司曾为欧洲和亚洲众多大中型酿酒厂和麦芽厂提供专业咨询服务,涵盖啤酒酿造、麦芽制造和饮料行业。我们在此专业领域拥有三十年资深经验,并乐意与客户分享我们的知识财富。

世界各地取得成功的酿酒厂和相关行业均认识到,借助全面知识进行决策的重要性。鉴于过去三十年来,啤酒酿造行业的在技术和营销方面均经历了翻天覆地的变化,我们有充分理由相信未来的发展步伐将会更快。公司目前所作的决策,能对日后的发展产生无法预料的影响。大部分公司缺乏合适的内部资源,无法确保每次决策均正确无误。博赏,可以助您一臂之力。

我们的方法首先分析任务的先决条件,然后为实项落目而制定一项或若干方案,整个过程都需与客户员工密切合作。如果我们发现其它资源亦有助益,我们就会拿过来使用,确保提供最佳解决方案。在发展一个项目的过程中,我们会充分考虑客户公司的历史背景及其品牌形象。我们认为,将公司历史和当前最优越的趋势相结合,将会取得最佳成效。

我们熟悉各地文化,因此能够理解您的公司,懂得您的需求和期望。选择博赏作为您的顾问,您就有了一位可以信赖的合作伙伴。

我们在香港和曼谷均设有办事处,地处整个亚洲最具挑战性的饮料行业市场中心。只需几个小时,我们就可以到达您的位置,按照您的需求,发展一套为您量身订制的解决方案。

顾名思义,我们取名博赏,就是要为啤酒酿造和饮料行业提供最广博、最赏心的顾问服务。

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Services offered by brewserv

Brewserv offers a broad spectrum of services. Here are listed some of them for the sectors: breweries, malting plants, alcohol production, wineries, carbonated and non-carbonated softdrinks and mixed drinks producers.

Consulting in the event of...

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博赏提供的服务

博赏提供的服务层面广泛,在此仅举若干领域为例:啤酒酿造、麦芽制造、酒精生产、葡萄酒酿造、汽水与非汽水的非酒精饮料生产和配制混合饮料生产等。

  • 改进生产流程
  • 提高产品质量
  • 配方和产品开发
  • 新产品开发和支援
  • 产品质量控制
  • 原材料评估和优化
  • ++
  • 啤酒大麦评估
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  • 流程中断时进行故障检测

博赏提供以下各方面的咨询服务:

  • 现有厂房扩建或现代化
  • 购置全新或二手生产设备和机械
  • 任何啤酒厂和麦芽制造厂的能源和用水供应(包括废水)设计、扩大和优化
  • 建立新的啤酒厂或麦芽制造设施
  • ++
  • 促销和产品营销布置
  • 啤酒厂和麦芽制造公司事务
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  • 产品设计

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Essays about Beer, Brewing and Alcohol

This is a collection of three essays, put up for the interested reader about several issues of brewing and beverages.




A. What can the Chinese Brewing Industry learn from Europe ? (in English)     <<  ! CLICK HERE  ! >>    The Chinese text version, 文本在中国翻译

brewserv, July 2006    潘福山先生, 博赏, 7/2006

The writer gives an overview of the development of the European brewing industry over the past 50 years. He evaluates similarities and differences of recent Chinese developments and gives an outlook on how the Chinese brewing industry can move forward. Can the Chinese Brewing Industry learn from the success and the mistakes of European brewers? The answer is yes and no.

After a short overview of the beer making process, this article goes back to the very beginnings of beer and how beer probably was made and consumed by the Sumerians six thousand years ago. It continues with a review on the consumption of alcohol and it's social aspects through time.


C. A History of Alcohol

This article concentrates on the history of alcohol consumtion during the ages and gives a nice view on the developments in the United States in the beginning of the last century.







A. What can the Chinese Brewing Industry learn from Europe ?

by brewserv, July 2006   潘福山先生, 博赏                                                            >>>  Text in Chinese translation,文本在中国翻译  >>>


The writer gives an overview of the development of the European brewing industry over the past 50 years. He evaluates similarities and differences of recent Chinese developments and gives an outlook on how the Chinese brewing industry can move forward. Can the Chinese Brewing Industry learn from the success and the mistakes of European brewers? The answer is yes and no.


 Although the roots of the modern beer brewing in Europe and the world have their origin in the middle ages when the monasteries held both the rights and the knowledge to produce beer, and although beer brewing as a craft developed to an industry during the founding years around 1840, in this article I will only cover the recent years from 1960 onwards. During the last 50 years the brewing industry of Europe developed rapidly and changed it's face in multiple ways into the various shapes, as we know them today. Only this period can be of a certain value for the one who wants to make up his mind and who wants to evaluate the possibilities for the Chinese brewing industry to find it's way into the future.


 1960 

 The years after the Second World War in Europe were determined by the restoration of destroyed or retarded brewing capacities and the effort to match the fast growing thirst for beer, driven by the steadily growing purchasing power of it's population. During this time most breweries were still using and even invested in open fermentation, copper or steel brew houses with coolships, horizontal storage tanks made of aluminum or coated steel. Barrel and bottle fillings still needed considerable amounts of manual work.

During this period there was a market for everyone who was able to produce a reasonable good beer. The large pre-war brand names developed further but also small and relatively unknown breweries (re-) established themselves as proper local brands. The beer sales prices were attractive and the main problem was how to increase the output according to the growing demand for beer.

Several technical and technological developments took place during this time, as everybody was looking for higher production efficiency for his beer output. It was during this time when for example the use of stainless steel in breweries started to take off. The ideas to use this material preferably in breweries originated from the dairy industry primarily from Northern European countries, where an early high quality standard for milk products was established soon after the war.


 1970

 The seventies can be described as the years of a turning point for the European brewing industry. It was the time of social unrests and the redefinition of values. During these years breweries were facing important and often crucial decisions and depending on these decisions some breweries succeeded but many failed.

The problems for the brewing industry were various. For the first time after many years of continuous steady growth, breweries had to realize, that the production capacities had overtaken the real demand for beer. The result was that many breweries made a decision to increase their clientele beyond their traditional market boundaries, which usually were close to their production facilities. So these breweries decided to "develop“ their products to regional or even national brands. In most of these cases the brewery just decided to buy more and larger trucks and to ship their products hundreds of kilometers to the "new" and "promising“ markets. As many breweries did this at the same time, the problems started. First of all did the beer stabilization methods of these times and the brewing technology in general not allow the long transports and storage times necessary for such expansions. So the result was that these regional and national brands were of far less quality when they finally reached their customers, than the brands of the local competitors. At the same time the beer price at these far outlets was reduced in regard to the overcrowding of beer brands at these places.

So what "advantage“ did these breweries enjoy from the new strategy? They had developed a large and costly distribution net to serve their doubtful products to new confused customers, who paid very little for these products, but still too much in relationship to the beer's quality and image. The problem got even worse for breweries who decided to export their products to neighboring countries or even overseas.

Most breweries that employed this strategy failed and were taken over by larger national or international groups. But interestingly most of the beer brands they hat destroyed themselves, were never again able to resurrect from this self induced downgrading campaign of the seventies.

Another problem was the sharp increase of labour disputes and the growing power of the labour unions throughout Europe. The natural reaction was that many mostly larger breweries decided to build new modern and very efficient working brewing factories outside the large cities. Heineken in Zoetervoude (The Netherlands) and Carlsberg in Fredericia (Denmark) are typical examples for this development. 

A third problem the European breweries were facing was a rapid increase of production costs related to the public and governmental demand for a better living and working environment for the population. Again the Northern European Countries were the forerunners to this new environmental movement that took the world by storm.

Many breweries in Europe during this time couldn't match the pressure and many had to shut down. This was the time when in the United Kingdom basically most breweries merged to the well known "big five“, from which there are only three large groups left today. But also many small and new breweries took a different approach during this time too.

During troubled times people tend to find other and new ways to cope with the problems. So in the second half of the seventies some new developments came up.

In the United Kingdom as an answer to the beer giants there was C.A.M.R.A. (Campaign for Real Ale). C.A.M.R.A. defended but also defined what they called to be "real ale“ and the way how to produce such beer by putting weight on more craftsmanship within the manufacturing of beer brewing in contrast to the factory-made beer of non-"real-ale“ producers. By doing so they matched the customer's desire for a higher product quality and more product individuality and his desire for free choice of beer products.

In The United States President Jimmy Carter signed a bill in the year of 1978 for legalizing home brewing. This was the beginning of a success story of a new kind of entrepreneurship that in some way can be compared to the development of the computer chip industry in California during about the same period.

Also in the USA the beer drinker had a desire for "more fun“ while drinking beer. He was fed up with the very equalized beer qualities of the large (that time six) producers. Today many of these once small home breweries have reached a size that we today again can call large or even very large. And if we look at the earnings of some of these breweries, you will be very positively surprised.

In Germany (West) that at this time still had about 1600 breweries for a population of about 60 million the development took a different turn. As the demand for "real ale“ in Germany had no base, as there existed many different and good beer products and Germany's brewers actively defended their famous purity law, some brewers took a new approach and solved the problem of low brewery earnings in a different way: 

As many breweries and well-known beer brands had damaged their reputation in the way mentioned earlier, there was a vacuum to be filled. About 1975 some smaller breweries in Germany realized the power of advertising combined with a well-managed product marketing and they started slowly but steadily to develop their small and unknown brands into national brands. The "secret“ why they succeeded and the others failed, was that they strictly concentrated on the views and desires of the end consumer. They understood, that in the end it's the consumer who decides, which beer he wants to drink or he wants to serve his guests. These brewers didn't stop looking at the consumer's preferences only. They even went further and through a well coordinated marketing strategy they influenced the consumer's desire the way they wanted it to be.

The main pillar within this strategy was the product quality. So these brewers were very much concerned about their product quality. But additionally they understood that it's not sufficient to just produce high quality beers. Quality had to be steadily and thoroughly communicated with the consumer as well, so he had to recognize the product's quality visually and within his mind too and not just by consuming the product and finding it to be good.


Important parts of this marketing strategy were to communicate:

1. the quality of the production facilities

2. the quality of the raw materials and the production processes

3. the quality of the packaging and the product presentation

3. the quality of the general company management with a high degree of a personal commitment of the owner himself and the management

4. the quality in the company's relationship with environmental matters

5. the quality of management and good leadership within the company and outwards

6. the quality of personal requirements of the staff

7. the quality of advertising and TV spots


 By implementing and communicating these values with the consumers within a complete communication package, these breweries were successful. As soon as the consumer had understood and also was convinced of the brewery's credibility, he was willing to pay a reasonable higher amount for his glass of beer.

The strategy paid off and many others adopted the method. Of course it must be said here, that also in other European countries and in the USA and for example Mexico this was the way to go and to leave the spiral of a certain brewery death behind.

At the same time other successful strategies were adapted within the German and European brewing industry. Here I want to mention the specializing on one or more specialty beer like for example Wheat Beer, Dark Beer and Alcohol-free Beer. But also in these cases the breweries were only successful if they combined their strategy with a high quality image as just mentioned.


 1980

 During the eighties the described brewery strategies from the seventies were continued and fine-tuned. So during these years as the competition increased heavily and unsuccessful breweries closed or were taken over, one could clearly see who had made the right decision at the right time.

The technology of beer brewing made some essential advancement during this time. All of these improvements had one goal in common - to increase the product quality. But also energy saving technologies and the environmental harmonization of the beer production were hot issues during these years and most of these technologies, as we know them today have their origin here.


 1990

 The nineties in Europe were hugely dominated by the increased demand of products and equipment in Eastern Europe. A huge new market had just opened up and everybody wanted to take his share in this development. With the eye on Eastern Europe but also on the rapidly and newly developing China, many large brewery mergers took place during this time.

Today a few players manage Eastern Europe’s brewing industry and it will be a question of time and the development of a mature consumer consciousness, when a larger variety of beers and specialty beers will be produced in these countries.

If we look at the development of the beer industry of Western Europe during this decade, we recognize that many of the larger breweries who had been quite successful with their one-brand or one-beer strategies, started to add different beer types to their product portfolio. Here it was the Light Beers that was leading the pack, but also Wheat Beers, Alcohol-Free Beers, Mix-Beer Drinks and Dark Beers were added to the main brand of these breweries. It must be said here that only in a few cases these additions were really successful. The decision to add this variety of beers to the main brand was mainly driven by the opinion that the consumer was asking for more variety. But only in a few cases this argument was justifiable as the overall offer of a various beer type assortment was already existent in the market.


 2000

 Also during the last decade the development of Europe's brewing industry continued the given ways. Globalization changed also in this industry the way of thinking and working of the people. The largest brewery mergers ever took place in these recent years and the outlook for the European brewing industry continues to be dominated by M&As combined with production improvements and distribution and production cost reductions. The answer to any development that could lead to a reduced consumer choice and product variety, will in any case be the upcoming of interesting small-scale and craft breweries like we have seen this to happen in the United States and some European countries.


 China

 When we look at China and it's brewing industry, we can see some similarities but also differences to the European development.

China has actually started to develop its brewing industry since the beginning of the 1980's. The main part of the development took place during the nineties and it seems that China needed just ten years for what Europe needed thirty years. The difference and maybe the advantage for China was, that it could yield on proven technology and brewery equipment. Only on this ground it was possible during this short time to develop as the worlds largest beer producer with an annual beer production of today 330 million hectolitres. Today China is still one of the fastest growing beer markets worldwide with an estimated production increase of 5% yearly.

After the "golden“ years for the Chinese brewing industry during the nineties where there existed about 700 breweries, the industry was not able to control the increasing competition and today there are about 400 breweries left. Most of the breweries have merged to large mainly national groups that have international cooperation partners who in most cases also are minority shareholders. The competition is fiercer than ever and the company earnings of the breweries are generally low, as the beer prices have come down to a minimum. The large Chinese brewery groups are expecting that their international partners will help to build their financial backbone and to support them during the unknown development of the brewing industry in the coming years.



 Differences between Europe and China 

 What are the essential differences between the Chinese and the European brewing industry and their market conditions?


 1. Brewery structure

 The structure of the large breweries of China is comparable to the large European brewery groups. Output, size and distribution ways are comparable too. Different is that China doesn't have many what we call small breweries yet. A "small“ brewery in China is a brewery with less than 100,000 tons of annual beer production. But if we say "small“ here, we mean that the brewery in the mind of the consumer is regarded as to be small, independent and quality-conscious about it's products and it’s relationship to it’s consumers.


 2. Customer base

 The customer base of the Chinese brewing industry is very different from the European. The purchasing power is only a very small fraction compared to Europe also when you take the large Chinese population into account. When we look at the relationship between the small population with a reasonable income and the invested capital that was used to build up the large Chinese beer production, it is obvious that the existing production capacities are too costly and actually "too good“ related to the existing real demand for product quality. Or if we turn it the other way round we can also say that the consumer still is not able to value the offered product qualities of Chinese beers.

The important factor, the purchasing power of a single consumer is very low. And as long the consumer is not able to choose his preferred product “freely” we do not have real free-market conditions yet.

Because of the small variety of offered beers in China the consumer preference towards a certain brand or product will in such a situation mainly depend on non quality related factors like for example the beer price or the alcohol content of the beer. This means that it will be very difficult to justify beer price increases in the future, as brand loyalty is still non-existent. But this is already changing and it's good to be prepared for the future.


 3. Product quality

 The product qualities of Chinese beers are in general good when we look at fresh bottled beers. Some breweries still have problems if their beer is shipped far away to distant locations of the country or if the beer has been stored under bad and unpredictable conditions for a long time. So in this regard the investment in good quality equipment hasn't paid off yet but it is a good starting point for further quality developments.

On the other side the fashion in recent years to produce low-alcohol beers or Light Beers (7-9 P) in the very large proportion as we see it today is certainly not supporting the Chinese quality beer image. These low-alcohol beers are not sufficient clearly distinct from the stronger medium level beers class. Many customers will feel cheated when being offered low alcohol beers for a relatively high price and it will be difficult to build up consumer loyalty under such circumstances. In Europe Light Beers stand clearly out from the crowd of Lager or Pilsner Beers. The labeling doesn’t leave any doubt and the pricing is accordingly lower.

Also the trend in recent years to move towards green bottles and to establish as much green coloration on the labeling as possible will not be sufficient to convince the consumer of quality. Green is in fact a suitable colour for beer but as soon as all beers will have a similar look, the effect has lost its power. In general I have to say that the branding culture within the Chinese brewing industry still needs a lot of improvement.

But what is actually beer quality?

Beer quality in my opinion is a complex construction of various elements surrounding the product. And this construction exists mainly but also preferably in the mind of the consumer. The duty of the brewery is to develop and to optimize this construction in the mind of the consumer. If the brewery is successful in doing this, it will be rewarded with the customers’ loyalty and his willingness to pay more for its products.

The only way to build up this kind of quality understanding is through communication with the consumer. This can be done in various ways and these ways are not always necessarily costly. To communicate with the consumer will also be the only way to receive a feedback from the customer and to evaluate the success of a given marketing campaign. This is the way successful European and international breweries are working. It should be possible for Chinese breweries to adapt these methods too.



 Recommendations for the Chinese brewing industry

 The income structure and the spending power of the population in China cannot be changed for the better immediately. This will probably take another 20 years. So where are in such a situation the opportunities for a Chinese brewery to be successful already today?

The answer is by developing product quality and the customer loyalty towards the brewery. The right method to do this is by communicating quality with the consumer. If the brewery is doing this in a proper way, the consumer slowly will develop a relationship to a brewery's products and if the consumer will earn sufficient income, he will reward the brewery with his loyalty through his consumption of it’s products. Here of course the brewers of China will need further improvements in building up their branding culture as this is a fundamental vehicle for a modern and successful communication today.

My second recommendation is to build up a brewery’s consumer communication in a distinct way that differs from the immediate competitor. Only in a few cases it will be advisable to copy foreign marketing messages directly. Preferably Chinese breweries should develop their own and for their consumers well suitable marketing messages as these will go deeper and will be longer lasting as copied foreign messages and strategies.

My third recommendation is concerning the right choice of the production equipment. It is obvious to anybody that the consumer finally is drinking the content of the bottle he buys. He finally is not consuming the beautiful cinema commercial or the nicely designed lable and beer carton of that brewery. What he wants is a great experience while enjoying one of his favorite beers. Therefore a brewery should never start to compromise with the product quality within the production procedure and it will naturally look for the right and the most secure production equipment available.

Good and safe brewery equipment can be found in China and abroad. The judgment which equipment is suitable for a given purpose has to be considered carefully and many factors – not just investment and running costs – will go into the equation before the final decision is made.



 Summary

 The Chinese brewing industry offers plenty opportunities for interesting and innovative developments. In Europe over the past 50 years several developments have been exercised, but only a few were really successful in the long term. China can learn from the successful ones. But China will not be successful just in transforming the successful methods to China. The Chinese brewers will have to find specific and unique Chinese ways to be successful in their home market and abroad.

The supporting method for such a success will in any case be to communicate product quality with the consumer. After having analyzed the beer market in China during recent years I have come to the conclusion, that this is the right and necessary way for breweries to go. The breweries that will understand this and are able to develop their own ways of consumer communication will belong to the few successful breweries of China.

brewserv, Hong Kong  潘福山先生, 博赏 釀酒與飲料咨詢公司 (香港)

published July 2006 in "World Beverage and Brewing Technology Magazine" (WBT) Beijing, China





中国酿酒工业能向欧洲学什么?

(潘福山)硕士/著 陈书风/译                                                                                         >>>  English text version, 英语文本版本 !  >>>


本文作者以欧洲酿酒工业过去50多年来的发展作背景,分析了在它的演变过程中的成功与失败的经验,并对中国啤酒工业发展提出了建设性的建议。

虽然欧洲以及世界各地的现代啤酒酿造技术都源于中世纪,当时修道院掌有生产啤酒的特权和知识;虽然啤酒酿造,作为一种工艺,在1840年左右已发展成为一种工业,但是在本文中我只是着重地论述1960年以后的发展情况。

在最近50多年,欧洲的酿造工业发展很快,并且以多种方式改变了他们的面貌。正如我们今天所看到的那样,它已发展成各种不同的形式。在这个时期,对于那些想下定决心,而且又想为中国酿酒工业探索未来发展道路的人们,才具有一定的参考价值。


二十世纪70年代:

二十世纪70年代,可以说是欧洲酿酒工业出现转折点的年代。这也是一个社会不稳定,而且价值重新定位的时代。在这些年里,许多啤酒厂都面临着一个关键的抉择问题。根据这种抉择,有的啤酒厂成功了,但多数啤酒厂失败了。

酿酒工业的问题是多种多样的。经过多年连续稳定的发展,啤酒厂第一次实现了生产能力超过了啤酒的真正需求量。因此,有许多啤酒厂决定:超越传统的市场界限,扩大其主顾,从而发挥他们的生产能力,把他们的产品“开发”成地区的、甚至国家的品牌。大多数啤酒厂都购买了更多的和更大的卡车,把他们的产品运往数百公里以外的“新”的,而且“有希望”的市场。因为都想这样做,问题就发生了。首先,这个时期的啤酒,其稳定方法和一般的酿造技术,还不能满足长距离运输和长时间储存的要求。结果,这些地区的和国家的品牌,当最终到达他们的顾客手里时,其质量远远不如当地竞争者的品牌质量。另外,由于这些地区的品牌高度集中,产地较远的啤酒,其价格失去了竞争力。然而,这些啤酒厂根据他们新的战略能享有什么“优势”呢?他们开发了一个很大的而且昂贵的销售网,把他们受怀疑的产品销售给新的糊涂顾客,他们很少注意这些产品,而且还特别看重啤酒的质量与企业的形象之间的关系。对于决定把他们的产品出口到邻近国家或海外,问题就更糟糕了。采取这种战略的大多数啤酒厂后来都失败了,而且被较大的国家或国际集团所接替。有趣的是,从二十世纪70年代曾降级销售的那部分啤酒品牌,后来再也不能从消费者心目中恢复元气。

另一个问题是,显著地增加了劳动纠纷,而且全欧洲的工会力量不断增长。许多最大型的啤酒厂都决定在大城市之外建设高效率的酿造厂。荷兰的喜力(Heineken)和丹麦的嘉士伯(Carlsberg),就是这种发展类型的两个典型的例子。

欧洲的啤酒厂面临的第三个问题是,与社会和政府要求更好地改善人民的生活和工作环境有关,从而使生产成本迅速增加。期间,北欧国家成为了这次席卷全球的环境运动的先驱。

在此期间,欧洲的许多啤酒厂,因承受不了这种压力,而不得不关闭。就在这时候,英国的大多数啤酒厂,基本上都并购成众所周知的“五大集团”,今天保留下来的只有其中三个。不过,还有许多小啤酒厂和新建啤酒厂,在此期间也采取了不同的处理方法。

在这多难时期,人们都想方设法去解决这些问题。所以在二十世纪70年代的后半叶,某些新发展出现了。

在英国,啤酒巨头们想出的办法是,发起“真正的爱尔啤酒运动”。爱尔啤酒运动不但保护,而且还限定了他们所谓的“真正的爱尔啤酒”的意义,以及如何生产这种啤酒的方法。与非“真正的爱尔啤酒”相反,他们在啤酒的酿造过程中加大了工艺技术方面的投入。通过这种改进方法,他们的确满足了顾客对更高产品质量和产品个性的要求。

在美国,吉米·卡特总统于1978年签署了一项“家庭酿造合法化”议案,这就是一种新型企业家成功起点的故事。在某些方面,它几乎可与加利福尼亚同一时期的计算机芯片工业的发展相比。

然而,美国的啤酒爱好者,在饮用啤酒时都希望有“更多的乐趣”。他们得到的反馈是,当时六大啤酒生产商具有非常相似的啤酒质量。有许多曾经是家庭酿造作坊的,今天已发展成大规模或甚至叫作特大规模的啤酒厂。如果我们想看看这些啤酒厂的盈利,你就会感到非常惊喜。

在德国(西德),当时大约有6000万人口,啤酒厂约1600家。 “真正的爱尔啤酒”在德国没有发展基础,因为那里原有许多不同的高质量的啤酒产品,而且德国的酿酒者们又都积极地捍卫他们著名的纯度法,所以采取了不同的发展形式,重点解决啤酒厂的低盈利问题。

大约在1975年,德国某些较小的啤酒厂逐渐具备了刊登广告的能力,并且结合他们科学的销售管理方法,把他们较小的而且不知名的品牌慢慢地而且稳步地发展成国家品牌。他们成功的“秘诀”和其他人失败的原因,关键在于是否重视终端消费者的观点和愿望。这些啤酒酿造者一直也没有停止观察消费者的爱好,因为他们知道:生产什么样的啤酒好,最终还是消费者说了算。他们甚至采取更超前的方法,通过销售战略的完美配合,按既定方针去影响消费者的愿望。

这种战略思想的主体是产品质量,所以这些酿造者都非常关心他们的产品质量。另外,他们还懂得:仅仅生产高质量的啤酒还不够,还必须与消费者经常地而且彻底地进行产品质量交流,做到让消费者从内心里承认其产品质量。

销售战略的重要组成部分应该是交流:



1. 生产设施的质量;

2. 原材料和生产工艺的质量;

3. 包装及产品展示质量;

4. 一般公司管理质量,包括业主和管理人员的高度承诺;

5. 公司与环境事物之间关系的质量;

6. 公司内外管理及领导的质量;

7. 对职员个人要求的质量;

8. 刊登文字广告和电视广告的质量。


只要啤酒厂用一套完整的计划,与消费者实施和交流这些有价值的东西,就会取得成功。一旦消费者了解和相信啤酒厂的信誉,他就愿意为他的一杯啤酒支付更高的而且比较合理的费用。

当这种战略取得成功后,许多其他公司也随之效仿。当然,在这里也必须要指出的是,在欧洲其他国家(或美国)也一样,这是一条可行之路,但有的啤酒厂因循守旧而破产了。

在德国以及欧洲的酿酒工业,也都适应其他成功的战略。在这里我想提到的是,专门从事一种或多种特殊啤酒的生产,例如:小麦啤酒、黑啤酒和无醇啤酒等,他们只要是把他们的战略与高质量形象结合起来,就一定能够取得成功。


二十世纪80年代:

在二十世纪80年代,所谓的啤酒厂战略,从70年代就已开始进行不断的调整。在这些年竞争越来越激烈,不成功的啤酒厂关闭了或被其他啤酒厂所接管,所以人们都能够清楚地看出:谁在正确的时间里做出了正确的决定。啤酒酿造技术在此期间取得了某些极其重要的进步,所有这些改进都有一个共同的特点:那就是不断提高产品质量,当然,还包括生产中的节能技术和环境和谐问题 --在这些年也是一个热门话题。今天我们所知道的技术,大部分都源于此时。


二十世纪90年代:

在二十世纪90年代,东欧国家明显地表现出对啤酒产品和设备的需求量呈逐年上升趋势。一个巨大的新兴市场当时正在开放,每人都想在这个发展中占有一定的份额。放眼东欧,而且也放眼正在迅速发展的中国,在此期间,许多大型啤酒厂的并购正在进行。今天是少数人管理东欧的酿酒工业,在这些国家生产多品种啤酒和特种啤酒,是一个时间和消费意识成熟发展的过程。

如果我们在这个十年中看看西欧啤酒工业的发展情况,我们会晓得:有许多比较大的啤酒厂,曾经用他们的一个品牌或一种啤酒战略取得了非常成功的结果。现在,他们又开始把不同的啤酒类型添加到他们的产品生产计划中。在这里领导新潮流的是淡爽啤酒,而且还有小麦啤酒、无醇啤酒、混合啤酒饮料和黑啤酒等,都添加到他们的主要品牌之中。在这里必须要指出的是,这样做只有少数情况是成功的。把多品种啤酒添加到主要品牌之下,可能是受消费者要求多品种的意见所驱使。如果只是为了供消费者选择,其实,多品种在市场上早已存在。


2000年:

在二十世纪的最后10年,欧洲的酿造工业按既定方针继续发展。后来,酿酒工业的全球化,也改变了人们的思维和工作方法。近几年来,最大的啤酒厂也开始了并购,欧洲的酿酒工业的前景将继续被少数人所垄断。与此同时,产品质量不断提高、销售渠道不断完善,而且生产成本也在不断下降。有趣的是,小型的手工艺啤酒厂的出现,填补了消费者对啤酒品种的选择和特种啤酒发展的空白,正如我们在美国和某些欧洲国家所见到的那样。


中国:

当我们观察中国及其酿酒工业时,我们能看到与欧洲的发展有某些相似,但也有不同的地方。

实际上,中国自从二十世纪80年代初就开始发展酿酒工业,而到90年代,其主要部分的发展已经完成。看来,中国仅需要10年就完成了欧洲花费30多年走过的路。中国的区别,或许是进步,可能是采用了成熟的酿造技术和设备产生的结果。只有在这种基础上,才有可能在这么短的时间内发展成为世界上最大的啤酒生产国,其年产量为330百万百升。今天,中国仍然是在世界范围内的啤酒市场发展最快者之一,预计啤酒产量每年可增长5%。

中国酿造工业的黄金时代--二十世纪90年代之后,本行业已不能控制竞争越来越激烈的局面,今天大约还留下400多家啤酒厂。而多数啤酒厂都已并入大型的国家集团公司,他们中的绝大多数都有国际合作伙伴,而这些合作伙伴在多数情况下也是少数控股者。当前的竞争比以往更激烈,而啤酒厂的盈利一般是比较低的,因为啤酒的价格已下降到最低点。许多大型的中国啤酒集团,都在期待着他们的国际合作伙伴,将有助于成为他们的财政支柱,而且在中国酿酒工业的未来发展中给予支持。


中国和欧洲之间的差异:

中国和欧洲酿酒工业以及他们的市场情况之间的基本差异是什么?


1. 啤酒厂结构:

中国的大型啤酒厂结构,可与欧洲的大型啤酒集团相比,而啤酒产量、生产规模和分配方式也比较相似。不同的是,中国还没有我们经常所说的那些“小啤酒厂”。在中国的“小”啤酒厂是指年产啤酒不足10万吨的工厂。不过,我们在这里说的“小”,其意思是:在消费者心目中的啤酒厂,被看成是与产品有关和与消费者有关的小型的、独立的而且是有质量意识的啤酒厂。


2. 顾客基础:

中国酿酒工业的顾客基础与欧洲的完全不同。如果我们拿中国人口来考虑,其购买力与欧洲相比,也只能占很小的一部分。当我们看到:仅有少部分人具有较高的合理的收入,而与用来建设中国大型啤酒生产设施的投资资本之间的关系时,很明显,现有的生产能力,与现有的对产品质量真正需求相比,花钱太多,实际上也“太好”了。或者,我们换个方式来考虑,我们也可以说:消费者目前仍不能对所供应的中国啤酒的产品质量做出评估。

其重要原因是,单个消费者的购买力是很低的。只要顾客不能“自由地”选择他们最喜欢的产品时,我们也不会具有真正的自由市场条件。因为在中国供应的啤酒品种较少,所以顾客所选择的是某一品牌或产品。在这种情况下,主要根据非质量有关因素,例如:啤酒的价格或啤酒的酒精含量等。这就意味着:很难证明未来啤酒的价格会上涨,因为品牌不存在什么忠诚问题。不过,它现在已经发生了变化,未来可能会有所好转。


3. 产品质量:

当我们观察新装瓶的中国啤酒时,我们发现产品的质量总体来说是不错的。如果他们的啤酒经过远距离运输,或者在恶劣或不可预测的条件下储存很长时间时,某些啤酒厂还会存在一定的问题。所以,在这方面,高质量设备的投资还没有完全发挥作用,不过,对进一步提高产品质量却是一个好的起点。

另一方面,近几年来比较流行大批量生产酒精含量低的啤酒或淡爽啤酒,正如我们所见到的,肯定对中国高质量的啤酒形象没有好处。这些低醇含量的啤酒与酒精含量高的啤酒没有明显的区别。许多消费者对高价格供应酒精含量低的啤酒会觉得受到欺骗。在这种情况下,很难拥有忠实的消费人群。在欧洲,淡爽啤酒与储藏啤酒或皮尔森啤酒有着明显的区分。商标不会产生任何怀疑,而且价格也相应地比较低。

近几年来,中国啤酒朝着绿色瓶子方向发展,甚至在商标上也尽量采用绿色,没有足够的理由使消费者相信产品质量。对啤酒来说,绿色实际上是一个比较适合的颜色。不过,所有的啤酒都披上相似的外装,其效果就失去了它的内在的影响力。总之,我不得不说:中国酿酒工业内的品牌文化还需要有很多的改进。


归根结底,什么是啤酒质量呢?

按照我的看法,啤酒质量是围绕在产品周围的一个复杂的元素结构。这个结构主要存在于而且也最适合存在于消费者的脑海里。啤酒厂的任务是,在消费者的脑海里发展和优化这个结构。如果啤酒厂成功地完成了这项任务,他就会受到消费者忠诚的嘉奖,而且他们愿付更多的钱购买它的产品。建立这种质量理解的唯一之路,是通过与消费者的交流。有各种方法可以做到这一点,而且这些方法不总需要花费很多钱。与消费者进行交流,也是收到消费者反馈意见和评估既定销售活动成功原因的唯一方法。这就是成功的欧洲和国际啤酒厂的工作方法。中国啤酒厂也应该有可能适应这些方法。


对中国酿酒工业的建议

中国的收入结构和人民的购买力不可能立刻好转,大概还需要花费20年时间。那么,今天已经成功了的中国啤酒厂,在这种形势下机遇在哪里呢?

回答是,通过发展产品质量和消费者对啤酒厂的忠诚来实现。实现这个目标的正确方法是,与消费者进行产品质量交流。如果啤酒厂处理得当,消费者就会与啤酒厂的产品慢慢地发展成一种关系,而且,如果消费者赚取了足够的收入,他就会用它的忠诚,通过他对该产品的消费来回报给啤酒厂。在此,中国的酿造者们,在建立他们的品牌文化时,当然还需要做出进一步的改进,因为这就是今天现代化和成功交流的基本工具。

我的第二个建议是,以完全不同的方式建立啤酒厂的消费通讯,这个方式不同于直接的竞争者。只有在少数情况下,才有可能直接套用外国的销售信息。中国啤酒厂最好发展自己的,而且对他们的消费者也更适合的销售信息。

我的第三个建议是关于生产设备的正确选择。显然,消费者最终喝的是他购买的瓶子里的东西,而不是欣赏完美的标签设计或啤酒包装箱。当他享用一种或更多种他心爱的啤酒时,他想要知道的是产品质量。因此,啤酒厂在生产过程中决不应该向他的产品质量妥协。然而,很自然会选择正确的而且是最安全的生产设备。

比较好的而且比较安全的酿造设备,无论在中国还是在国外,都有供应。对设备的选择,必须要认真地考虑各种因素--不单单是投资和流动资金--在做最后决定之前,还必须要进行详细的计算。

中国酿造工业提供了许多有趣的和革新发展的机遇。在欧洲,经过五十多年的发展,但只有少数企业经过长期的考验而获得真正的成功。中国能够向这些成功者学习,但是中国不会仅仅因为把成功的方法引进到中国,就能取得胜利。中国酿酒者必须在国内和国外市场上,发展属于中国独有的成功方法。

无论怎样支持这种成功的方法,都要与消费者交流产品质量。近几年来,经过分析中国的啤酒市场,我得出了一个结论:这就是啤酒厂必须要走的一条正确之路。凡能了解这种发展理念的,而且又能发展他们与消费者沟通方法的那些啤酒厂,未来一定会取得成功!


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B. The Production History and Consumption Of Beer

The following essay is taken from the PlanetPapers website at www.planetpapers.com and gives a short but comprehensive view on the history of beer making and beer consumption. The writer is unknown and the text has been adapted slightly:

1. Production process of beer

The first and most important step in brewing is cleanliness. "Brewing is ninety percent janitorial," said Frederick Bowman, founder of Portland Brewing. (Bowman) The first step in the actual brewing process is malting. Malting is what is done to the barley to prepare it for brewing. The steps of the malting process release the starches that are contained in the barley, while minimizing haze and off-flavors. Grain is allowed to soak in 60° F (16° C) water to increase the moisture content of the grain to about 40-45%. The grain is usually spread out on the floor of the germination room, or some other container. These grains are kept at a temperature of about 60° F (16° C). The germination is complete when the sprout has grown to about 3/4 the length of the grain and the hard part of the grain, or the shell, has turned soft. The goal for germination is for the starches within the grain to break down into shorter lengths. At this shorter length stage, the grain is called green malt. Kilning is the next stage after the grains have sprouted. Kilning is the process of drying the grain in the kiln where the temperature is slowly raised during the 30-35 hour period. After kilning, the result is finished malt, with soluble starches and developed enzymes. These grains each have a different and distinct flavor depending on how long they are cooked in the kiln. (Porter)

After the malting, the grain is ready for milling. Milling is the cracking, and crushing of the grain. This procedure is controlled carefully so as to break the grain while keeping the husk as large and as intact as possible. Milling allows the grain to absorb the water it will be mixed with later as the water will extract sugars from the malt. The malt will now be mixed with warm water in the mash tun. This vessel holds the grain and water mixture for a period of time. Two important things will take place in this step. One is to break down proteins to the more soluble and usable amino acids, providing food for the yeast and foam for a nice head on the beer. The second thing is to break down the starch to simple sugars so yeast can convert them to alcohol and carbon dioxide. (Porter)

Mash filtration consists of filtering the converted mash by gravity or pressure in a lauter tub or mash filter to separate the insoluble matter in the malt from the soluble sugars and nitrogen compounds. The sugar liquid recovered is called wort, pronounced wert, or sweet wort. Boiling the wort is best but is also the most expensive method, Microbreweries generally use this method. The sweet wort is boiled and treated with hops in the brew kettle in a planned schedule, usually somewhere between 30 and 90 minutes. The boiling has many effects: all bacteria are killed, it produces color and flavor compounds, the so-called browning compounds, from the malt and sugars. Boiling the wort extracts bitter and aromatic flavor compounds from the hops, and volatilizes most of the harsh hydrocarbons. It sterilizes the wort and stops all enzyme action. (Porter)

The boiled wort is strained to remove the hops and then transferred to a holding tank called the hot wort tank. The insoluble matter, called trub, is centrifugal separated in the whirl pool tank. The wort is now passed through a heat exchanger that rapidly cools the liquid. Cooling is necessary in order to add the yeast. Yeast is unable to ferment or grow at high temperatures, so cooling the wort to about 70° F (21° C) is needed. Here is where hydrometer readings are taken to record the amount of sugar in the wort by measuring the density of the liquid. This is called the specific gravity. The specific gravity is used in determining the alcohol content of the finished beer. The more sugar there is, the more dense the liquid. The higher the specific gravity, the more sugars there are available for fermentation, producing more alcohol. (Porter)

It is here in the fermentation tank that the yeast changes the sugars into alcohol over a period of days or weeks, depending on the style of beer being brewed. Ferment is taken from the Latin "to boil". Watching the yeast in active fermentation, one can understand the reason the word is used. Fermentation begins with pitching, or adding the yeast to the cooled wort. Pitching can only be done when the wort is at the proper temperature, around 70°-80° F (21°-27° C). Fermentation temperatures also can vary depending upon the type of yeast used. Fermentation temperatures for ales are 55°-65° F (13°-18° C), while for lagers 40°-55° F (4°-13° C) is used. (Porter)

There are different types aging techniques. Of these are Rhu, Lagering, Secondary Fermentation or Kraeusening. Rhu, which means, rest, is usually a short period of two to seven days in which the beer is cooled and the yeast that did not settle in the fermentation vessel now will settle. This results in a reduction in yeasty flavors in the beer and makes filtration easier. Lagering, from the German, means, to store. This is a longer period, seven to fourteen days, during which the temperature falls more slowly, reducing yeasty and sulfur flavors. The beer also clarifies and mellows. Secondary Fermentation usually takes ten to fourteen days and involves transferring beer out of the fermentation vessels before its yeast has completely fermented the sugars, and allowing the rest of the fermentation to continue cool and slow. Kraeusening is a delicate process in which fermented beer, after being transferred to another vessel, is mixed with young beer that has just started to ferment. (Jackson)

Beer will naturally tend to turn cloudy when it is cooled to temperatures near freezing. To prevent this, an extract of the papaya, papain is often used to prevent this. The beer is then either filtered, centrifuged, or both to remove any yeast and insoluble matter. Diatomaceous earth, siliceous skeletons of ancient marine organisms, or cotton pulp is used as a filtration medium. Some beers are filtered twice. Beer must be either pasteurized or sterile filtered to protect it from the continued growth of any stray yeast. The beer is now ready to be filled into bottles or kegs. (Porter)


2. Origins of beer making and it’s development

About 13,000 years ago, early humans discontinued their nomadic hunting and gathering techniques and settled down to farm. Grain was one of the first domesticated crops that early farming methods. The oldest records found of brewing were in Sumeria dating back six thousand years ago. Sumeria lied between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, encircling Southern Mesopotamia, in the area of the ancient cities of Babylon and Ur. Sumerians most likely discovered the brewing process by chance. No one knows today exactly how beer was first discovered.

The earliest account of beer brewing was an engraving in the Sumerian language. This engraving is a picture of barley, followed by bread being baked, crumbled into water for mash, and then made into intoxicating drink. Baking bread was probably the most convenient way to store the source for making beer. In Russia, this method is still used to make a version of beer called kvass. Sumerians were the first able to repeat the process of brewing and are assumed to be he first civilized culture to brew beer. They had discovered a spiritual drink that they offered to their gods. (Alabev)

Although beer as we know it had its origins in Mesopotamia, fermented beverages of some sort or another were produced in various forms around the world. For example, Chicha is a corn beer and kumiss is a drink produced from fermented camel milk. The word beer comes from the Latin word bibere, meaning, "to drink", and the root of the Spanish word cerveza originates from the Greek goddess of agriculture, Ceres. (Alabev)

The Sumerian Empire collapsed during the 2nd millennium b.c. and the Babylonians became the rulers of Mesopotamia. Their culture was derived from that of the Sumerians so they also mastered the art of brewing beer. The Babylonians knew how to brew 20 different types of beer. Of these, 8 were brewed from pure emmer, 8 from pure barley and 4 from a mixture of grains. (Alabev)

Hammurabi, an important Babylonian king and founder of an empire, decreed the oldest known collection of laws. One of these laws established a daily beer ration. This ration was dependent on the social standing of the individual. For example, a normal worker received 2 liters, civil servants 3 liters, and administrators and high priests 5 liters per day. In these ancient times beer was not sold, but exchanged for barley. Beer at this time was cloudy and unfiltered. As beer brewing was a household art, it was also women's work. King Hammurabi once ordered a female saloonkeeper drowned because she exchanged silver for beer. Drowning was also the punishment for serving low quality beer. (Alabev)

The Egyptians were brewers too. They used bread dough for making beer, and added dates to the beer to add taste. Egyptian people along the Nile, Fellahs, still make beer the same way today. Beer was such a way of life that the Egyptian scribes created a hieroglyph for a brewer. After the Romans and Greeks succeeded Egypt, beer still was brewed. The popularity of beer was recorded in the Mediterranean area before the growing of grapes for wine took hold. Wine became the drink of the gods. Beer was brewed in the outskirts of the Roman Empire because wine was difficult to obtain. Romans, who were mainly wine drinks, considered beer a barbaric drink. Beer of this era could not be stored, was cloudy and produced almost no foam. The oldest proof of beer being brewed on German soil, comes from the early Hallstatt Period, about 800 BC. (Alabev)

The mood-altering effects of beer were considered supernatural by early civilizations, and the state of intoxication was regarded as divine. People though beer must contain some sort of spirit since drinking it possesses the drinker. Beer brewing played an important role in people's daily lives. So stimulating was the recently discovered pleasure that early people decided never to be without it. At a time before bread baking, beer was a non-perishable food. Protected by alcohol, beer had good taste lasting far longer than any other food. A vitamin-rich porridge used daily, beer is reported to have increased health and longevity and reduced disease and malnutrition. The self-medicating properties of alcohol-rich beer also eased the tensions and stresses of daily living in a hostile world. (Buhner 35)

Beer was a driving force that led nomadic groups into village life. Ten thousand years ago barley was domesticated and worshipped as a god in the highlands of southern Levant. With the creation of writing, using a stylus on wet clay tablets, beer, its history and mystery, became a large part of an ancient literary repertoire. Beer was considered a valuable foodstuff and workers were often paid with jugs of beer. Fruits, best when freshly picked during their short season, could be turned into wine but lacked the protein value of beer, wrote Steven Buhner. (Buhner 60)

In many paintings of early monasteries you can see monks enjoying beer. After a short time they began to brew more than for their own consumption. Through an alcohol licensing charge, the monks received the right to sell beer. With this many monasteries developed into well managed commercial businesses. Monasteries were so good at brewing that theirs was of the highest quality and very popular. There were too many types of beer brewed, low strength every day beer and, high strength special occasion beers. Brewing became the duty of commercial brewers after the reformation and weakening of the church. These brewers brewed under royal license and supplied the merchant class with beer. People of other towns constantly wanted beer, and as a result brewing became a respectable trade. (Alabev)

The local sovereigns introduced beer taxes that began to fill their coffers. As the monastery pubs did not have to pay these taxes because of their older, privileged brewery status, they adversely affected this new source of income and the dukes and princes quickly closed many of the monasteries. Emperor Sigismund was the first emperor to issue such a decree. Even though the sovereigns closed many monastery breweries, we owe much to the monks for being the first to develop the brewers' art. Monasteries had become the centers for brewing as a result of their already being the centers of learning. The local water supply was often contaminated, beer provided a safe drinking source and was promoted by the authorities of the day. Throughout the Middle Ages, hops became widely used as a way to make beer refreshing and also as a natural preservative. In fact, in France and Germany, hops were documented as being cultivated in the ninth century. (Alabev)

Grut was a mixture of all sorts of herbs used to flavor beer. The flavoring license was similar to a patent, allowing a brewery to produce its own flavoring mixture and became the legal basis for every brewery and ensured a monopoly position for the respective brew master. With the advent of hops as a flavoring, Grut was no longer necessary and therefore the monopoly position of the breweries endangered. For this reason, the use of hops was often simply and forcibly forbidden. Among other things, juniper berries, sweet gale , blackthorn, oak bark, wormwood, caraway seed, aniseed, bay leaves, yarrow, thorn apple, gentian, rosemary, tansy, Saint-John's-wort, spruce chips, pine roots, and henbane found their way into these Grut mixtures. Some of these herbs were poisonous, and others induced hallucinations. As we know today, the hallucinogen Alkaloid, for example, is produced from henbane during the brewing process. (Alabev)

In the 19th century Industrial developments started to take their effect. With the introduction of the steam engine, industrialization began to invade brewing and efficiency increased. The first breweries to use steam power called themselves Steam Beer Breweries. The second invention, even more important to the brewing industry, was refrigeration, invented by Carl von Linde. It had already been scientifically proven that the making of good beer required certain temperatures. The brewing of bottom fermented beer, such as lagers, demand temperatures of 4 to 10 degrees Centigrade. Such temperatures only occur in winter, or in deep cellars filled with large quantities of block ice. Through the invention of refrigeration, beer brewing became seasonally independent. The first refrigeration equipment was tested in a Munich brewery. (Alabev)

Important scientific research took place in breweries in the 19th century. One of the most important works was by Louis Pasteur entitled, "Etudes sur la Biere", or "Studies Concerning Beer". Louis Pasteur gained his knowledge of microorganisms from these studies. This basic knowledge is still indispensable today, not only in the production of beverages, but also in medicine and biology. The brewing industry owes much to Louis Pasteur.

Another pioneering discovery in beer brewing was the work of Emil Christian Hansen. The Danish scientist, Emil Christian Hansen, successfully isolated a single yeast cell and induced it to reproduce on an artificial culture medium. With the ensuing yeast propagation methods, the purity of the fermenting process has been improved and beer taste perfected. (Alabev)

Wooden barrels have been almost completely replaced by metal barrels for most pub trade. In 1964 metal kegs were introduced in Germany. Firstly, cleaning and filling was much simpler. Secondly, tapping and closing off was much easier for the bar personnel. This was well liked by pub and restaurant owners. (Alabev)


3. Historical review on alcohol

"For most of the past ten millennia, alcoholic beverages may have been the most popular and common daily drinks, an indispensable sources of fluid and calories. In a world of contaminated and dangerous water supplies, alcohol truly earned the title in the Middle Ages: aqua vitae, the "water of life," said Bert Vallee, Doctor. (Vallee 80)

Frederick the Great, whose economic strategy was threatened by importation of coffee stated in 1777: "It is disgusting to notice the increase in the quality of coffee used by my subjects, and the amount of money that goes out of the country as a consequence. Everybody is using coffee; this must be prevented. His majesty was brought up on beer, and so were both his ancestors and officers. Many battles have been fought and won by soldiers nourished on beer, and the King does not believe that coffee-drinking soldiers can be relied upon to endure hardships in case of another war." A world leader today may have their mental competence questioned if they urged alcohol consumption over coffee, particularly by the military. No more than an eye blink ago in historical time a world leader could describe beer in terms that made it sound like mother's milk. (Vallee 80)

Rachelle Carter, title unknown, wrote, "Beer and Ale were two of the beverages most consumed in the middle ages. Water was not often drunk because it was mostly polluted. For this reason the average daily consumption of beer or ale was much greater in the Middle Ages then it is today. The Household records at the time specified what and how much one could consume at individual meals. The average daily consumption of adults was a gallon a day. Children also consumed beer and ale on a daily basis. However, their average daily consumption was less then that of adults." (Carter 1)

Natural processes have most likely produced alcohol-containing food for years. Yeast, when metabolizing sugar to obtain energy, creates two byproducts, ethyl alcohol, and CO2. The process of fermentation periodically inebriated animals that eating spoiled fruits. Birds and mammals have been reported intoxicated throughout the ages. Humans have a gene for the enzyme alcohol, dehydrogenate; this gene is suspected to have evolved over millions of years by animals encountering fermented food enough to have evolved a way to metabolize it. Investigation of alcohol was unintentional or by chance for humans until 10,000 years ago. (Vallee 81)

About this time, some Late Stone Age gourmand probably tasted the contents of a jar of unattended honey that had been left unattended longer than usual. Natural fermentation had been given the opportunity to occur, and the taster, finding the effects of mild alcohol ingestion provocative, probably replicated the natural experiment. The technique was fairly simple; leave the sweet substance alone to ferment. Beer relies on large amounts of starchy grains, and the production of this substance would have to wait until the advent of agriculture. (Vallee 81)

The fertile river deltas of Mesopotamia and Egypt produced massive crops of wheat and barley; the diets of peasants, laborers and soldiers of these ancient civilizations were cereal-based. It might be viewed as a historical inevitability that fermented grain would be discovered, wrote Bert Vallee, Doctor. (Vallee 81)

The arrival of agriculture led to food surpluses, which led to an even larger population and close living quarter, in villages or cities. These people faced a problem of how to provide inhabitants with enough clean, pure water. The water supply in cities quickly became polluted with their waste products and in turn made the water dangerous or deadly if drank. The lack of liquids safe for human consumption prevented long-range voyages over the oceans until recently. Christopher Columbus made his journey to the New World with wine on board, and the pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock only because their beer provisions ran out. (Vallee 81)

Evidence arguing against the widespread use of water can be found in the examination of both the Bible and Greek texts. In both versions of the Bible, Old and New Testaments, is virtually empty of references to water as a common drinking source. Likewise, Greek writing make scant references to water drinking, with exceptions to deep wells, mountain spring water or rain water. Ancient civilization clearly understood that most of their water supplies were contaminated. (Vallee 82)

Since most water was polluted to the point that it was undrinkable, ethyl alcohol may have been the number one source of hydration. Beer and wine are both free from pathogens. The antiseptic power of alcohol, as well as the natural acidity of wine and beer, killed many pathogens when the drinks were diluted with the dirty water supply. With the application of the fermentation process, people of all ages consumed beer and wine on a daily basis. The alcohol content of these daily drinks was low, consumers focused their brewing techniques on issues of taste, thirst quenching, hunger satisfaction and storage, rather than on intoxication. (Vallee 82)

Eastern civilization differed greatly in the coming of alcohol. For at least the past two thousand years, the practice of boiling water for such things as tea, created a potable supply of nonalcoholic beverages. Genetics played an important role in Asians avoidance to alcohol. Almost half of all Asian people lack an enzyme necessary for complete alcohol metabolism, making the experience of being intoxicated miserable. Consequently, beer and wine took their place as staples in the western world and remained there until the end of last century. (Vallee 83)

Alcohol was also used to distract from the fatigue and boredom of day to day life in most cultures, and alleviating pain for which remedies were nonexistent. Today people have all sorts of ways to rid themselves of pain. Until this century the only anesthetic available in the West was alcohol. The Book of Proverbs states: "Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto them that be heavy of hearts. Let him drink. And forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more." Wine was used as a remedy for almost all acute or chronic sicknesses known at the time. A Sumerian cuneiform tablet dating back to 2100 B.C. is cited as the oldest preserved record of medicinal alcohol. (Vallee 83)

People in ancient times knew the potentially delirious effects of drinking. The call for moderation began early in Hebrew, Greek and Roman cultures. The Old Testament frequently disapproved of drunkenness. In the New Testament, Jesus approved of alcohol consumption, resorting to miracle in the transformation of water to wine, and act that may acknowledge the goodness of alcohol versus polluted water. His followers worked to balance the use and abuse of alcohol but never supported total prohibition. Rather than rebuking the drunken effects of alcohol, Christians considered it a gift from the Gods, both for medicinal qualities and tranquilization characteristics that offered relief from the pain and anxiety of day to day life. (Vallee 83)

After about nine thousand years of relatively low alcohol beer, mead, and wine, Western civilization was faced with alcohol in highly concentrated form, due to distillation. Arabic alchemists developed distillation around AD 700. This brought about a significant change in the mode and magnitude of alcohol consumption since the beginning of civilization. Although yeast produces alcohol as a byproduct in their life cycle, they cannot tolerate concentrations over 16 percent before killing themselves by their own excretions. Therefore fermented drinks had a natural maximum proof. (Vallee 83)

The Arab method spread to Europe, and distillation of wine to produce spirits started around AD 1100. The medical school at Salerno, Italy, was an important center for the exchange of thoughts and theories relating to chemicals and medicines. Combining traditional alcoholic drinks of beer and wine, which had low alcohol concentration and positive nutritional benefits, with beverages that have high alcohol levels to cause widespread problems still plaguing us today. (Vallee 84)

The process of distillation eventually spread from Italy to Northern Europe. Hieronymus Brunschwig described this process in detail in his book Liber de arte distillandi, the first printed book on distillation. By the time he was a best-selling author, distilled alcohol had a split personality as nourishing food, beneficent medicine, and a harmful drug. The drinking of spirits followed the bouts of plague, especially the Black Death. Alcohol, completely ineffective as a cure, was used to make the victims feel relatively better. No other substance could do even that much. (Vallee 84)

Economic recovery following the plague throughout Europe generated higher standards of luxury and increased urbanization. People of this time witnessed unparalleled display of, gluttony, self-indulgence and inebriation.

"Despite the obvious negative effect of drunkenness, and despite attempts by authorities to curtail drinking, the practice continued until the beginning of the 17th century, when nonalcoholic beverages made with boiled became popular," said Bert Vallee, Doctor. Coffee tea and cocoa began to break alcohol's monopoly on safe drinking water. (Vallee 84)
...

Works Cited

Aging of Beer. Jackson, Paul. 29 October 1999. https://Alabev.com/beeraging.html
Alabev. John Fife. 20 October 1999. https://www.Alabev.com
Bowman, Fredrick L. Personal Interview. 1 October 1999.
Buhner, Steven H. Sacred and Healing Beers. Brewers Publications. Chicago, Illinois, October, 1998.
Carter, Rachelle. Consumption of Beer and Ale in the Middle Ages
October 27, 1999. https://www.millersv.edu/~english/homepage/duncan/medfem/fact4a.html
Porter, Brett. Mentor. Job Shadow. 1 October 1999 - November 3, 1999.
Vallee, Bert L. "Alcohol in the Western World". Scientific America. June, 1998

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C. A History of Alcohol

The writer of this article makes an effort to span over millenniums by looking at the alcohol production and the social aspects of drinking during the times. He finally describes the prohibition times of the USA at the beginning of the twentieth century. At the end you will find an interesting timetable. The article and the table are taken from the drug-rehabs.org website which is very informative on related issues:

Alcoholic beverages date back to the very early part of man's history. Many archaeologists believe that wines made from grapes have existed for more than 10,000 years and that drinks such as mead and beer have existed for even longer. Throughout its history, alcohol has been used socially for many diverse purposes, such as calming feuds, giving courage in battle, sealing pacts, celebrating festivals, and seducing lovers. Historians speculate that prehistoric nomads may have made beer from grain & water before learning to make bread. The Celts, Ancient Greeks, the Norse, Egyptians, and Babylonians all have records of production and consumption of alcoholic drinks. Alcohol was included in the Egyptian burial provisions for the journey to the afterlife.

With agriculture came regular and larger supplies of the raw materials required for fermentation and distilling. The first civilizations to form around a fixed agricultural life style are the Sumerians around 4000 b.c. The evidence that alcohol was produced here has been confirmed by archaeological findings and images on many of their cuneiform tablets which show images of alcohol being drunk. A description of the making of beer on an ancient engraving in the Sumerian language followed by a pictograph of bread being baked, crumbled into water to form a mash, and then made into a drink that is recorded as having made people feel "exhilarated, wonderful and blissful."

Civilization continued to flourish and so did alcohol consumption and production. We know that the ancient Egyptians were drinkers, because they invented the first straws for drinking beer that still contained wheat husks. There are also some passages within their texts referring to the social problems associated with drunkenness, and a 1600 BC Egyptian texts contain 100 medical prescriptions calling for the use of alcohol. There is evidence from Babylonian, another of the early cradles of humanity, clay tablets detail recipes for beer, in fact we know that the Babylonians knew how to brew 20 different types of beer. All these early civilizations grew barley and this may have been cultivated strictly for brewing. The Babylonians drew up the one of the world's first legal texts, and included in the law was a set of rules to regulating drinking houses.

Distilled spirits have their origin in China and India in about 800 BC. Alcoholic drinks such as wine and beer are produced primarily through fermentation of a fruit or grain of some kind. Drinks such as Brandy, Cognac, and Sake are created by distilling these ferments yielding what is often a more potent drink. The distillation process did not make its way to Europe until the eleventh century.

When the Greeks and the Romans took up the mantle of being the greatest civilizations on earth, other than wine, the majority of their drink was often flavored with herbals like balsam, dandelion, mint, and wormwood seeds, and even crab claws & oyster shells for flavorings. The Greeks worshipped the god Bacchus, the god of wine. The Romans worshipped the same god under the name of Dionysos. The form of worship usually took the form of an orgy of intoxication, and their literature is full of warnings against intemperance. There is writing, which tells how Caesar toasted his troops after crossing the Rubicon, which began the Roman Civil War. It was the Roman legions who around 55 BC introduce beer to Northern Europe.

The beers and ales of Medieval Europe were actually rich in proteins and carbohydrates, making them a good source of nutrition in that society. It is theorized that hops, which are now a universal ingredient in beer making, date back to Babylonians in the eighth and ninth centuries BC. In Europe hops were primarily medicinal plants which were added to beer to make both the drink and the medication taste better. This process soon became standard in the production of the beverage.

But alcohol consumption continued to grow and by the middle ages many monasteries made beer to nourish their monks and to sell to the people. (The reason the monks were so intensively concerned with making beer was because they wanted a pleasant tasting, nutritious drink to serve with their meals, which were frugal at best, especially during the fasting periods. As the consumption of liquids was not considered to break the fast, beer was always permitted.) The consumption of beer in the monasteries reached astounding levels: Historians report that each monk was allowed to imbibe 5 liters of beer per day. Before the Middle Ages brewing was left to women to make since it was considered a food. During the middle ages the emphasis began shifting from family tradition to centralized production, providing hospitality for travelers and pilgrims. Home breweries became Inns, Taverns and Public Houses as beer remained at the heart of almost every culture and subculture. The middle ages were a superstitious time and occasionally distilling/brewing failures were blamed on "brew witches" or even the devil. The last known burning of a "brew witch" took place in 1591. By the end of the middle ages most of Europe and in fact most of the world were beginning to master the art of brewing and distilling.

But it was not until the Renaissance, as with so many things, that distilling and brewing became an art. Brewers became one of the first occupations to form a guild, and continuity was set with old Brew-"masters" teaching their apprentices the proper techniques. The Renaissance is not simply known for the burgeoning of Art and Culture, but also of Science. The thermometer was invented along with other implements used in the creation of alcohol. This led to a more controlled scientific method of production. Science continued to advance into the Industrial revolution creating steam power, refrigeration and the science of microbiology. As technology advanced it became possible to distill spirits and produce alcohol at much purer and higher strength. The making of alcoholic spirits like gin, brandy and sambuca only started some one thousand or so years ago. Germany, Belgium, and Britain soon evolved as distinct brewing cultures. Countries developed national spirits, which were identified, and gave identity to these countries. Russian Vodka, Scottish Whisky, Mexican Tequila, the Greeks have Ouzo and the Italians Strega and Sambuca, and there are hundreds more.

Americans during the time of the American Revolution, for the most part showed little concern over drunkenness, and spiritous liquors had become the greatest factors in colonial commerce. The first serious and effective efforts to regulate liquor consumption, particularly within the army, occurred during the war. Following it, social conditions weakened traditional controls over drunkenness and consumption increased even further.

The early temperance movement developed among New England Federalists; the most prominent spokesperson was Benjamin Rush, author of Inquiry into the Effects of Ardent Spirits on the Human Mind and Body (1785), who was one of the first to challenge popular beliefs in the health benefit of spirits. He recommended for temperance and health the use of fermented alcoholic beverages rather than spirits. This early movement relied on the technique of persuasion to bring about such temperance. Congressional attempts to impose a tax on distilled spirits resulted in the Whiskey Rebellion (1794).

During this time, the brewing industry was the most prosperous of the beverage alcohol industries. Because of the competitive nature of brewing, the brewers entered the retail business. Americans called retail businesses selling beer and whiskey by the glass saloons. To expand the sale of beer, brewers expanded the number of saloons. Saloons proliferated. It was not uncommon to find one saloon for every 150 or 200 Americans, including those who did not drink. Hard-pressed to earn profits, saloonkeepers sometimes introduced vices such as gambling and prostitution into their establishments in an attempt to earn profits. Many Americans considered saloons offensive, noxious institutions.

Prohibition had its roots back in the temperance movements of the nineteenth century. The cultural climate in the U.S. at that time was apt to accept such an idea, which was compatible with popular contemporary notions of personal perfection. Prohibition in the United States was a measure designed to reduce drinking by eliminating the businesses that manufactured, distributed, and sold alcoholic beverages. The Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution took away license to do business from the brewers, distillers, vintners, and the wholesale and retail sellers of alcoholic beverages.

The first prohibition law was passed in Maine in 1851, and some twelve states followed suit. Eighteen years later, the National Prohibition Party was formed, which won its first seat in the House of Representatives in 1890. Another three years, and the Anti-Saloon League, a powerful political force in later years, was formed. Throughout the second half of the century, various anti-alcohol measures were enforced in states all over the Union.

By 1906, the movement was well under way, fueled by anti-alien and anti-Roman Catholic sentiments among the Protestant middle classes. The conflict between rural and urban lifestyles was becoming more apparent with the growth of the cities, which were perceived by country-dwellers as hotbeds of crime and vice. Employers were concerned, as they always had been, about the effects of alcohol on the efficiency of their workforce. These factors, combined with a temporary Wartime Prohibition Act, introduced in World War I to save grain for food, led to total Prohibition in 33 states by 1920.

Some prohibition leaders looked forward to an educational campaign that would greatly expand once the drink businesses became illegal, and would eventually, in about thirty years, lead to a sober nation. Other prohibition leaders looked forward to vigorous enforcement of prohibition in order to eliminate supplies of beverage alcohol. After 1920, neither group of leaders was especially successful. The educators never received the support for the campaign that they dreamed about; and the law enforcers were never able to persuade government officials to mount a wholehearted enforcement campaign against illegal suppliers of beverage alcohol.

The laws were enforced easily in rural communities where the population was most sympathetic. But in the cities, an enormous industry grew up around the production, transportation and sale of contraband beer and liquor. The bootleggers (named after the practice adopted by travelers in the Midwest in the 1880's, who concealed liquor in their boots when trading with Indians) began by importing booze over the Mexican and Canadian borders, and from the Caribbean.

Smuggling became harder when customs officials became aware and purchased faster boats. The gangsters then resorted to other means to acquire their liquor. "Medicinal" whiskey was still available in drug-stores, on real or forged prescriptions. Denatured alcohol, legally used in other industries and treated with noxious chemicals to render it undrinkable, was "washed" of its poisonous additives and diluted with tapwater. Worse still, illegal corn liquor stills were used to produce frequently toxic "rotgut". Coroners reports for the first five months of 1923 reveal that a hundred people had perished from drinking contaminated hooch. Officials at the time believed the figure to be much higher.

The damage was not limited to public health. Because of the complexity of the operations, the bootleggers quickly organized themselves into alliances and cartels that could control their activities. Law and order began to break down as corruption spread virus-like into public life. In a famous trial in Indiana in 1923, it was revealed that protection monies were paid to: "the mayor, the sheriff, a judge of the city court, the prosecuting attorney for the county, a former sheriff, a former prosecuting attorney, a deputy sergeant, a justice of the peace, an influential lawyer, and former deputy sheriffs, detectives, policemen, petty lawyers, bartenders, caberet singers and notorious women." In other words, just about everybody.

As the cartels grew, and gang rivalry diminished, so the power and profits were concentrated in fewer and fewer hands. Al Capone's annual earnings were estimated at the time of his arrest to be $60 million. When Prohibition was repealed in 1933, an elaborate syndicate of organized crime, built on the multi-million dollar bootlegging industry, had survived. The American Mafia branched out into narcotics, gambling, prostitution, loan sharking and extortion, concerns they still control today.

The best evidence available to historians shows that consumption of beverage alcohol declined dramatically under prohibition. In the early 1920s, consumption of beverage alcohol was about thirty per cent of the pre-prohibition level. Consumption grew somewhat in the last years of prohibition, as illegal supplies of liquor increased and as a new generation of Americans disregarded the law and rejected the attitude of self-sacrifice that was part of the bedrock of the prohibition movement. Nevertheless, it was a long time after repeal before consumption rates rose to their pre-prohibition levels.

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Timetable:

6000-4000 BCE Viticulture, the selective cultivation of grape vines for making wine, is believed to originate in the mountains between the Black and Caspian seas (modern Armenia).
c. 3000-2000 BCE Beer making flourishes in Sumerian/Mesopotamian civilization (modern day Iraq) with recipes for over twenty varieties of beer recorded on clay tablets.
3000-2000 BCE Wine production and trade become an important part of Meditaranean commerce and culture. Ships carry large quantities between cities.
2200 BCE Cuneiform tablet recommends beer as a tonic for lactating women.
3000-1000 BCE Beer is unrefined and usually drunk through straw because it had large quantities of grain and mash in it.
c. 1800 BCE Beer is produced in quantity in northern Syria.
1500 BCE Wine is produced commercially in the Levant and Aegean.
900-800 BCE Extensive, large scale vineyards laid out in Assyria (modern Iraq) produced over 10,000 skins of wine for the new capitol at Nimrud by Assurbanipal II.
c. 800 BCE Distillation of barley and rice beer is practiced in India.
c. 50 BCE Dionysius of Halicarnassus writes "the Gauls (french) have no knowledge of wine.. but used a foul-smelling liquour made of barley rotted in water (beer)."
c. 500 Wine making reaches Tang China along the Silk Road.
768 First specific reference to the use of hops in beer from the Abbey St. Denis in France by King Pepin le Bref.
1100 Alcohol distillation is documented by the medical school at Salerno, Italy. The product of the distillation is named 'spirits' in reference to it being the extracted spirit of the wine.
Middle Ages Distillation of grain alcohol in Europe follows the earlier distillation of wine.
1516 German Beer Purity Law ("Rheinheitsgebot") makes it illegal to make beer with anything but barley, hops, and pure water.
Early 1500's Benedictine, a cognac-based alcohol with added herbs, is developed at the monastery in Fecamp, Normandy.
1525-1550 England. Excessive use of distilled spirits first becomes apparent.
1524-1556 Viticulture spread through Peru, Chile and Argentina.
1500's The term 'alcohol' is now used specifically to refer to distilled spirits rather than its previous general meaning of any product of the process of vaporizing and condensing.
1550 - 1575 England. Thomas Nash describes widespread inebriety in Elizabethan England; drunkenness is mentioned for the first time as a crime, and preventive statutes multiply.
17th Century Use of hashish, alcohol, and opium spreads among the population of occupied Constantinople
1600 - 1625 England. During the reign of James I, numerous writers describe widespread drunkenness from beer and wine among all classes. Alcohol use is tied to every endeavor and phase of life, a condition that continues well into the eighteenth century.
1606 England. Parliament passes "The Act to Repress the Odious and Loathsome Sin of Drunkenness".
17th century America. Massachusetts laws attempt to control widespread drunkenness, particularly from home-brews, and to supervise taverns. At the same time each town is ordered to establish a man to sell wines and "strong water" so that the public will not suffer from lack of proper accommodations (1637); inns are required to provide beer for entertainment (1649).
1643 Britain imposes an excise tax on distilled spirits. Along with a tax of alcohol came the development of the moonshine trade.
1650 - 1675 America. New England colonies attempt to establish a precise definition of drunkenness that includes the time spent drinking, amount, and behavior. Massachusetts laws against home-brews are reaffirmed (1654); a law forbidding the payment of wages in the form of alcohol results in a labor strike (1672). Increase Mather writes Wo to Drunkards (1673).
1650 - 1675 England. Gin is developed in Holland (c. 1650) by distilling grain with the juniper berry. gin can be produced cheaply and plentifully, and the gin industry grows rapidly in England after it is introduced by British soldiers fighting in the Low Countries.
1675 - 1700 America. The office of tithingman is established in Massachusetts to report on liquor violations in homes (1675). Cotton Mather blames growing irreligiosity on excess tippling (1694).
1675 - 1700 England. New laws encourage the distillation and sale of spirits for revenues and support of the landed aristocracy (1690). The production of distilled liquors, mostly gin, increases dramatically; so does use, particularly among the poor. Excessive consumption of beer and wine is still prevalent among the middle and upper classes.
Late 1600's Western France develops a reputation as the producer of fine quality cognac.
1700 Scotland and Ireland develop reputations for their quality whiskies.
1770s Viticulture brought to Alta California. Within a century, it became one of the great wine-producing regions of the world.
1791 The Act of 1791 (popularly called the "Whiskey Tax") enacted a tax on both publicly and privately distilled whiskey.
1793 The 'Whiskey Rebellio' of Pennslyvania, during which government troops were used to make arrests of a handful of distillery leaders who were refusing to pay taxes on their products.
1802 The 'Whiskey Tax' was repealed by Thomas Jefferson who called it 'infernal,' and 'hostile to the genius of a free people'.
1814-1817 A new alcohol tax is temporarily imposed in the United States to help pay for the War of 1812.
Early 19th Century Development of the continuous still makes the process of alcohol distillation cheaper and easier to control.
1860 1,138 legal alcohol distilleries were operating in the United States producing 88 million gallons of liquor per year.
1862 Abraham Lincoln imposed a new tax on liquor (the Act of July 1) to help pay the bills from the Civil War. This act also created the office of internal revenue. The alcohol tax began at 20 cents per gallon in 1862 and had risen to $2.00 per gallon just over two years later.
1906 Pure Food and Drug Act is passed, regulating the labelling of products containing Alcohol, Opiates, Cocaine, and Cannabis, among others. The law went into effect Jan 1, 1907
Dec 1917 The 18th Amendment to the Constitution (prohibition amendment) is adopted by the required majority of both houses of Congress.
Jan 16, 1919 The 18th Amendment to the Constitution (prohibition amendment) is ratified by the 36th state, meeting the 3/4 requirement. It goes into effect one year later.
Oct 1919 The Volstead Act is passed by Congress over President Wilson's veto. This clarifies and broadens the base of the 18th Amendment, and defines methods of enforcement. It specifies that possession of alcoholic beverages is also illegal, although the courts often failed to enforce this provision.
Jan 16, 1920 The 18th Amendment (prohibition amendment) takes effect, prohibiting the manufacture, sale, transportation, import, and export of intoxicating liquors for beverage purposes.
1920-1933 The illicit alcohol trade booms in the United States.
Mar 22, 1933 The Volstead Act is modified, legalizing beverages containing not more than 3.2 percent alcohol. Roosevelt proposed this change to Congress nine days after his inauguration.
Dec 5, 1933 The prohibition of alcohol is repealed with the passage of the 21st Amendment, effective immediately.
1934-1970 Once the Eighteenth Amendment was repealed, the excise tax on alcohol began to climb again. In 1934 the tax was $2.00 per gallon, in 1940 it was $3.00, $4.00 in 1941, $6.00 in 1942, $9.00 in 1944, and $10.50 in 1970. At this point a moonshiner could produce and sell a gallon of alcohol for half the amount of the tax alone.
Oct 14, 1978 US President Jimmy Carter signs bill legalizing home brewing of beer for the first time since Prohibition.

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