Beer Historians Thread

Discussion in 'Beer Talk' started by Ohmmygawd, Mar 24, 2016.

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  1. Ohmmygawd

    Ohmmygawd Initiate (0) Sep 10, 2013 Minnesota

    I love reading about brewery history. One of my favorite stories is when the Paulaner Monks shipped a barrel of beer to the Pope from Germany to the Vatican. Paulaner Monks would drink Lentenbier like Bocks and Doppelbocks throughout the Lenten Season because liquids didn't break their fast. They called it liquid bread or Fastenbier. The more they drank the "Holier" they became.

    In the mid 1600s the Monks asked for the Pope's blessing to prove that drinking beer for 40 days wasn't a pleasure. So the Monks sent a barrel of beer from Munich to the Vatican. As the barrel traveled across the Alps and through the hot temperatures of Italy it sloshed around and by the time the barrel got to the Pope the beer had soured and was undrinkable. The Pope found that not only was it not a pleasure but it actually could build character. He said that drinking something so awful beer for 40 days would probably make the Monks more humble and allowed the Monks to continue the practice.

    (Source: http://www.germanbeerinstitute.com/Doppelbock.html)

    Please share!
    Cheers!
     
    #1 Ohmmygawd, Mar 24, 2016
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  2. ssam

    ssam Pundit (997) Dec 2, 2008 California

    Clearly, this is another example of corruption in the Vatican which was rampant in this period. Beer drinking is pretty obviously a pleasure. Fun story though.
     
    #2 ssam, Mar 24, 2016
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  3. marquis

    marquis Pooh-Bah (2,313) Nov 20, 2005 England
    Pooh-Bah

    Take everything from the German Beer Institute with a train load of salt
     
    #3 marquis, Mar 24, 2016
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  4. Squire

    Squire Grand Pooh-Bah (4,385) Jul 16, 2015 Mississippi
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    Salted pretzels with tankards of lager.
     
    #4 Squire, Mar 24, 2016
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  5. Shanex

    Shanex Grand Pooh-Bah (4,960) Dec 10, 2015 France
    Mod Team Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    [​IMG]

    ^^2000 years ago, in Roman occupied Gaul.. :wink:

    I enjoyed a podcast/radio show years ago about the consumption of beer/cervoise then. Julius Caesar long before BA reviewed it as 'awful, undrinkable'... beer consumption if I'm not mistaken goes back to Egypt. It's only in the Middle Age that Europe chose wine over beer except for Belgians (already) and northern French.

    Seeing how fast in a different thread (top 250 beers in 2006, and 2016?) beer is evolving, I wonder what it will taste like centuries from now. It's moving faster than ever for sure.
     
    #5 Shanex, Mar 24, 2016
    Last edited: Mar 24, 2016
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  6. marquis

    marquis Pooh-Bah (2,313) Nov 20, 2005 England
    Pooh-Bah

    Beer and wine are basically divided by climate.England was a wine exporting country in the Middle Ages warm period (climate change is nothing new) , basically if grapes grow well then wine is made.Barley and hops were more suited to cooler regions.
     
    #6 marquis, Mar 25, 2016
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  7. hudsonvalleyslim

    hudsonvalleyslim Savant (1,126) May 29, 2003 Massachusetts

    An English feller named Martyn Cornell researches and writes some great history here:

    http://zythophile.co.uk/

    And of course the great Michael Jackson's work is second to none!
     
    #7 hudsonvalleyslim, Mar 25, 2016
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  8. Squire

    Squire Grand Pooh-Bah (4,385) Jul 16, 2015 Mississippi
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    Didn't at some point Caesar describe malt brew as "a high and mighty liquor"?
     
    #8 Squire, Mar 25, 2016
  9. ordybill

    ordybill Pooh-Bah (2,395) Jul 9, 2014 Georgia
    Pooh-Bah

    I believe Benjamin Franklin said "beer is proof that God wants us to be happy". Just in time for Easter. :wink:
     
    #9 ordybill, Mar 25, 2016
  10. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,375) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Society Pooh-Bah

    There is no historical quote that Ben Franklin stated that about beer but in a letter he did state something similar about wine:

    For the record, here, in a letter addressed to André Morellet in 1779, is what Benjamin Franklin actually did say:

    Behold the rain which descends from heaven upon our vineyards, there it enters the roots of the vines, to be changed into wine, a constant proof that God loves us, and loves to see us happy.

    (Source: Isaacson, Walter. Benjamin Franklin: An American Life. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2003. p.374.)

    Cheers!
     
    #10 JackHorzempa, Mar 25, 2016
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  11. JaefromLA

    JaefromLA Initiate (0) May 19, 2015 California

    This is a great story. I'm hoping more people will add more. I only know of the story of how eisbock was accidentally discovered.
     
    #11 JaefromLA, Mar 25, 2016
  12. Squire

    Squire Grand Pooh-Bah (4,385) Jul 16, 2015 Mississippi
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    The ancient Sumerians wrote extensively with a sharp ended sticks on clay tablets in a sort of pictograph form. When archeologists finally learned to decipher this stuff they were surprised to find not great literature, rather mundane things like contracts for the sale of an ox or watering rights for a goat herd. Surprisingly, there were a good number of recipes for beer using different grains, (barley, wheat, oats) and adjuncts like honey, dates or spices as flavoring agents.

    Yea, 5000 years ago beer geeks were posting their thoughts . . . makes me feel sorta warm inside.
     
    #12 Squire, Mar 25, 2016
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  13. thepenguin

    thepenguin Savant (1,215) Aug 8, 2010 Massachusetts

    Here's a real beer historian
     
    #13 thepenguin, Mar 25, 2016
  14. thebeers

    thebeers Grand Pooh-Bah (5,837) Sep 10, 2014 Pennsylvania
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    They should send a barrel to my wife
     
    #14 thebeers, Mar 25, 2016
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  15. AlienSwineFlu

    AlienSwineFlu Savant (1,135) Dec 14, 2012 Ohio

    In the spring of 2012, somewhere on the east coast of the United States, AlienSwineFlu turned 21 and tried his first stout. His life would never be the same again.
     
    #15 AlienSwineFlu, Mar 25, 2016
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  16. marquis

    marquis Pooh-Bah (2,313) Nov 20, 2005 England
    Pooh-Bah

    #16 marquis, Mar 25, 2016
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  17. DougC123

    DougC123 Savant (1,186) Aug 21, 2012 Connecticut

    I get all the beer history I need from jesskidden.
     
    #17 DougC123, Mar 25, 2016
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  18. steveh

    steveh Grand Pooh-Bah (4,174) Oct 8, 2003 Illinois
    Society Pooh-Bah

    Misquoted -- all the time. One of the many drawbacks to "history" -- poor documentation and interpretation.
     
    #18 steveh, Mar 25, 2016
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  19. marquis

    marquis Pooh-Bah (2,313) Nov 20, 2005 England
    Pooh-Bah

    What Jesskidden doesn't know, nobody knows. Always there in an instant with the goods
     
    #19 marquis, Mar 25, 2016
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  20. IceAce

    IceAce Pooh-Bah (2,274) Jan 8, 2004 California
    Pooh-Bah


    Prior to developing a written language the Sumerians passed their recipe for beer from generation to generation via song (the Hymn to Ninkasi...kinda like Happy Birthday, but with a happier ending.

    http://www.ancient.eu/article/222/
     
    #20 IceAce, Mar 25, 2016
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