Portal:Beer

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Homebrew beer  The Beer Portal  A beer keg

Introduction

At the Café by Édouard Manet, circa 1879

Beer is one of the oldest alcoholic drinks in the world, the most widely consumed, and the third most popular drink after water and tea. Beer is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grains—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The fermentation of the starch sugars in the wort produces ethanol and carbonation in the beer. Most modern beer is brewed with hops, which add bitterness and other flavours and act as a natural preservative and stabilising agent. Other flavouring agents, such as gruit, herbs, or fruits, may be included or used instead of hops. In commercial brewing, natural carbonation is often replaced with forced carbonation.

Some of the earliest writings refer to the production and distribution of beer: the Code of Hammurabi included laws regulating it, and "The Hymn to Ninkasi", a prayer to the Mesopotamian goddess of beer, a recipe for it.

Beer is distributed in bottles and cans and is also commonly available on draught, particularly in pubs and bars. The brewing industry is a global business, consisting of several dominant multinational companies and many thousands of smaller producers ranging from brewpubs to regional breweries. The strength of modern beer is usually around 4% to 6% alcohol by volume (ABV).

Beer forms part of the culture of many nations and is associated with social traditions such as beer festivals, as well as activities like pub crawling, pub quizzes, and pub games. (Full article...)

Hop flower in a hop yard in the Hallertau, Germany

Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant Humulus lupulus, a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in beer, to which, in addition to bitterness, they impart floral, fruity, or citrus flavours and aromas. Hops are also used for various purposes in other beverages and herbal medicine. The hops plants have separate female and male plants, and only female plants are used for commercial production. The hop plant is a vigorous, climbing, herbaceous perennial, usually trained to grow up strings in a field called a hopfield, hop garden (in the South of England), or hop yard (in the West Country and United States) when grown commercially. Many different varieties of hops are grown by farmers around the world, with different types used for particular styles of beer.

The first documented use of hops in beer is from the 9th century, though Hildegard of Bingen, 300 years later, is often cited as the earliest documented source. Before this period, brewers used a "gruit", composed of a wide variety of bitter herbs and flowers, including dandelion, burdock root, marigold, horehound (the old German name for horehound, Berghopfen, means "mountain hops"), ground ivy, and heather. Early documents include mention of a hop garden in the will of Charlemagne's father, Pepin the Short. (Full article...)

Selected brand - show another

Grimbergen Blond
Grimbergen is the brand name of a variety of Belgian abbey beers. Originally made by Norbertine monks in the Belgian town of Grimbergen, it is now brewed by different breweries in Belgium, France, Poland and Italy. (Full article...)

Selected biography - show another

Joseph Schlitz (May 15, 1831 – May 7, 1875) was a German-American entrepreneur who made his fortune in the brewing industry. (Full article...)
List of selected biographies

Did you know (auto-generated) - load more entries

Selected brewery - show another

Cloudwater Brew Co is an independent craft brewery based in Manchester, England. Established in 2014, the brewery began making beer the following year and quickly gained a reputation for the quality of its products. In 2017 and 2018, Cloudwater was ranked among the ten best breweries in the world by beer scoring website RateBeer, becoming the only UK brewery ever to be featured. Several Cloudwater beers have also received accolades at the same awards.

Besides beer, the brewery also produces its own range of non-alcoholic sodas, as well as operating brewery tap rooms in Manchester and London and organising an annual beer festival, Friends & Family & Beer. Cloudwater Brew Co is a member of the Society of Independent Brewers. (Full article...)

Selected image - show another

Spanish Galleon Tavern, Greenwich, London
Spanish Galleon Tavern, Greenwich, London
Spanish Galleon Tavern, Greenwich, London
Credit: Atelier Joly (Loopzilla) 24 January 2005
Spanish Galleon tavern in Greenwich, London, UK, with a statement of "Shepherd Neame" being "Britain's oldest brewery".


General images

The following are images from various beer- and brewing-related articles on Wikipedia.

Beer topics

Categories

Category puzzle
Category puzzle
Beer
Select [►] to view subcategories
Brewing
Select [►] to view subcategories

Selected quote - show another

It is nice when you can sit back with some friends, drink some beer and have a good time.
— Dave Matthews


Related portals

Beer lists

Things you can do

This list is transcluded from the tasks list page, to edit, click here

This is a list of single time tasks that need action. Once you have completed them, please remove them from the list.


Here are some tasks awaiting attention:

WikiProjects

WikiProject Beer is an association of Wikipedians with an interest in beer and beer-related subjects. They have come together to coordinate the development of beer and brewery articles here on Wikipedia. Additionally, other groups have formed other projects that entertain subjects that are directly related to beer, bartending and pubs. Additionally, the mixed drinks project covers topics that include beer cocktails. If any of these subjects pique your interest, please feel free to visit their projects. These groups would love to have you participate!

Parent project: WikiProject Food and Drink
WikiProjects
        view
Child projects: Task forces: (All inactive)
Related projects:

Associated Wikimedia

The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:

More portals

Purge server cache