Portal:Beer

The Beer Portal

Beer is the world's oldest and most widely consumed alcoholic beverage and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from cereal grains—the most common of which is malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), and rice are widely used. Most beer is flavored with hops, which add bitterness and act as a natural preservative, though other flavorings such as herbs or fruit may occasionally be included. Alcoholic beverages distilled after fermentation, fermented from non-starch sources such as grape juice (wine) or honey (mead), or fermented from un-malted starches (rice wine) are not classified as beer.

Some of humanity's earliest known writings refer to the production and distribution of beer: the Code of Hammurabi included laws regulating beer and beer parlours, and "The Hymn to Ninkasi," a prayer to the Mesopotamian goddess of beer, served as both a prayer and as a method of remembering the recipe for beer in a culture with few literate people. Today, 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 basics of brewing beer are shared across national and cultural boundaries and are commonly categorized into two main types — the globally popular pale lagers, and the regionally distinct ales, which are further categorised into other varieties such as pale ale, stout and brown ale. The strength of beer is usually around 4% to 6% alcohol by volume (abv.) though may range from less than 1% abv., to over 20% abv. in rare cases.

Beer forms part of the culture of various beer-drinking nations and has acquired various social traditions and associations, such as beer festivals and a rich pub culture involving activities such as pub crawling or pub games such as bar billiards.

The Beer WikiProject

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 you to have you participate!

WikiProject Bartending	WikiProject Beer	Pubs Taskforce	WikiProject Mixed drinks

Selected article

Selected person

Adolphus Busch b. 10 July 1839 – d. 10 October 1913 Colonel Adolphus Busch was a German-American co-founder of Anheuser-Busch, along with his father-in-law Eberhard Anheuser. During the American Civil War he served in the United States Army for 14 months. It was at this time that he learned that his father had died and that he had inherited a portion of his father's estate. He used the money to start a wholesale brewer's supply store, and four years later he bought a share in the Bavarian brewery from Eberhard Anheuser, his father-in-law. The company was first called "Anheuser and Company", but at the death of Eberhard Anheuser in 1879, it was changed to "Anheuser Busch Company". In 1891 Adolphus bought from Carl Conrad the trademark and name Budweiser. He envisioned a national beer with universal appeal. Toward this end, he created a network of rail-side ice-houses and launched the industry’s first fleet of refrigerated freight cars. Success came when Adolphus found a method to pasteurize the beer so it kept fresh. The beer could now be shipped all over the country. He was also an early adopter of bottled beer. In 1901 sales surpassed the one million barrels of beer benchmark. His great-great-grandson, August Busch IV is now a board member on Anheuser-Busch InBev.

</noinclude>

Selected brewery

The origins of Sapporo are in Sapporo, Hokkaido during the Meiji period, where the Hokkaido Development Commission (Kaitakushi) established many businesses. Seibei Nakagawa, a German-trained brewer, became the first brewmaster of the Kaitakushi Brewery in June 1876, and the first Sapporo Lager was produced at that time. Privatized in 1886, the Sapporo brewery became the centerpiece for the Sapporo Beer Company.

In 1887, another company, the Japan Beer Brewery Company was established in Mita, Meguro, Tokyo, and began producing Yebisu Beer. The competition between Sapporo and Japan Beer, as well as competition with the Osaka (now Asahi) and Kirin breweries led to a 1906 merger of Sapporo, Japan, and Osaka breweries into the Dai-Nippon Beer Company, Ltd., which formed a near monopoly on the Japanese market until after World War II.

After 1949, Dai-Nippon was split into Nippon and Asahi breweries, with the Nippon Breweries resuming production of Sapporo beer in 1956 and renaming itself to the present name, Sapporo Breweries, in 1964. Yebisu Beer was relaunched as a separate brand in 1971, marketed as a German-style barley beer. Sapporo Black Label beer was launched in 1977.

On July 1, 2003, Sapporo Breweries renamed Sapporo Holdings, Ltd. and became a pure holding company. Its brewing business operations were transferred to a newly established wholly-owned operating subsidiary "Sapporo Breweries Limited." Sapporo Holdings' major business units are Sapporo Breweries, Ltd. (beer, happoshu, wine, spirits, foods, etc.), Sapporo Beverage Co., Ltd. (soft drinks), Sapporo Lion, Ltd. (restaurants) and Yebisu Garden Place Co., Ltd. (real estate).

Selected beer

News

Hops

• January 28 — Miller Brewing has offered a US$ 10,000 reward for information regarding the January 26 murder of one of their executives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (WISN)
• January 25 — Scottish & Newcastle, the largest brewing company in the United Kingdom, has agreed to be split up and taken over by Heineken International and the Carlsberg Group in a deal worth ₤7.8 billion. (BBC News)
• January 15 — The rising price of hops (pictured) has caused some British Columbian microbreweries to reformulate their beer recipes. (CBC)
• January 13 — Sales information shows that ale sales in UK supermarkets grew by more than 6 per cent last year, while lager sales fell less than one per cent. (The Observer)

Selected quote

Selected picture

Related portals

Related WikiProjects

Categories

The following are categories relating to beer.

Beer lists

• Beers
• Beer and nationality
• Commercial brands of beer

Beer topics

• Public house
• Pub crawl
• History of beer
• Brewery

Associated Wikimedia