Apush Chapter 1 Summary

Beer, the first beverage appeared as a result of changed lifestyle for the early humans. Before, humans were nomads, who would follow their food (pg. 9). But starting about 12,000 years ago humans had picked up on a new lifestyle (pg. 9). These small bands of about 30 people were now settling down in more permanent areas and had abandoned their old ways of constantly traveling (pg. 9). This drastic turning point in human history seemed to primarily come from one reason, the discovery of beer (pg.11). As beer was basically formed from the gathering of barley and wheat, humans had to form some type of permanent residency, and abandon their old nomadic lifestyle (pg.11).

The first beverage that Standage discusses in his book is Beer. Beer was probably first discovered when someone left oats soaking in water out for a few days, then came

As beer started becoming a necessity, it showed the strong need for agriculture in society. People came together, to make an industry of beer, and creating civilizations.

Per capita beer consumption in the country had been stable for many years. In order to find new opportunities

Beer started out as gruel, and as the gruel fermented it turned into beer. Now it was not the first form of alcohol, but it was an important kind of alcohol. Beer was made from cereal crops, which were very abundant, and because it was so abundant it could be made whenever it was needed. They then found an even easier way to make beer by using beer-bread. Beer bread is basically everything needed to make beer in a loaf, making it convenient to store the raw beer materials. Beer started as just a social drink but then blossomed into a “hallmark of civilization”, as seen by the Mesopotamians. Grain was the basis of the national diet, it was

1. The discovery of beer is linked to the growth of the first civilizations because in both cultures of Mesopotamia and Egypt, beer was the main drink. It was consumed by everyone and was known as the defining drink of both of the first great civilizations.

1. The discovery of beer is linked to the growth of the first civilizations because the discovery of beer was central to social, religious, and economic life, bringing everyone together which was the setup of most

Beer: Beer was not invented, it was discovered. Exactly when the first beer was brewed is unknown but there was almost certainly no beer before 10,000 BCE. The rise of beer was closely associated with the domestication of the cereal grains rom which it is made and the adoption of farming. Beer originated in the Fertile Crescent in Egypt and Mesopotamia. To beer drinkers in the Neolithic period, beer’s ability to intoxicate and induce a state of altered consciousness seemed magical. This caused them to believe beer was a gift from the Gods. Since it was a gift from the gods, it was presented as a religious offering in religious ceremonies, agricultural fertility rites, and in

In the chapters “A Stone-Age Brew” and “Civilized Beer” from the book A History of the World in 6 Glasses, Tom Standage describes how beer affected the lives of the first humans who lived in year-round settlements and later in the first civilizations in Mesopotamia and Egypt. Beer played a significant role in turning the first humans from hunter gatherers to farmers. Beer was discovered in the Fertile Crescent around 12,000 years ago, when gruel derived from gathered grains (a staple food) that was in storage fermented. These ancient groups of hunter-gatherers found this beverage “slightly fizzy and pleasantly intoxicating” (Standage 15) and realized it was more easily made than other alcoholic drinks. Over time, the quality and variety of beer increased by trial and error.

Twelve thousand years ago, humans were growing tired of the hunter-gatherer lifestyle and had decided to take on farming, settling down in one place instead of constantly on the run for prey. In the effort to take on this new life, they had to store lots of grain, and it was found exceedingly difficult to make the storage containers airtight. Water would seep into the storage containers and would create a sweet mixture, also known as beer. They would find the same result if gruel was left sitting out; the air would ferment the sugar in the gruel into alcohol. Bread, like beer, was derived from gruel. There has been a debate among archaeologists about which came first, bread or beer, similar to the chicken and egg argument. No clear answer has

The revolutionizing transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture was a central shift in the way homo sapiens lived that occurred twelve thousand years ago. Consequently, several factors contributed to this astonishing modification of life including increasing population size, favorable environments such as the Nile River in Egypt and the Fertile Crescent in the Mediterranean. Furthermore, the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture allowed for mass production of food in order for the sustainability of the increasing population size, but with agriculture also came specialization and the division of labor ultimately leading to moral inequality.

Eventually beer also had other qualities that allowed farming to progress and that is that beer was not harmful to humans as water was (21). Because of this people found out different ways in which they could produce this drink by having different forms of agriculture advancing its form from regular seeds being planted to massive productions, just as did the Greeks and Romans did by using their slave population to farm all of their grapes for the wine in order to drive a successful wine market (71). Farming allowed for populations to grow from small villages to cities to then allow the adoption of beer and wine to become an essential product that drove agriculture to the civilization and growth of people. Along the same lines we can also see how this development of beer due to farming allowed people to become more than just any regular barbaric man, and show that they were people with class.

Beer has a long history. In 2000 B.C.E., Sumerians had prepared eight different beer types, ranging from “strong,” “red brown,” and “good dark” (Mauk, 2013). Breweries have created their own recipes, brewed their own beers—some with alcohol, some without. Over the past few years, craft beer gained steady market share away from the national and international breweries (Murray & O 'Neill, 2012). Separating one beer from the next is the product itself, and what the product has to offer. Competition is ferocious due to more informed, sophisticated consumers, as well as globalization and the spread of technology (Murray & O 'Neill, 2012).

Alewives and brewers were peasants who had special jobs in addition to the agricultural work they did on the manor. Ale was a highly popular medieval drink that was brewed from barley or other grains. There was a step by step procedure in making ale (Singman 153). First, the seeds were heated and roasted, in a process called malting (Singman 53). This allowed the seeds to convert into soluble starches, adding flavor to the ale (Singman 53). It was then ground, boiled in water to extract its contents, and strained to remove the solid (Singman 53). Herbal flavorings were added to give more flavor and the liquid was then fermented with yeast (Singman 53). After a batch was ready, an alewife displayed a sign telling peasants the ale was ready

half of the 1800s. The first alcoholic beverage to gain popularity was Mead, a fermented