Beer was first created in Egypt back around 5,000 B.C.E. It was said to be a creation from failure in an attempt to create ‘liquid bread’. They had water, wheat, and yeast, the foundation of any good bread, in a ratio that created a liquid rather than a dough. After giving the concoction some time to ‘rise’, they accidentally (and fortunately) found that instead of rising, the ‘liquid bread’ lead to people falling. You see, they inadvertently created an alcohol that would be the foundation for beer. Dogfish head attempted to create this beer’s flavor (what palaeontologists surmised) in their beer, Midas Touch.

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At first, beer would be quite harsh, with flavoring and balance coming from adding fruits such as dates. BUT! Beer would often be used for medicinal purposes.

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It wouldn't be until 822 A.D. when a more modern version of beer would be created when French Monks started adding hops into their beer to add consistency and balance.

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Around the year 1420 would be the 'discovery' of lager yeast. Funnily enough, though popular in Europe, studies have shown that the lager yeast originated in Argentina and found its way, accidentally, to Europe through the Columbian Exchange.

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The first dark beer was seen in London in the 1700s in porters, it came from roasting barley over a fire which made beers darker, but the malts lost much of its sugar. It wasn't until 1818 when the drum roaster was invented and dark beers could be more efficiently made.

 

The rest is history. Through globalization, beer spread throughout the world, many different countries gave their own interpretation of beer, but mostly retained the elements that made beer, beer: Lower alcohol content than liquors that get their sugars from barley/wheat.

 

Because of it’s lower price and refreshing nature, it has often been connected to blue collared workers, but that image has been changing with the rise in craft brewing.