- [Narrator] Sumer 4,000 years ago. The woman recites a hymn to the goddess Ninkasi as she works. "Ninkasi, it is you who
water the earth covered malt. "The noble dogs guard
it even from the royals. "It is you who soak the malt in a jar. "It is you who spread the
cooked mash on large reed mats. "It is you who holds with both hands "the great sweet wart, brewing
it with honey and wine. "You place the fermenting fat, "which makes a pleasant sound, "appropriately on top of
a large collector vat. "It is you who pour out the filtered beer "of the collector vat. "It is like the onrush of the
Tigris and the Euphrates." Then, she takes a sip. This is the first known recipe for beer, the drink that built civilization. (bright music) Thanks so much to World Anvil for helping us draft
today's historical tale. Now, while you watch the
five little books drop in our opening graphic, you
may have thought to yourself are they really gonna spend
a whole series on beer? I mean, is there really
that much to say about it? (chuckles) Oh, yeah. Yeah, there is. In fact, our biggest problem isn't going to be how to fill this series, but actually how much stuff
we're going to have to leave out because the story of beer is that massive. From its origins of being
brewed in neolithic baskets, it rose to an industrialized beverage shipped around the world, facilitating many historical
events along the way, from helping the British takeover India, to the establishment of food quality laws, not to mention pubs and beer halls have been the headquarters
of many revolutions, from the Green Dragon Tavern
of the Sons of Liberty to Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch. Beer's story is a global one. No one person or culture invented it. In fact, beer was probably
more discovered than created and that discovery happened all around the world independently, so far back that we have no idea when it first came into being. See, beer not only predates writing, it also predates pottery,
domesticated grain, and possibly even settled
villages and organized religion. It's ancient to the point
of being primordial, first appearing in the
archeological record via traces of it on a potsherd discovered in what is now Iran, a potsherd that's 7,000 years old. So given how ancient beer is, how, when and why it came to
be requires some speculation. Now, alcohol would've been
known to early humans, even in hunter gatherer societies, because it occurs naturally. Fruit left out too long
can naturally ferment and create alcohol. And that fermentation happens
when a single cell fungus called yeast feeds on sugars, producing carbon dioxide and
ethanol as waste products. Seriously, forget dogs or cats. Yeast is actually man's best friend. I mean, just look at
these little yeasty boys. Awe, cute little bubbly buddies. (cat meowing) Sorry, Zoe, but it's kind of true. Yes, dogs helped ancient humans
with hunting and security and cats definitely kept the rodents down and I know you do a wonder on my taxes, but yeast eats carbohydrates
and poops out alcohol, an action crucial for
making both bread and beer. Though neolithic humans
didn't understand fermentation or what alcohol was, they
knew the important stuff. It was a substance that induced a state of altered consciousness
and tasted pretty good. Good enough, at least,
to attract elephants and monkeys who also loved to
get smashed on rotting fruit. This fermented fruit is
what you know as wine, which we associate with grapes today but has been historically
made with any sweet fruit, from plums to dates or even
in the sap of palm trees. Beer, by contrast, comes
from fermented grain which does not appear naturally. And to make it, you need
semi-settled agriculture. So here's how one theory
suggests beer came to be. First, hunter gatherers realized that grains were a steady
source of nutrition. If you pulled grains from wild cereals like barley and wheat then
soaked or boiled them in water, they made an oatmeal or thin gruel that was rich in nutrients. Further, this could be added
to soups as a thickener. And grain, unlike fruit and meat, could easily be stored for later. Throw a bunch of grain in a basket and, provided it doesn't get
wet, it can last years. But you know, lugging
around a basket of grain isn't really ideal
while chasing a mammoth. So these hunter gatherers
started forming settlements where wild grains were abundant. There, humans learned to make bread 11,000 to 14,000 years ago. Then at one point or another, some dough was contaminated by yeast, causing it to ferment and rise due to the carbon dioxide forming bubbles. Beer followed a bit later as
an offshoot of bread making. And perhaps fittingly,
given beer's reputation as a relaxing drink, the prevailing theory for this cultural defining
beverage's discovery involves someone being lazy. The thought goes that a grain store, maybe a basket, was left out
in the rain and sprouted. Wild yeast then colonized the mixture or someone either
accidentally or on purpose dropped bread into it. Then afterward, someone decided to drink the resulting fermentation and found that it made them
pleasantly intoxicated. And presto, the first keg
stand, metaphorically. Then it wasn't long until people were making beer on purpose. It appeared on the tabulation accounts of ancient Sumer and a recently
discovered brewery site in China is 5,000 years old. Our first recipe, quoted in
this episode's introduction, comes from a hymn to the
Sumerian goddess Ninkasi, praising her creation of the drink while telling brewers had to replicate it. It was recorded 3,900 years
ago, but is probably older. Yeah, beer was so important
it had its own goddess, which makes sense because it was a
cornerstone of civilization. Humans in the fertile crescent increasingly took up settled agriculture in order to subsist off of bread and beer, a lifestyle that led
to larger populations, permanent structures and
irrigation, AKA cities. In these settlements, they kept grain in common
storehouses overseen by priests. And one theory goes that these grain stores gradually evolved, gaining more religious functions, to become the first temples. And writing was invented
to catalog their contents. In fat times, the temple
would collect the grain, and then in lean times,
they would distribute it. And that distribution often
came in the form of beer. Indeed, during the
construction of the pyramids, beer was one of the main forms of payment. In fact, there's even a theory that goes given the ecology of the area, the wine mentioned in the Bible might have been a translation error and what people were
actually drinking was beer. In fact, it was a major selling
point for living in cities. Eat bread, divide labor,
ride out bad harvests and drink beer. Heck, even in the epic of Gilgamesh, which we have a series on
and you can watch here, the wild man Enkidu is civilized and turned human by the
consumption of bread and beer. Beer had become the symbol of complex society and
necessary for living in cities. See, the problem with cities back then is that human waste quickly
poisoned nearby water sources, making them unsafe to drink. But the alcohol in beer was sufficient to kill any
microbes that affected humans. So beer was not just a pleasure drink, but a necessary technology
for urban living. It was also a source of food, since beer back then was
thicker than we think of now, more like a gruel or a Guinness. Kidding, kidding, love
my steak and a glass. Calorie dense and filling, it was one of the first
things the temple gave out for famine relief. In fact, it was so thick that there were things floating
in it and people drank it through reed straws to
filter out the bigger bits. This was also done in a communal bowl, starting a trend that
would continue until today, where beer was a drink
consumed socially in common. A sign of trust, since with everyone drinking
beer from the same vessel there was no chance of poisoning. And along with other drinks from common containers,
like coffee, tea, or wine, beer became synonymous with hospitality. Also, ancient people made a range of beer knowing that if they tinkered
with the ingredients, they could get different results. From ancient Egypt, we see records discussing different types and styles of beer with
different alcohol strengths. Granted, most beer people
drank was short turned around batches that were only
1% alcohol by volume, but there were others left to
sit longer to become stronger. Plus, there were flavor additives like honey, spices and fruit. And though fermentation
process was a mystery, there was an understanding
that some prized magical pots, called in records the pots
that make the beer good, simply produced better brew
even without dropping bread in. This was because yeast
had permanently colonized cracks and imperfections in the pots. But to the ancient people, beer's transformation appeared magical, especially since it created an
altered state when consumed. So it's no wonder that it
was used in religious rituals and associated with a range of goddesses. Oh yeah, goddesses. Because beer was largely
made in the household at the same time as baking
bread for thousands of years, brewing was primarily a woman's task. But further north in
Europe change was coming, both to the process of making
and consuming beer itself and for the women who
controlled production. But until we get to that
part of the story next time, please history responsibly, by which, of course, we
mean while researching, you should keep track of
all of your notable figures, lineages, dates, quotes, maps and other fun facts
like tastiest beverages. You know, if only there
was a beloved service that could help folks with
these kind of endeavors that also had an adorable
blacksmith mascot. Hmm, hey World Anvil! Awe, always there to save
our organizational day. As you know by now, a bunch
of us at Extra Credits have been crafting our own
imaginary worlds for years, be they video games, RBGs or novels. And if you're like us, you
know how much work it is keeping all of the disparate elements of a world building project organized. Well, that, my friends, is
where World Anvil comes in. World Anvil is an award-winning tool set used by millions of
world builders, writers and gamers that helps you create, store and organize your world setting. You can use it to craft
entire RBG campaigns, track timelines, family trees and diplomatic relationships,
create interactive maps to help bring your story to life. And once your world is forged, you can easily share what you've built with players, readers,
patrons, or whoever. In other words, precisely
the tools that let me focus on the fun parts of world building. And with over 25 stunning
visual themes at your disposal, it's perfect for all genres,
from sci-fi to fantasy, high fiction and space opera, which, to be completely honest, I've utilized most of across
my continual multiverse spanning Rifts, Dungeon, Stargate, Kingdom Heart's 17th century
romcom mashup campaign. And now that our heroes have
shattered all of space time, they've got to head through
Elden Ring's The Lands Between to clean up all my
convoluted narrative soup. Well, even a world that
complex is no trouble at all, thanks to World Anvil's
new auto linker feature, where I can get all of my
whackadoo ideas connected quickly and easily for my players to explore. So if you want to up
your world building game and have a really good time doing it, you can check out World
Anvil absolutely free. And for a limited time,
you can receive 40% off any annual membership by
using the code EXTRACREDITS. Then, not only will
the worlds you dream up come to life faster, but you'll also be helping
out us at EC in the process. Once again, that's code
EXTRACREDITS for 40% off any annual membership. And as always, thanks so
much for your support. We can't wait to hear
about the worlds you build. The biggest EC thanks to Ahmad
Ziad Turk, Alicia Bramble, Angelo Valenciana, Casey
Muscha, Dominic Valenciana, Joseph Blaim, Kyle Murgatroyd, and Orels1 for being fantastic, legendary patrons. (quirky upbeat music)
