In Spirit of St. Patrick’s day, I thought it would be a great idea to research about the History of Beer, learn about the process of making it, when and where it was invented and of course how it relates to the Irish Holiday! To my surprise, there appears to be no trace back of where beer came from, but most experts believe it was invented in the Middle East. The first hard evidence about beer production dates back 5,000 years to the Sumerians of Mesopotamia. Archeologists have discovered ceramic vessels from 3400 B.C. still sticky with beer residue, and 1800 B.C.’s the “Hymn to Ninkasi”, which is an ode to the Sumerian Goddess of Beer, and it describes a recipe for a beloved ancient brew made by female priestesses. So there you go, now we know to thank the Sumerians for the incredible invention of beer!
How does beer relate to St. Patrick’s Day? St. Patrick’s Day is an Irish Religious Holiday that celebrates St. Patrick, who was an Irish Patron Saint. The March 17th holiday has become very popular in the US, where people use it to celebrate Irish-American culture by dressing in green, picking four-leaf clovers for good luck, and of course partying hard by drinking lots of beer. Irish stout is people’s drink of choice on St. Patrick’s Day, according to Guinness, Americans drink about 600,000 pints of their beer on a typical day, but that number increases to about 3 million pints on St. Patrick’s Day! The reason people turn to beer on this holiday, seems to be simply because the Irish like their beer! It is also very common for breweries to color their beer green in order to comply with another of the holiday’s traditions.
Now that we have learned where beer came from and how it relates to St. Patrick’s Day, let’s find out the process of making it! Because Deep Drip Watering Stakes is Arizona-based Company, I have included a link to Four Peaks Brewery website. Four Peaks is one of the most popular local breweries you can click on their link below to learn more about their brewing process. What I would like to discuss is how to grow hops, one of the four key ingredients in beer. Hops are actually the female flower of the hop plant. Hops are primarily used to flavor and stabilize beer. Hops are what give beer their tangy flavor we love so much and they help balance the sweetness of the malt with bitterness. Hops are grown around the world, and the US is actually the second most productive country after Germany. They are grown is hop fields or hop yards, where they are trained to grow up string or wire trellises, which allows the plants to have significantly greater growth. Because of the way hops are planted, farmers usually use drip irrigation to water their crops. If Hops Growers used our Deep Drip Watering Stakes, not only would they conserve water and money, but they would ensure their hops grew healthy and maybe even significantly faster! Imagine, a world with endless beer, now we are talking! Have a happy and safe St. Patrick’s Day!
Sources:
http://www.history.com/news/ask-history/who-invented-beer
http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/us/st-patrick-day
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/03/14/saint-patricks-day-traditions
Four Peaks Brewery:
https://www.fourpeaks.com/about/brewing-process/
Deep Drip Watering Stakes:
