International Beer Day

Annually on the first Friday in August, we raise a glass to celebrate International Beer Day! The end of summer is looming but the start of another weekend gives us the perfect opportunity to celebrate our love of beer.

Beer is something many of us can agree on, and it’s from that, plenty of us have solved many problems over the years with a few pints of beer.

Beer is one of the oldest drinks the world has ever known. In fact, there have been beer recipes unearthed by archaeologists that were written on clay in 4300 B.C. and ceramic bottles that were still sticky with beer from 3400 B.C. The evidence was found in ancient Babylonia and Mesopotamia and has been consumed by nearly every country and culture ever since. A lot of people in ancient Egypt drank beer as part of their daily diet.

The recipe for beer came about unexpectedly after the first few grains had been fermented which made a bubbly, flavoursome product. The person sceptical to try the fermented drink was surprised to be greeted by a lovely little buzz, he smiled and said ‘Wow!’.

Until the industrialisation of brewing, beer was generally made by women – for thousands of years, all over the world, women were the main brewers, and the first recorded use of hops in beer was by a woman – St Hildegard.
“By the Middle Ages, Christian monks were brewing beers and introduced the use of hops. Until then, beers were brewed with local additives like dates and olive oils to add flavour. Today’s beers continue to be brewed with hops, herbs, or fruits that add flavour. Macro, micro, or craft, the art of brewing beer today remains a craft that employs age-old techniques carefully perfected over centuries and millennium.” – www.nationaltoday.com

International Beer Day was founded in Santa Cruz, California by Jesse Avshalomov in August 2007 whilst enjoying a few beers with his friends.

His reasons for founding International Beer Day were:

• Gather with friends and enjoy the taste of beer
• Celebrate those responsible for brewing and serving beer
• Unite the world under the banner of beer, by celebrating the beers of all nations together on a single day.

After the founding of International Beer Day, it is now being celebrated in 207 cities, 50 countries and 6 continents across the world!

Other countries that celebrate beer for their own reasons:

• Ireland – March 17th – St. Patrick’s Day, when the luck of the Irish and Irish Whiskey is celebrated.
• Germany – April 23rd – Reinheitsgebot is the German Beer purity law that regulates the ingredients in all traditional German beer.
• Iceland – May 1st – Beer Day is when Iceland celebrates the drink after it was banned in Iceland for a decade.

Fun facts about beer

• The average beer consumed in the UK is decreasing gradually after hitting its peak in the mid-2000s, especially among young people. The average consumption per adult today in the UK is about 9.7 litres per year.
• The most popular beer drunk in the UK is Guinness.
• The oldest working brewery dates back to 1040 and is located in Munich.
• The Czech Republic drink an average of 320 pints a year per person which puts them at the top ahead of Germany and Austria who take second and third place.

Luckily in Plymouth, we have a whole host of pubs, restaurants and bars ready to serve you a fresh pint of beer this International Beer Day!

This article is proudly sponsored by Vessel