BEER

This page is dedicated to me...The Frosty Brew, enjoyed and loved by so many! If you are a beer lover please join this page, tell all your friends to join. Let's see just how many beer lovers there is on myspace! Party on DUDES!Beer is the world's oldest and most popular alcoholic beverage, selling more than 133 billion litres (35 billion gallons) per year. It is produced through the fermentation of starch-based material, commonly barley, though cassava root in Africa, potato in Brazil, and agave in Mexico, among other starch sources, have been used.Because the ingredients and procedures used to make beer can differ, characteristics such as taste and colour may also vary. While local names for beers made with the same methods and ingredients vary, the similarities of method and ingredients can be detected to form a study of the nature of beer styles.Beer is one of the oldest human-produced beverages, possibly dating back to at least the 7th millennium BC (perhaps prior even to bread), and recorded in the written history of Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. Earliest known chemical evidence of beer dates to circa 3500-3100 BC. As almost any substance containing carbohydrates, namely sugar or starch, can naturally undergo fermentation, it is likely that beer-like beverages were independently invented among various cultures throughout the world.In Europe, beer was being produced in monasteries by the 7th century AD. During the 14th and 15th centuries beer achieved great popularity due to health epidemics, as beerdrinking was safer than drinking water. However, it was not until the 17th century that beer took on the styles and flavours that we might recognise in the beers of today.Today, the brewing industry is a huge global business, consisting of several multinational companies, and many thousands of smaller producers ranging from brewpubs to regional breweries.