“may I live upon the bread of barley white, my ale made of grain red”
— Ancient Egyptian Prayer
This is not a tribute to drinking, getting drunk or partying… this is a tribute to the one unmistakeable contribution to civilization — beer — brought down to us over 6000 years ago by the Chinese, Sumarians, Babylonians, the Ancient Egyptians and most recently the Germans and Japanese! Of course, we can’t forget the contributions of Milwaukee! Gan bei ! (Chinese – Mandarin)
Some of the advice on the internet is a bit self-serving to people who like beer already. If you look hard enough , you can find an article somewhere that beer cures almost every ailment. I sometimes wonder if I should be winking when I read things like, “Why drinking beer is good for the planet”. The gist of this article in New Scientist is that certain beer by-products will absorb hazardous organic compounds including benzene and trichloroethylene from chemical and industrial wastewater. Good stuff to know. Don’t you feel better now that you can do something good for mother earth? Prosit! (German)
Another facinating bit of beer glorification dates back to the ancient egyptians. When scientist studied the bones of the ancient Nubians ( they once ruled Egypt) they found:
“The bones, the researchers say, contain traces of the antibiotic tetracycline. Today tetracycline is used to treat ailments ranging from acne flare-ups to urinary-tract infections. But the antibiotic only came into commercial use half a century ago. So how did tetracycline get into the Nubian bones? Armelagos and his team say they found an answer in ancient beer.”
As you can see, it pays to read National Geographic. Na zdorov’ya (Ukraine)
What is really fun in all the nature vs. nurture debate going on is how recent discoveries in biology are causing… well… some academics to run naked into the woods screaming! I have to tell you that I just love it!