Summary of Tom Standage's A History of the World in 6 Glasses

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview: #1 The first beer was probably not brewed until around 10,000 BCE, but it was widespread in the Near East by 4000 BCE, when it appeared in a pictogram from Mesopotamia.

The rise of beer was closely associated with the domestication of the cereal grains from which it is made and the adoption of farming.#2 Beer was not invented, but discovered.

It was inevitable once the gathering of wild grains became widespread after the end of the last ice age, around 10,000 BCE, in a region known as the Fertile Crescent.#3 The first permanent settlements were established around 10,000 BCE, and they consisted of simple, round huts with roofs supported by wooden posts and floors sunk up to a yard into the ground.

They were four or five yards in diameter. A typical village consisted of around fifty huts, supporting a community of two hundred or three hundred people.#4 The discovery of beer was made when people realized that adding more malted grain to the gruel resulted in a stronger drink.

The more malt there is in the original gruel, and the longer it is left to ferment, the stronger the beer.