ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the complex changes in the organization, economic importance, scale, scientific understanding, and technology of brewing, and attitudes about the social function and nature of beer that these changes have engendered across the world. Brewing is generally considered to have originated as a by-product of the development of agriculture, although minority opinion holds that the cultivation of cereals originated as a consequence of man's desire for alcohol rather than vice versa. Beer was integral to the culture of the agrarian population of northern and central Europe in the medieval and early modern period. Mass-produced porter arrived on the scene prior to mechanization of brewing; man and horsepower achieved large-scale output a generation before mechanization eased the burden. During the early years of the twenty-first century, beer and health became a regular focus for papers at congresses of the European Brewery Convention, with evidence of the beneficial effects of moderate drinking debated intensively.
