Mashes to Mashes, Crust to Crust. Presenting a novel microstructural marker for malting in the archaeological record.

The detection of direct archaeological remains of alcoholic beverages and their production is still a challenge to archaeological science, as most of the markers known up to now are either not durable or diagnostic enough to be used as secure proof. The current study addresses this question by experimental work reproducing the malting processes and subsequent charring of the resulting products under laboratory conditions in order to simulate their preservation (by charring) in archaeological contexts and to explore the preservation of microstructural alterations of the cereal grains. The experimentally germinated and charred grains showed clearly degraded (thinned) aleurone cell walls. The histological alterations of the cereal grains were observed and quantified using reflected light and scanning electron microscopy and supported using morphometric and statistical analyses. In order to verify the experimental observations of histological alterations, amorphous charred objects (ACO) containing cereal remains originating from five archaeological sites dating to the 4th millennium BCE were considered: two sites were archaeologically recognisable brewing installations from Predynastic Egypt, while the three broadly contemporary central European lakeshore settlements lack specific contexts for their cereal-based food remains. The aleurone cell wall thinning known from food technological research and observed in our own experimental material was indeed also recorded in the archaeological finds. The Egyptian materials derive from beer production with certainty, supported by ample contextual and artefactual data. The Neolithic lakeshore settlement finds currently represent the oldest traces of malting in central Europe, while a bowl-shaped bread-like object from Hornstaad-Hörnle possibly even points towards early beer production in central Europe. One major further implication of our study is that the cell wall breakdown in the grain's aleurone layer can be used as a general marker for malting processes with relevance to a wide range of charred archaeological finds of cereal products.

[The Student t-test is a beer test]. / De Student-t-toets is een biertoets.

The Student-t-test, one of the most used statistical tests in medicine, was developed by a beer brewer. From around 1900, the Irish Guinness brewery started recruiting scientists for the position of brewer in order to apply science to the production of beer in large quantities while maintaining consistency in terms of quality. One of these brewers was mathematician and chemist William Sealy Gosset (1876-1937). He developed statistical methods to deal with small sample surveys. Gosset's methods, and the accompanying t-distribution tables, enabled Guinness to take intelligent decisions about which ingredients to use, allowing them to produce high-quality beer that consistently tasted the same. Gosset wanted to publish his findings in scientific journals; however, the Guinness brewery was unwilling, as this could jeopardise their advantage over other breweries. They came to a compromise, in which Guinness allowed Gosset to publish his findings, as long as he used a pseudonym: Student. The Student's t-distribution remains one of the cornerstones of modern statistics.

Revealing a 5,000-y-old beer recipe in China.

The pottery vessels from the Mijiaya site reveal, to our knowledge, the first direct evidence of in situ beer making in China, based on the analyses of starch, phytolith, and chemical residues. Our data reveal a surprising beer recipe in which broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum), barley (Hordeum vulgare), Job's tears (Coix lacryma-jobi), and tubers were fermented together. The results indicate that people in China established advanced beer-brewing technology by using specialized tools and creating favorable fermentation conditions around 5,000 y ago. Our findings imply that early beer making may have motivated the initial translocation of barley from the Western Eurasia into the Central Plain of China before the crop became a part of agricultural subsistence in the region 3,000 y later.

Rethinking industrial citizenship: the role and meaning of work in an age of austerity.

T. H. Marshall in his famous tract Citizenship and Social Class wrote briefly about what he called 'industrial citizenship', a type of belonging rooted in the workplace. Here Marshall's ideas are developed alongside a consideration of Durkheim's Professional Ethics and Civic Morals together with research material from the Guinness Company. It shows the way the Company actively sought to create 'Guinness citizenship' within its London brewery. The article draws out the ways in which the significance and potential of work based citizenship for ameliorating the ills of industrial society are clearly articulated in mid-twentieth century Britain and echo earlier neglected Durkheimian sociological ideas on work. These ideas have real potential to inform contemporary academic and policy debates about the nature of capitalism and the form and content of work now and in the future.

Analysis of beers from an 1840s' shipwreck.

Two bottles of beer from an about 170-year-old shipwreck (M1 Fö 403.3) near the Åland Islands in the Baltic Sea were analyzed. Hop components and their degradation compounds showed that the bottles contained two different beers, one more strongly hopped than the other. The hops used contained higher levels of ß-acids than modern varieties and were added before the worts were boiled, converting α-acids to iso-α-acids and ß-acids to hulupones. High levels of organic acids, carbonyl compounds, and glucose indicated extensive bacterial and enzyme activity during aging. However, concentrations of yeast-derived flavor compounds were similar to those of modern beers, except that 3-methylbutyl acetate was unusually low in both beers and 2-phenylethanol and possibly 2-phenylethyl acetate were unusually high in one beer. Concentrations of phenolic compounds were similar to those in modern lagers and ales.

[Alcoholism around the turn of the 20th century: the Belgian positions in European debates]. / L'alcoolisme au tournant du XXe siècle: les positions belges dans les débats européens.

In Europe, between 1880 and 1914, the alcoolism, one of the three social ills, represents more than ever a concern among the society's leaders against the ravages it causes in their working class. In this context, two schools of "anti-alcoholism" clash to policy matters: to prevent to only spirits or any form of alcohol beverage. Belgium, land of beer, forms an integral part of the debate...

[Ludovic Willay (1877-1941): "Fizzing--healthy--enjoyable--digestive, require Autobrasseur"]. / Ludovic Willay (1877-1941): "Pétillante--saine--digestive, exiger l'Autobrasseur'.

Ludovic Willay (1877-1941), pharmacist in Lens (Pas-de-Calais), native of Hénin-Beaumont (Pas-de-Calais), developed, in 1922, a preparation to facilitate the brewing of a household beer. The preparation and the small company, located in the backroom of his pharmacy, are called: Autobrasseur. The formulation involves for ingredients: barley, hops, roasted chicory, coriander and juniper fruit. The recipe has not changed for almost a century: "Put the contents of the Autobrasseur package in a canvas, make a decoction with boiling water, let cold, add beaker yeast and sugar". With this formula, thousands of families made their own natural style drink beer (alcohol content 1-3% abv. according to the recipe). Autobrasseur, a part of the beer culture in the Nord Pas-de-Calais, has replaced beer during the German occupation (1939-1945).

Beer and wine in antiquity: beneficial remedy or punishment imposed by the Gods?

Different types of alcoholic beverages such as wine and beer were used in ancient times for various medicinal purposes. Being the oldest and probably the most widely used drugs, they were known to have some therapeutic value, in addition to the vital part they played in the daily life of people. Ethanol is produced by fermentation of a variety of plants and consumed either in a diluted form or concentrated by distillation to concoct alcoholic beverages. Beer made of fermented barley is an alcoholic drink that was believed to contain a spirit or a god. It is a drink of relatively low alcohol content with supernatural properties. The same was believed for wine. Considered to be divine, these beverages were the long sought elixirs of life and appeared in religious ceremonies, in mythology, and in social meals, such as the Greek symposia. In addition, these alcoholic drinks were considered to be a remedy for practically every disease and, therefore, were a common ingredient in ancient prescriptions. They were used as anaesthetics that dull the pain, as stimulants, as analgesics, as antiseptics to cleanse wounds and relieve pain, as emetics, as digestives, as antidotes for plant poisoning, for bites and stings, and as purifiers. However, we should not overlook the harmful effects of alcohol abuse such as drunkenness, chronic liver disease and, in modern terminology, infirmities that included pancreatitis, cardiomyopathy, peripheral neuropathy, dementia, and central nervous system disorders.

Bread, beer and wine: yeast domestication in the Saccharomyces sensu stricto complex.

Yeasts of the Saccharomyces sensu stricto species complex are able to convert sugar into ethanol and CO(2) via fermentation. They have been used for thousands years by mankind for fermenting food and beverages. In the Neolithic times, fermentations were probably initiated by naturally occurring yeasts, and it is unknown when humans started to consciously add selected yeast to make beer, wine or bread. Interestingly, such human activities gave rise to the creation of new species in the Saccharomyces sensu stricto complex by interspecies hybridization or polyploidization. Within the S. cerevisiae species, they have led to the differentiation of genetically distinct groups according to the food process origin. Although the evolutionary history of wine yeast populations has been well described, the histories of other domesticated yeasts need further investigation.

"Drink beer regularly - it's good for you (and us)": selling Tooth's Beer in a depressed market.

This study examines the unique publicity activities devised by the Tooth's brewery in Sydney during the Great Depression and the 1930s. Unlike many advertisers, the brewery did not turn its back on advertising or marketing. Recognising the importance of publicity, the brewery developed innovative advertising and marketing initiatives in an attempt to arrest its declining sales. Such strategies included the development of co-operative advertising campaigns, the creation of advertisements directly targeting female consumers, and the renovation of pubs owned by the brewery. However, the significance of these initiatives extends beyond the immediate economic concerns. They were also celebration of modernity. By locating Tooth's advertising, marketing, and public relations activities within the broader social, cultural, and political context, this study provides a revealing insight into the way in which such campaigns simultaneously informed and reflected the Australian experience of modernity during the 1930s.

Powering the porter brewery.

Before canals and railways developed as a major transport network, it was seldom profitable to transport beer inland over more than a few miles. In country towns and villages, therefore, beer would be brewed either by a small 'common' brewery that supplied a handful of pubs and private customers, or in an even smaller brew-house attached to the pub itself. Many families also brewed their own beer. However, large-scale mass-production did make sense in the major urban centres - and above all in London, with its ever-growing, thirsty population. Over the course of the 18th century, a handful of London breweries began to boast plants, outputs and distribution systems far greater than anything previously in existence.

The beer ration in Victorian asylums.

Routine distribution of alcoholic beverages to mental hospital patients would be a fanciful prospect today, yet in the formative decades of lunatic asylums, beer was standard issue. A staple item in the supposedly healthy Victorian asylum diet, beer also served as inducement for patient labour. Around the mid-1880s, this commodity was abolished throughout Britain's mental institutions. This paper explores the factors that combined to condemn the beer barrel to asylum history, and, in particular, how this small comfort for immates fell foul of the medicalization of the asylum and of the professional project of psychiatry.