Tuesday Beer Trivia: History

Question 1: The German law now permits the use of yeast, which was not an official part of beer until Louis Pasteur, a French chemist, discovered its role in fermentation in the 1800s. Wheat was eventually allowed as well, but only in top-fermenting or yeast-centric ales. The original text of the law: “we wish…forthwith that…in all our towns and markets in the countryside no other items be used for beer than barley, hops, and water.”

Question 2: This number is somewhat up for debate because tax records show fewer breweries than this number. However, while refrigeration and refined marketing strategies bred the first national breweries, many smaller breweries continued to be successful in local markets.

Question 3: President Jimmy Carter signed H.R. 1337 on October 14, 1978, which was primarily an amendment on the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 with respect to excise tax on certain trucks, buses, tractors, etc., and the production of beer and wine. The bill ended up containing an exemption from taxation of beer brewed at home for personal or family use. However, the exemption didn’t go into effect until February 1, 1979. The two senators who sponsored the homebrewing amendment in the bill were Senator William Steiger, Wis., and Senator Alan Cranston, Calif.

Question 4: George Washington loved beer. He always demanded an ample supply of porter be kept at his Mount Vernon, Va., estate. There is even record of his infamous “small beer” homebrew recipe written down in his personal notebook in 1757, which is now preserved in the New York Public Library.

Question 5: Mississippi and Alabama were the last two states to legalize homebrewing. Alabama law went into effect on May 9, 2013, and the Mississippi law went into effect on July 1, 2013.