Home-Brewed Beer

Although not as ancient a drink as mead, ale was made and drunk in this country long before the Romans came. At that time it was a fermented liquor made from a cereal mash of barley, wheat or rye. The Romans, whom we have so much to be grateful for, also introduced the hop, although our forebears were slow to welcome it. As a result ale was still the drink for many centuries and when hops were added it was called beer.

Hops were introduced to stabilize and flavour the beer; the resin in the hops acts as a preservative, which helps prevent the beer from going sour. It also adds the bitterness to beer. There are now several varieties of hops with very different types of bitterness and flavour, the brewer selects these carefully depending upon the type of beer he wishes to produce.