Now THIS is a Science on Tap topic: “The Origin and Evolution of Beer” 1/11 6pm

Posted on | January 10, 2010 | No Comments

Oh nuts, it’s almost the second Monday of the month and I haven’t posted a thing about tomorrow’s Science on Tap:

Science on Tap: “The Origin and Evolution of Beer”
Speaker: Dr. Ernie Schuyler: Curator Emeritus of Botany, The Academy of
Natural Sciences, Philadelphia
Location: National Mechanics, 22 South 3rd St., Philadelphia

About 10,000 years ago, humans became farmers who cultivated a new kind of barley and brewed beer from it. Some think that the desire for beer was the driving force for cultivating grains and therefore thevfoundation of civilization. Natural selection favored consumers of beer for health reasons. It was safer to drink than contaminated water and it had nutritional value. Over eight millennia after the invention of beer, a major evolutionary change occurred when hops began to be used in brewing for its bitterness, flavor, aroma, and preservative properties. Eventually the role of yeast in fermentation became known and techniques were devised to control the quality of the final product. Today beer continues to evolve thanks to the efforts of creative brewers, including many in and around Philadelphia.

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