Editing Brewing (section)

==History==
{{Further|History of beer|Women in brewing}}
[[File:Alulu Beer Receipt.jpg|left|thumb|The Alulu beer receipt records a purchase of  "best" beer from a brewer, {{Circa|2050 BC}}, from the [[Sumer]]ian city of [[Umma]] in [[Mesopotamia]] (ancient Iraq).<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/World%27s+oldest+beer+receipt%3F-a0141346971 |title=World's oldest beer receipt? – Free Online Library |publisher=thefreelibrary.com |access-date=8 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511170952/http://www.thefreelibrary.com/World%27s+oldest+beer+receipt%3F-a0141346971 |archive-date=11 May 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref>]]{{See also|Fermentation in food processing#Brewing and winemaking}}
Brewing has taken place since around the 6th millennium BC, and archaeological evidence suggests emerging civilizations including [[China]],<ref name=China>{{cite journal|title=Fermented beverages of pre- and proto-historic China|author=Patrick E. McGovern|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |date=December 8, 2004|volume=101 |issue=51 |pages=17593–17598 |publisher=[[PNAS]]|doi=10.1073/pnas.0407921102 |pmid=15590771 |pmc=539767 |bibcode=2004PNAS..10117593M |doi-access=free }}</ref> [[ancient Egypt]], and [[Mesopotamia]] brewed beer. Descriptions of various beer recipes can be found in [[cuneiform]] (the oldest known writing) from ancient [[Mesopotamia]].<ref name="Arnold">{{Cite book|author=John P. Arnold |year=2005 |orig-year=1911 |title=Origin and History of Beer and Brewing: From Prehistoric Times to the Beginning of Brewing Science and Technology |publisher=BeerBooks |location=Cleveland, Ohio |page=34 |isbn=978-0-9662084-1-2 |oclc=71834130}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |author=Max Nelson |title=The barbarian's beverage: a history of beer in ancient Europe |publisher=[[Routledge]] |location=London |year=2005 |url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/reader/0415311217?p=S00H&checkSum=ha%2FMenougrV%2FCPWZg6P4td6OJoeMeVfRptT8FuSLUrk%3D |page=6 |isbn=978-0-415-31121-2 |oclc=58387214 |access-date=30 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071205213808/http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/reader/0415311217?p=S00H&checkSum=ha%2FMenougrV%2FCPWZg6P4td6OJoeMeVfRptT8FuSLUrk%3D |archive-date=5 December 2007 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-66615/beer|title=Beer - Alcoholic Beverage|author=Thomas W. Young|encyclopedia=Britannica.com|access-date=14 February 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070511010251/https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-66615/beer|archive-date=11 May 2007|url-status=live}}</ref> In Mesopotamia the brewer's craft was the only profession which derived social sanction and divine protection from female deities/goddesses, specifically: [[Ninkasi]], who covered the production of beer, [[Siris (goddess)|Siris]], who was used in a metonymic way to refer to beer, and [[Siduri]], who covered the enjoyment of beer.<ref name="Hartman" /> In pre-industrial times, and in developing countries, women are frequently the main brewers.<ref>{{cite book|author=Christine Eber|title=Women and Alcohol in a Highland Maya Town: Water of Hope, Water of Sorrow|url=https://archive.org/details/womenalcoholinhi0009eber|url-access=registration|edition=revised|year=2000|publisher=University of Texas Press|location=Austin, Texas|isbn=978-0-292-72104-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/womenalcoholinhi0009eber/page/7 7]|access-date=20 November 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Ray Anderson|title=The Transformation of Brewing: An Overview of Three Centuries of Science and Practice|journal=Brewery History|date=2005|volume=121|pages=5–24|url=http://www.breweryhistory.com/journal/archive/121/bh-121-005.htm |publisher=Brewery History Society |access-date=16 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161116171741/http://www.breweryhistory.com/journal/archive/121/bh-121-005.htm|archive-date=16 November 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

As almost any cereal containing certain sugars can undergo [[#Spontaneous fermentation|spontaneous fermentation]] due to wild yeasts in the air, it is possible that beer-like beverages were independently developed throughout the world soon after a tribe or culture had domesticated cereal. Chemical tests of ancient pottery jars reveal that beer was produced as far back as about 7,000 years ago in what is today Iran. This discovery reveals one of the earliest known uses of fermentation and is the earliest evidence of brewing to date. In Mesopotamia, the oldest evidence of beer is believed to be a 6,000-year-old Sumerian tablet depicting people drinking a beverage through reed straws from a [[communal bowl]]. A 3900-year-old Sumerian poem honouring Ninkasi, the patron goddess of brewing, contains the oldest surviving beer recipe, describing the production of [[beer]] from barley via bread. The invention of bread and beer has been argued to be responsible for humanity's ability to develop technology and build civilization.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&articleID=E699E9C7-E7F2-99DF-38A7329520CF67D6&colID=15|journal=[[Scientific American]]|volume=296|issue=5|pages=102|date=May 2007|title=Ale's Well with the World|author=Steve Mirsky|access-date=4 November 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071016205228/http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&articleID=E699E9C7-E7F2-99DF-38A7329520CF67D6&colID=15|archive-date=16 October 2007|url-status=dead|bibcode=2007SciAm.296e.102M|doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0507-102}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|author=Horst Dornbusch|url=http://www.aina.org/ata/20060827151956.htm|title=Beer: The Midwife of Civilization|publisher=Assyrian International News Agency|date=27 August 2006|access-date=4 November 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100327184922/http://www.aina.org/ata/20060827151956.htm|archive-date=27 March 2010|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.beer-pages.com/stories/complete-guide-beer.htm|author=Roger Protz|title=The Complete Guide to World Beer|year=2004|quote=When people of the ancient world realised they could make bread and beer from grain, they stopped roaming and settled down to cultivate cereals in recognisable communities.|author-link=Roger Protz|access-date=18 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110425062158/http://www.beer-pages.com/stories/complete-guide-beer.htm|archive-date=25 April 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> The earliest chemically confirmed barley beer to date was discovered at [[Godin Tepe]] in the central [[Zagros Mountains]] of Iran, where fragments of a jug, at least 5,000 years old was found to be coated with [[beerstone]], a by-product of the brewing process.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.penn.museum/sites/biomoleculararchaeology/?page_id=84|title=Barley Beer|publisher=[[University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology]]|access-date=21 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111008123537/http://www.penn.museum/sites/biomoleculararchaeology/?page_id=84|archive-date=8 October 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> Beer may have been known in [[Neolithic Europe]] as far back as 5,000 years ago,<ref>[http://www.stonepages.com/news/archives/000123.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170712080128/http://www.stonepages.com/news/archives/000123.html|date=12 July 2017}} ''Prehistoric brewing: the true story'', 22 October 2001, Archaeo News. Retrieved 13 September 2008</ref> and was mainly brewed on a domestic scale.<ref>[http://www.dreherrt.hu/portal/main.php?heading_id=27&article_id=&language=en] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090709015742/http://www.dreherrt.hu/portal/main.php?heading_id=27&article_id=&language=en|date=9 July 2009}} Dreher Breweries, ''Beer-history''</ref>

Ale produced before the [[Industrial Revolution]] continued to be made and sold on a domestic scale, although by the 7th century AD beer was also being produced and sold by European [[monasteries]]. During the Industrial Revolution, the production of beer moved from [[artisan]]al manufacture to [[Manufacturing|industrial manufacture]], and domestic manufacture ceased to be significant by the end of the 19th century.<ref name="Cornell 2003">{{Cite book|author=Martyn Cornell|title=Beer: The Story of the Pint|pages=47–49|year=2003|isbn=978-0-7553-1165-1|publisher=Headline}}</ref> The development of [[hydrometer]]s and [[thermometer]]s changed brewing by allowing the brewer more control of the process, and greater knowledge of the results. Today, the brewing industry is a global business, consisting of several dominant [[Multinational corporation|multinational companies]] and many thousands of smaller producers ranging from [[brewpub]]s to [[regional brewery|regional breweries]].<ref name="market"/> More than 133&nbsp;billion litres (35&nbsp;billion gallons) are sold per year—producing total global revenues of $294.5&nbsp;billion (£147.7&nbsp;billion) in 2006.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/53577/beer_global_industry_guide.htm|title=Beer: Global Industry Guide|publisher=Research and Markets|access-date=5 November 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011084307/http://researchandmarkets.com/reports/53577/beer_global_industry_guide.htm|archive-date=11 October 2007|url-status=live}}</ref>