Beer is Culture
We believe Beer is Culture. Is this a bold statement? Perhaps, but let us illustrate a historical connection. Before human civilizations - before cities - we were cave people and hunter-gatherers. No one was certain of where the next meal was; life was hard.
Then, roughly 10,000 years ago an amazing innovation occurred: agriculture. The earliest civilizations cultivated cereal grains and made crude fermented beverages. A constant food supply was cleverly maintained. Occupations became specialized, and culture sprang forth like a fountainhead. This was the dawn of civilization -- the proliferation of architecture, music, craftsmanship, sports, culinary arts, theater, and a million other extensions of creativity. This was the dawn of culture!
To see this historical connection, we need to look no further than the word culture itself. Hidden within the word, we can find the actual origin of human culture. In other words, the anthropological secret is unveiled through the etymological code!
The word culture is derived from the Latin word cultus, meaning to farm, till, or cultivate. Therefore, a society's culture can be identified through what they are cultivating. Whether its agriculture, arboriculture, horticulture, or viniculture a society chooses to cultivate. And through its cultivation choices, it is creating a culture!
Beer is Culture seems like a rather encompassing idea, right? Large in scale and scope, one could say. But amazingly, it works on the microscopic level as well... because beer literally is culture. Every time you drink beer, you are drinking the creation of a microscopic culture. Microorganisms, usually yeast but sometimes bacteria, are the fermenting agents of beer. Brewers cultivate these microorganisms and pitch them into the wort to make beer. Beer is therefore inoculated with a bacteria or yeast culture. From the dawn of civilization to the modern day, who can deny that Beer is Culture?
The above images are the winners of the first two annual "Beer is Culture" art and design exhibitions. View our gallery and submit your original artwork here.
