This program did a nice job giving the history of beer here in America. You get some good time-lines regarding the who and when of the growth, decline and then growth again of this very popular beverage.
I was amazed to find out that in the days before the Mayflower dropped off the first Americans on this soil, beer had been considered than water in Europe. That's because in the process of making it and boiling it, it boiled off the impurities. The Europeans didn't figure out that the same should have been done to water, and people by routinely get sick drinking the H2O. Thus, the Pilgrams brought over barrels of the stuff and women, kids, etc., drank it morning, noon and night.
Anyway, the program explains a little bit what ingredients go into beer and how it's made, not going overboard to where it gets boring. We also learn about who started brewing it here in America, and how someone figured out how to keep it cold so it could be transported to other places.
Eventually we wind up in Milwaukee and learn all about the big three Miller's, Pabst and Schlitz. Then history takes us to St. Louis and we hear the story of Adolphus Busch and the growth of the biggest brewery of them all: Anheuser-Busch (Budweiser et al.)
We learn about the invention of bottled beer, how WWI and then Prohibition affected the business, and then how beer in cans and great advertising brought it back to prominence. From there we learn about "lite beer" and eventually micro-breweries.....all aspects of the history and business of this beverage, which is today the most popular in the world.
This was a very informative and fast-moving program.
I was amazed to find out that in the days before the Mayflower dropped off the first Americans on this soil, beer had been considered than water in Europe. That's because in the process of making it and boiling it, it boiled off the impurities. The Europeans didn't figure out that the same should have been done to water, and people by routinely get sick drinking the H2O. Thus, the Pilgrams brought over barrels of the stuff and women, kids, etc., drank it morning, noon and night.
Anyway, the program explains a little bit what ingredients go into beer and how it's made, not going overboard to where it gets boring. We also learn about who started brewing it here in America, and how someone figured out how to keep it cold so it could be transported to other places.
Eventually we wind up in Milwaukee and learn all about the big three Miller's, Pabst and Schlitz. Then history takes us to St. Louis and we hear the story of Adolphus Busch and the growth of the biggest brewery of them all: Anheuser-Busch (Budweiser et al.)
We learn about the invention of bottled beer, how WWI and then Prohibition affected the business, and then how beer in cans and great advertising brought it back to prominence. From there we learn about "lite beer" and eventually micro-breweries.....all aspects of the history and business of this beverage, which is today the most popular in the world.
This was a very informative and fast-moving program.