Becoming human.

Its tough to spot the exact time beer was invented, but most sources point to about 6000 BC. As for the location, Mesopotamia seems like the spot. However, because of the the simple chemical process required to ACCIDENTALY make beer, chances are there were a few tailgate parties before the Mesopotamians hoisted a mug.

Historians agree that bread making and beer go hand in hand. In fact the main components of bread: wheat, sugar, yeast water, is pretty much beer. We're used to varieties that favour hops for flavouring. However the starchy part doesn't have to be barley or wheat. In fact it can be any starch. Some horrifying variations have sorghum, cassava, potato and the agave plant.

The Sumarians actually figured out how to do it on purpose lo those many years ago and passed it on to the conquering Babylonians around 2000 BC. Little writen records remain but my uneducated guess is that 4000 years is lots of time to make beer.

The Babylonians took beer making to its logical pinnacle for the times and produced no less than 20 different variations. They also placed the beverage pretty high up on the importance scale. I know a few people who positively cannot operate without beer, but the Babylonians insisted on daily consumption. A law was written outlining a daily beer ration that ran from 2 litres per day for ordinay folk, to 3 litres for civil servants (thats a good move, slightly less than the current modern equivalent in many cities) to a whopping 5 litres a day for high priests.

One invention to come out of these times was the drinking straw. Seems the brew was unfiltered, so to avoid drinking in the muck rolled reeds were used to suck up the beer. Now there's a plan: drink 5 litres of beer slowly through a straw.