4th of Brew-ly
By Ian Guevara
The crack of cold one and the popping of fireworks. It’s the United States’s birthday, and these are the notes of its symphony. Coolers filled to the brim with hoppy and malty beverages are as synonymous with the country as the colors red, white, and blue. Beer is a quintessential American beverage. The United States of America was born out of beer.
Obviously we didn’t invent it. Some archeologists believe that fermented cereals existed among some nomadic semedic people nearly 13,000 years ago. Throughout history, beer has traveled with humanity as its constant companion. From the cradle of civilization in Mesopotamia, to Xia Dynasty of China, to Ancient Egypt beer served as a necessary tool for survival. The complex carbohydrates and simple proteins gave people the necessary nutrition to further human advancement.
Some 400 years ago the first wave of European immigrants crashed upon the shores of the North American continent. English, Dutch, and German souls, braving the elements of an unknown land brought with them kegs of beer, stored away in their ships, with a singular intended purpose. Survival.
Unlike the Native Americans, who understood the land around them and basic principles of hygiene, the European immigrants were consistently sick from simply drinking water. They did not, for some reason, realize that their own waste, along with their domesticated animals, would enter streams and rivers. This created an environment rife with cholera and dysentery.
But who was there to prevent this? To allow these proto-Americans to survive? To keep them hydrated? To provide them complex carbohydrates and simple proteins? Beer. Beer was their answer. Gallons of beer, watered down of course, were consumed by early Americans to prevent the spread of these waterborne diseases. Even children were given beer in the form of a hard cider and molasses mixed drink called “Ciderkin”.
At the birth of this fair nation, beer became the backbone of American life. Taverns became the meeting places for political debates, gossip, and negotiation. Ben Franklin used taverns as a “tool of diplomacy” when engaging with rival representatives. Discussions of revolution were boasted loudly, fear of reprisal numbed by the buzz of beer. It was over a round of beers that the Declaration of Independence was written, debated, and signed. Sure, Ben Franklin did most of the drinking, but it was his intoxicated guidance that led to us “dissolving the political bonds” with England.
Beer has been with us since. Guiding us and caring for us through our history. Giving us the courage to do what was foolish and sometimes right. Through the darkest and most tragic pages of our history to our brightest and most triumphant. Beer has always been there for us.
So do the most American thing possible on her birthday. Crack open some cold ones, meet with friends, and boastfully plot out revolutionary plans to improve this fair country. Because that’s what beer is for: it’s the elixir of democracy and freedom.
