British Beer and Pub Culture

Essay by puddingCollege, UndergraduateA, January 2009

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1IntroductionBritain has a long history of drinking. The inhabitants of the United Kingdom have been drinking beer since Bronze Age. Not a long time after that, public house originated in England. With 4000 years drinking culture developing, beer and pub become one of the most important part of British traditional culture. The writing of Samuel Pepys described the pub as the heart of England and the beer as its soul. In this essay, beer and public house would be connected and discussed.

This subject can be looked at under the following headings:Beer--a part of British traditional cultureBritish pub culture2beer -- part of British traditional culture2.1 the history of beer drinking in BritishApproximately 4000 years ago, during Bronze Age, British people began to drink ale. Traditional English ale was made solely from fermented malt. People preticed to add some hops in produce beer first appeared in Netherlands in the early 15th century.

Since that, the method of producing beer with hops spreaded all over the world. At the beginning, Alehouses would each brew their own distinctive ale, each alehouse had their special tasted beer. Then independent breweries began to appear in the late 17th century. By the end of the century, nearly all beer was brewed by commercial breweries.

Since 16th century, beer became one of the most popular beverages in the United Kingdom. Therefore various social traditions and conventional activities are associated with beer drinking, such as bowling, softball, or other sports; cards, darts, bags, or other pub games; attending beer festivals; joining an organization such as CAMRA(Campaign for Real Ale); or rating beer. Nowadays, beers nearly appear in any occasion in any corner of the UK.

2.2 unique British beer typeBritish beer appeared long times ago. At that time, United Kingdom only had one type of beer-ale. Four thousand...