History of Beer - Asia

Asia

There is pre-historic evidence that shows brewing began around 5400 BC in Sumer (southern Iraq). However, as with the history of corn whiskey, the production of other alcoholic beverages is often seen as a way to preserve excess grain, rather than an occupation in and of itself.

Documented evidence and recently excavated tombs indicate that the Chinese brewed alcoholic beverages from both malted grain and grain converted by mold from prehistoric times, but that the malt conversion process was largely considered inefficient in comparison with the use of molds specially cultivated on rice carrier (the resulting molded rice being called 酒麴 (Jiǔ qū) in Chinese and Koji in Japanese) to convert cooked rice into fermentable sugars, both in the amount of resulting fermentable sugars and the residual by products (the Chinese use the dregs left after fermenting the rice, called 酒糟 (Jiǔzāo), as a cooking ingredient in many dishes, frequently as an ingredient to sauces where Western dishes would use wine), because the rice undergoes starch conversion after being hulled and cooked, rather than whole and in husks like barley malt. Furthermore, the hop plant being unknown in East Asia, malt-based alcoholic beverages did not preserve well over time, and the use of malt in the production of alcoholic beverages gradually fell out of favor in China until disappearing from Chinese history by the end of the Tang Dynasty. The use of rice became dominant, such that wines from fruits of any type were historically all but unknown except as imports in China.

The production of alcoholic beverage from cooked rice converted by microbes continues to this day, and some classify such beverages (米酒 (Mǐjiǔ) in Chinese and Sake in Japanese) as beers since they are made from converted starch rather than fruit sugars. However, this is a debatable point, and such beverages are generally referred to as "rice wine" or "sake" which is really the generic Chinese and Japanese word for all alcoholic beverages.

Some Pacific island cultures ferment starch that has been converted to fermentable sugars by human saliva, similar to the chicha of South America. This practice is also used by many other tribes around the world, who either chew the grain and then spit it into the fermentation vessel or spit into a fermentation vessel containing cooked grain, which is then sealed up for the fermentation. Enzymes in the spittle convert the starch into fermentable sugars, which are fermented by wild yeast. Whether or not the resulting product can be called beer is sometimes disputed, since:

1. As with Asian rice-based liquors, it does not involve malting.
2. This method is often used with starches derived from sources other than grain, such as yams, taro, or other such root vegetables.

Some Taiwanese tribes have taken the process a step further by distilling the resulting alcoholic beverage, resulting in a clear liquor. However, as none of the Taiwanese tribes are known to have developed systems of writing, there is no way to document how far back this practice goes, or if the technique was brought from Mainland China by Han Chinese immigrants. Judging by the fact that this technique is usually found in tribes using millet (a grain native to northern China) as the ingredient, the latter seems much more likely.

Asia's first brewery was incorporated in 1855 (although it was established earlier) by Edward Dyer at Kasauli in the Himalayan Mountains in India under the name Dyer Breweries. The company still exists and is known as Mohan Meakin, today comprising a large group of companies across many industries.