I was told recently, that I need to start a blog about brewing. Okay, I thought, but my life isn't just about brewing. I do lots of things, brewing being only one of them. I spin, weave, knit, crochet, sew, embroider, cross stitch, and cook. I look in the mirror every morning and wonder how to deal with my own awesomeness.

In short, I'm on a one woman crusade to learn all I can about how women used to live, and the arts they had to master to be considered accomplished. Only one of those was brewing. 

I like history, and I like reading and researching the history of women. There isn't much there. Women didn't create what historians call, durable goods. Everything they created was consumed in one way or another. The food they produced, the cloth they spun and wove, the beer, ale, wine and mead they made, all of it was used up until nothing was left. This gives the casual observer the idea that women's work was, somehow, unimportant. This is as far from the truth as can be imagined, but it's still there. Even today, "women's work" is synonymous with unpaid or low paid work, unimportant and unfulfilling. 

Women's work is practical. It was all about "What can I do that won't put the children and elders in my care at risk if I take them with me?" So they didn't dig many build many houses or hunt aurochs. They didn't go away from home and fight wars. They tended the houses, they cooked the aurochs and tanned the hides. They wove the cloth that the fighters wore and birthed and raised the next generation. It wasn't their lot in life, it was their life's work. 

My life is one of tradition. It's the kind of woman I choose to be. It's not about what I have to do, it's what I find my bliss doing. It's not about taking care of my husband, it's about finding meaning in little things that others overlook. It's not about being lazy or wanting a life of leisure, it's about staying busy practicing arts that connect me to the women that have come before. 

Oh, did I mention that I make kick ass beer?? That, too, is women's work.

Let's take a few moments to contemplate beer. Wine and mead work, too. Whatever makes you happiest. It makes very little difference to me which you prefer. I make it all, and have lots of fun doing it.

First, like all good children, you'll have to learn a bit first. Peas and carrots before dessert, as it were. The first thing that you need to understand is that women did the brewing in the ancient world. Yes, boys and girls, WOMEN did it. Though we have no written records, it was probably women that first discovered that. left too long, juice will ferment if left too long. Wild yeasts take over and it's happy time in the village (or cave or whatever...)

The oldest proven records of beer are from 6000 years ago in Sumeria. Around 4000 years ago, they wrote a Hymn to Ninkasi, a Goddess of beer, that included a recipe for beer in it. Egyptian cuneiform writing shows women making beer. The yeast was obtained from bread dough, and dates were added to enhance the flavor. 

The Greeks made beer, but it was thought to be a bit vulgar, and was replaced by wine for the upper classes. In the North, grapes were difficult to cultivate, so beer was the drink of choice. In the Finnish Saga Kalewala, 200 verses are devoted to the creation of the earth, but 400 were devoted to beer. At least we know that the ancients had their priorities in the right order.  

Today, in indigenous cultures, women still ferment the beverages for ritual and mundane uses. From tribes in Africa to the Natives of South America, it's the women who do the fermenting. 

Barley and hops were late comers to the beer making process. It wasn't until the 16th century that barley and hops replaced leaves, twigs and berries. It was also along that time that the Christian priests got into the act, gaining a monopoly on things like barley and hops, and women were replaced by men as the primary brewers of beer, and the brewing of beer became more regulated and more of a professional endeavor, rather than something that women did for religious and personal use. 

In the mid 19th century, Louis Pasteur began research on how yeast actually worked. This brought on a revolution, of sorts, and yeasts became safer, more standardized and more reliable. It was also during this time that brewers realized that the clarity of beer was related to the temperature that it was fermented at. 

So, to the present. Here in the US, it's legal for adults to brew a limited amount of wine and beer in all 50 states. The amount you can legally produce varies depending on where you live, but it is legal. The story is different for distilling, but that's a whole different can of worms, and one that I won't go into now. 

The craft brewing industry has taken off, but there are still remarkably few women involved. For an art that was practiced throughout history as a feminine one, the men have taken over. Even if it's in our own homes, it's time to reclaim the sacred art of brewing as our own. Men are welcome into the club, too, as far as I'm concerned. 

Next blog will be on mechanics. What you need, how to start, what you need to know. We're gonna have some fun, now!