| 3000 BC |
Man first settles and grows grain to brew beer |
| 7-800 |
Hops are first cultivated in bohemia and bavaria. Their use in beer is unknown. They have been eaten as delicacies and used for medicinal purposes (antibacterial). |
| mid - 1100s |
Hops are known to be used in brewing in Germany |
| 1295 |
King Wenceslas II of Bohemia founds the town of New Plzen and grants its 260 citizens the right to brew and sell beer from their homes. Community facilities are soon built |
| 1400 |
Flemings (Dutch/Belgians?) export hopped beer to the UK. Popularity is low. |
| mid - 1400s |
Bavarian brewers develop the habit of storing their ales in caves for summer drinking, thereby unwittingly selecting bottom-fermenting yeast and developing the lager style |
| 1500 |
Flemish travellers first settle and grow hops in Kent, England, but their use in brewing remains unpopular |
| 1516 |
Reinheitsgebot introduced |
| Early - 1600s |
Hops are cultivated in the United States |
| 1680 |
Dutch scientist Anton van Leeuwenhoek views yeast under a microscope. |
| early - 1700s |
English brewers accept the hop as part of a good ale. |
| 1722 |
Ralph Harwood brews 'entire butt', which is later known as porter |
| 1759 |
Arthur Guinness purchases an idle Dublin brewery and produces ales. |
| Late - 1700s |
Guinness starts producing porter |
| 1780 |
First use of thermometer in brewing process, by a Czech, Frantisek Ondrej Poupe |
| 1800 |
Guinness produces only porter, but in 3 different strengths. A single, a double, and an export for the Caribbean. |
| 1817 |
Daniel Wheeler perfects a method of heavily roasting malt, allowing porter producers to use predominantly pale malt with a small proportion of dark malt. |
| 1820 |
Guinness renames its double ‘Extra Stout Porter’ and its export ‘Foreign Extra Stout’, giving birth to the term ‘stout’. |
| 1820 |
Ice is first manufactured on an experimental basis |
| 1822 |
Burton produces its first pale ales, and subsequently develops the India Pale Ale style for export to the colonies. |
| 1824 |
Michael Faraday discovers principles of absorption-type refrigeration |
| 1834 |
Artificial ice manufacture is perfected by American Jacob Perkins |
| 1836 |
36 barrels of ‘undrinkable’ beer are dumped outside City Hall by Plzen brewers, inspiring the construction of a town brewery. |
| 1838 |
Two German scientists argue over fermentation. Theodor Schwann insists that the yeast reproduce, whilst Justus von Liebig maintains that they die and decompose during fermentation. |
| 1840s |
Lager brewing sweeps Europe |
| 1842 |
First Pilsener lager is sold by the Citizen’s brewery in Plzen |
| 1855 |
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| 1857 |
French scientist Louis Pasteur isolates pure brewers yeast strain, and confirms Schwann’s theory. |
| 1859 |
'Pilsner’ is trademarked by Pilsner Urqell |
| 1907 |
Anheuser-Busch trademarks ‘Budweiser’ in the US |
| 1910 |
Domestic refrigeration appears |
| 1920 |
Stout exceeds porter as wartime energy restrictions in Britain (not Ireland) banned use of dark malts |
| 1964 |
Guinness introduces metal kegs and nitrogen 'beer-gas' |
| 1971 |
The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) is formed in the UK. |
| 1974 |
Guinness ceases production of porter. |
| 1987 |
Reinheitsgebot declared unfair by EU |
| 2002 |
British government approves 95% 'pint' |
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