From prompting a transition from hunter-gatherer, to an agrarian lifestyle in ancient Mesopotamia, to bankrolling Britain's imperialist conquests, strategic taxation and the regulation of beer has played a pivotal role throughout history. Beeronomics: How Beer Explains the World tells these stories, and many others, whilst also exploring the key innovations that propelled the industrialization and consolidation of the beer market.
At the same time when mega-mergers in the brewing industry are creating huge transnationals selling their beer across the globe, the craft beer movement in America and Europe has brought the rich history of ancient brewing techniques to the forefront in recent years. But less talked about is the economic influence of this beverage on the world and the myriad ways it has shaped the course of history. Beeronomics covers world history through the lens of beer, exploring the common role that beer taxation has played throughout and providing context for recognizable brands and consumer trends and tastes.
Beeronomics examines key developments that have moved the brewing industry forward. Its most ubiquitous ingredient, hops, was used by the Hanseatic League to establish the export dominance of Hamburg and Bremen in the sixteenth century. During the late nineteenth century, bottom-fermentation led to the spread of industrial lager beer. Industrial innovations in bottling, refrigeration, and TV advertising paved the way for the consolidation and market dominance of major macrobreweries like Anheuser Busch in America and Artois Brewery in Belgium during the twentieth century. We're now in the era of global integration -- one multinational AB InBev, claims 46% of all beer profits -- but there's a counterrevolution afoot of small, independent craft breweries in America, Belgium and around the world. Beeronomics surveys these trends, giving context to why you see which brands and styles on shelves at your local supermarket or on tap at the nearby pub.
Introduction: From Monastries to Multinationals and Back
1. The World's Oldest Profession: Brewing in the Cradle of Civilization
2. A Revolution Every Thousand Years: How Hops Jumpstarted Commercial Brewing in Medieval Europe
3. The Brew that Launched a Thousand Ships: How Porter Paid for the British Royal Navy
4. A Revolution Every Thousand Years, Part II: How Bottom-Fermentation Made Beer the Darling of the Scientific and Industrial Revolutions
5. How TV Killed the Local Brewery
6. Beer Monopoly: How the Belgian Beer Barons Dethroned the King
7. Socialist Lubricant: Liberalization, Take-Overs, and Restructuring of the East European Brewery Industry
8. The Belgian White: Reincarnation of an Old World Brew
9. The Reinheitsgebot: Protection Against Competition or Contamination?
10. From Land to Brand: How Nineteenth-Century Nationalist Politics Planted the Seeds for the Global Trademark Battle Over "Budweiser"
11. The Great Convergence: The Fall of the Beer-Drinking Nation, the Rise of the Beer-Drinking World
12. From Vodka to Baltika: Deciphering Russia's Recent Love Affair with Beer
13. Trading Water or Terroir? The Changing Nature of the Beer Trade
14. Craft Nation: How Belgium's "Peasant Beers" Became the Best in the World
15. Hop Heads and Locaholics: Strategies of the American Craft Beer Movement
