“This important volume sheds new light on the social, political, and economic role of beer in society.... Highly Recommended.”—Choice

A Choice Outstanding Academic Book of The Year 2011
Winner of the 2011 Gourmand World Cookbook UK Award

Beer is an ancient alcoholic drink which, although produced through a more complex process than wine, was developed by a wide range of cultures to become internationally popular. This book is the first multidisciplinary, cross-cultural collection about beer. It explores the brewing processes used in antiquity and in traditional societies; the social and symbolic roles of beer-drinking; the beliefs and activities associated with it; the health-promoting effects as well as the health-damaging risks; and analyses the modern role of large multinational companies, which own many of the breweries, and the marketing techniques that they employ.

From the introduction:
What made you pick up this book? Was it the thought of that foaming pint while you relaxed in a British pub, a German beer garden, a Czech restaurant, an American or ‘Continental’ bar, on a beach or ski slope or in front of the television at home? Wherever your beer was purchased, in much of the world you would have been offered choice. The choice might only have been between different brand names of bottled beer, or it might have been between a wide range of ales, lagers, wheat and other beers from a cask, a keg, cans or bottles. Even people who do not drink beer will be aware of this diversity….the editors believe that this collation of perspectives on beer will also intrigue many readers in the general public.

Wulf Schiefenhövel is Head of the Human Ethology Group, Max- Planck-Institute, Andechs, Germany; Professor for Medical Psychology and Ethnomedicine at the University of Munich; President of the International Society for Human Ethology; and European deputy chair of the International Commission on the Anthropology of Food and Nutrition (ICAF). He has carried out field studies in Melanesia since 1965.

Helen Macbeth is President of the International Commission on the Anthropology of Food and Nutrition (ICAF) and is an Honorary Research Fellow in the Anthropology Department, Oxford Brookes University. Among other books she has edited or coedited are three volumes in this series, Food Preferences and Taste: Continuity and Change, Researching Food Habits: Methods and Problems and Consuming the Inedible: Neglected Dimensions of Food Choice.

“This important volume sheds new light on the social, political, and economic role of beer in society and greatly increases the depth and breadth of anthropological studies on drinking. Schiefenhövel and Macbeth have compiled a holistic and to some extent comprehensive volume that embraces biological, archaeological, linguistic, and sociocultural perspectives on beer…Highly Recommended.” • Choice

“This volume has three main strengths, although a careful reading of each of its chapters will yield many other gems of insight and information…makes a solid and I expect long-lasting contribution to the anthropology of food.” • JRAI

“This book is both an excellent source of original interdisciplinary research on many aspects of beer and an entertaining read, suitable for both scholars and the educated general public. It contains well written studies of a beverage that has become a staple in many cultures, including those of the German-speaking peoples.” • Yearbook of German-American Studies

“With contributions from a wide range of disciplines, this book provides an introduction to the social aspects of beer in modern society and how this has evolved over the very many years of its history and development…I found this book to be completely absorbing and thought provoking…an unexpected gem and the perfect book to keep in a travel bag.” • Brewer & Distiller International

“This impressive volume based on an original interdisciplinary and cross-national approach to the study of beer and brewing… will not only make an important contribution to our knowledge of beer and brewing, but also of drinking cultures and historical change. It will be of interest to anthropologists, social scientists and the wider public.” • Marion Demossier, University of Bath