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Brewing is a combination of art and science and great brewers are blessed with a little of both. The artist in the brewer chooses the ingredients and balances the flavours and aromas of the finished product. The scientist understands and carefully orchestrates a symphony of chemical reactions between the grain, the water, the hops, and the yeast. The brewing process is complex and what follows can only be an outline of it.

In the Near East, where British-style beer originated, ancient brewers discovered that the grain itself could supply such enzymes during germination. Barley was found to be particularly good at producing them and so it became the grain of choice for beer making.

Preparation of wort

The roasted malt is ground and then loaded into a vessel called a mash tun. Water is added and the mixture is heated, drawing from sugars and other chemicals from the malt and therefore more enzyme activity. The "wort" which is out of this soaking in water, a sweet, brown, earthy liquid.

The first stage of the process of mashing up sounds harmless to "add water", but it is very important. As Pliny the Elder wrote:

Oh! What possesses miraculous inventiveness of Vice! A method has been actually discovered intoxicated on the production even water. "

Water is what a beer "local". Even the strongest beers in 85-90% water, so that the taste of water - a product of local geology and environment - has a direct influence on the taste of beer.

Until the 11th century, beer was drunk without hops. This would be an unpleasant experience to modern palates. Un-hopped beer is at best cloyingly sweet and at worst it has turned eye-wateringly sour due to the growth of unwanted bacteria.

In the first stage of fermentation the yeast cells use up most of the easily fermentable sugars. After this the second stage begins. Fermentation slows and the yeast starts to work on the heavier sugars such as maltotriose. This is referred to as conditioning.