It is believed to have been discovered purely by accident, but beer has played a huge role in the history of human civilization. In early civilizations, beer was used as a safe source of water and other nutrients, and later it was consumed for more social reasons. Although the reasons for craft beer brewing have changed, the process has remained essentially the same. The oldest documentary evidence of beer brewing comes from Uruk in Mesopotamia and dates to around 3,500 BCE; found on clay tablets that tell the story of Gilgamesh in Sumerian, written in cuneiform (see fig. 1). The tablets describe how beer was prepared, the different varieties of beer and how it was consumed. At that time, in Mesopotamia, barley was the most important grain for both humans and animals. The grain was soaked in water and then dried in the air or in the oven. After removing the germs, the malt was ground for brewing beer. Then the malt and beer loaves were mixed with water and heated, after which the container was removed from the oven to cool. Before fermentation, spices, herbs and sweet plant extracts with effects considered medicinal were added; the increased sugars and micro-organisms in the herbs helped induce fermentation (sugar and spices). Brewers often saved some of the wort from one fermentation to use as starter for the next brew. Water was added to the mixture and then transferred to a fermentation tank, which was long and narrow-necked to minimize the mixing of indoor and outdoor air and decrease infection from the outside. We don't know how long the fermentation lasted, but most of the beer was probably quickly fermented into weak beer. (Beer: origins and ancient history). For the ancient Egyptians too, beer was the priority...... middle of paper ...... supplemented by a free online dictionary, thesaurus and encyclopedias. Np, and Web. March 13, 2011. “Brewing in Colonial America – Part I.” AMERICAN BREWING HISTORY PAGE. Np, and Web. March 13, 2011. "Five reasons why you should homebrew - Beeriety." Beer. Np, and Web. March 13, 2011. “Homebrewing – Beeriety.” Beer. Np, and Web. March 13, 2011. .Ogle, Maureen. Ambitious Brewery: The History of American Beer. Orlando: Harcourt, 2006. Print. “Sugar & Spice: Intro to Beer Spices – Beeriety. " Beer. Np, and Web. March 13. 2011. .