[Bread-Baking Typewriter] Luther's Reformation, Hitler's Nazis... A Glass of Beer That Changed World History

Mitsuru Murakami's 'The Story of Beer That Changed World History'

When spring seems to have arrived but suddenly daytime temperatures rise close to 30 degrees Celsius, one naturally thinks, "The beer season has returned." The early heat of May brings forward the joy of drinking a beer to quench thirst. "The Story of Beer That Changed World History," written by Mitsuru Murakami, is a perfect book to accompany that glass. The author worked at the Japanese liquor company Suntory. He learned the beer brewing process in Munich, Germany, and Copenhagen, Denmark, and was in charge of beer brewing and research at Suntory until his retirement in 2003. He also taught draft beer brewing techniques in the United States, Canada, and Australia. As a beer expert, he asks how much we really know about the beer we enjoy in everyday life and reveals hidden stories suggesting that beer might have actually changed world history.

The scene highlighted at the beginning of the book, where beer changed world history, is the "Diet of Worms" on April 17, 1521. It was the occasion when Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, summoned Martin Luther, who wrote the famous "95 Theses," to confront the corrupt Catholic Church. Luther, who had to justify his actions before the emperor, drank 1 liter of beer and then began his speech. Borrowing courage from the alcohol, Luther delivered a bold and passionate speech, which, according to the author, poured fuel on the already ignited flames of the Reformation, significantly altering the course of European religious history and world history.

Although it is unlikely that the Reformation, a proud flow of history, would not have occurred if Luther had not drunk beer at that moment, it is quite interesting that beer appears throughout the life of this theologian. The beer Luther drank during his interrogation was Einbeck beer, made in the small northern German town of Einbeck. It was a beer with a higher alcohol content and a large amount of hops added for export. Such beer was known as "strong beer" at the time and was considered a food that built strength. The author also wrote that a nobleman gifted a barrel of beer to Luther summoned to the Diet. Luther gained the strength to stand against the emperor by drinking beer. Moreover, Luther learned brewing at a monastery and married Katharina von Bora, who was certified as a brewing technician, and he enjoyed the beer she made throughout his life.

Another example of beer changing world history mentioned in this book is the large-scale Nazi rally held by Adolf Hitler at the Hofbr?uhaus in Munich, Germany. The Hofbr?uhaus, a famous spot that comes to mind when drinking beer in Germany even today, was established by Duke Wilhelm V of Bavaria in 1589. Hitler vividly recorded the success of the rally at this historic beer hall in his book "Mein Kampf" (1925): "I entered the great banquet hall of the Munich Hofbr?uhaus. It was around 7:15. At that moment, my heart felt like it would burst with an indescribable joy. The room, which seemed enormous to me at the time, was instantly packed with people, leaving no room to move." After the rally at the Hofbr?uhaus, Hitler led the Munich Putsch at another beer hall, the B?rgerbr?ukeller. The reason the rally that became the starting point of the Nazis was held in a beer hall is that these places served as local assembly venues in European cities at the time. Beer halls thus became tools and stages for the cunning political riots of far-right fascist parties. However, this also signifies that beer, unlike in the Middle Ages when it was consumed by kings, nobles, and clergy, developed into a drink familiar to the masses.

Another scene where one can confirm beer as an affordable, popular drink that quickly quenches thirst is 18th-century England. The beer "porter," which dominated this era, is widely known to have been named after the porters who carried cargo at the docks and enjoyed drinking it. Not only dock porters but also various low-income workers living in London at the time mostly liked this beer. The author explains that the name "porter" originated from porters arriving at breweries loaded with beer barrels and shouting "porter" to announce the arrival of beer at ale houses. Although porter has now disappeared, overshadowed by other drinks, it signifies the transition of beer from traditional manual production to the industrial realm of machine manufacturing.

The stories covered in this book also include the origin of beer in southern Mesopotamia, the Babylonian king Hammurabi who punished those who committed fraud related to beer production and sales with penalties equivalent to treason, the ale wife who was caught diluting beer with water and was burned at the stake, the Paulaner monastery monks who were particularly passionate about beer brewing, and Pasteur’s microbiological research that diminished the status of British ale. The subsequent shift in beer’s mainstream from ale and Pilsner to lager encapsulates the process by which beer became a drink anyone could enjoy worldwide. Beer developed in Europe spread globally with 20th-century lager beer, enabling brewing in almost every country. Advances in freezing technology also made it possible to produce lager beer in tropical regions near the equator.

This history of beer is still reflected in the glass we drink today. Many people find the taste not by slowly savoring beer but by drinking it refreshingly with others after sweating. Closing the book makes one long for that glass of beer.

(The Story of Beer That Changed World History / Written by Mitsuru Murakami · Translated by Kim Su-gyeong / Saramgwa Namu Sai / 20,000 KRW)