ANOTHER THEORY FOR WHY BEER FLAVORS BECAME SIMPLER.

ANOTHER THEORY FOR WHY BEER FLAVORS BECAME SIMPLER. I posted here on different explanations which have been advanced for why hops displaced other flavors for beer during the period from the 11th century to the late 16th century—including that hops were a good preservative or that promoting the use of hops was an effort to help the Protestant Reformation by reducing the power of monastery breweries. Sam Calagione, the president of Dogfish Head, comments to Wayne Curtis that archaeological evidence shows that the ancient beverages all had a variety of flavors, including “at least two sources of sugar”. Calagione remarks that instead of these exotic hybrid beers which had dominated for 10,000 years, for the last 500 years, 99% of the commercially made beer in the world has been made only with water, barley, and hops. Calagione explains the dominance of these ingredients by the influence of the Bavarian beer-purity law of 1516 (which preceded Martin Luther’s 95 Theses and the beginning of the Protestant Reformation by one year)