Beer!

We do a lot of bitching on this blog, and understandably so, there's a lot of shit out there to bitch about. But every once in awhile it's good to recognize those things everyone can agree on that make life great. Like beer. Beer is great.

Wine & Food Feature
Coolest Beers

"Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer," humorist Dave Barry has written. "Oh, I grant you the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza."

As with so many other vital matters, Barry hits the mark on beer. The drink has been delighting, calming and fortifying humans since before the beginning of recorded time. Beer is, in fact, probably older than the wheel. The world’s oldest written recipe, inscribed on a clay tablet in about 1,800 B.C., is for beer.

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Today, beer is the world’s most popular alcoholic beverage–according to Japanese beer maker Kirin, beer drinkers consumed 150 billion liters (about 40 billion gallons) of the stuff in 2004. And the best still comes from cooler climes: Bavaria in Germany, Bohemia in the Czech Republic, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, the U.K. and Ireland.