Why do all brewers use barley as a main ingredient?
Barley is the magic grain for beer. It is the only grain that contains the enzymes necessary to convert starches into fermentable sugars. In the malting process, when the barley is steeped it activates growth of the enzymes. Brewers need those enzymes in the brewing process to convert the starches in the grains to fermentable sugars. Where did these words come from? In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts, so in old England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would tell them to mind their own pints and quarts and settle down. That is where we get the phrase “mind your P’s and Q’s.” After consuming a bucket or two of vibrant brew they called aul, or ale, the Vikings would head fearlessly into battle often without armor or even shirts. In fact, the term “berserk” means “bare shirt” in Norse, and eventually took on the meaning of their wild battles. In the Middle Ages, “nunchion” was the word for liquid lunches. It was a combination of the words “noon scheken”, or noon d
