The last 1000 years of beer brewing

The making of beer actually dates back to the ancient world to Babylonian times. It was not until the Middle Ages that it really began to come into its own as an art and science of beer brewing. This brewing of beer has passed through several major milestones over the last one thousand years.

Abbey Production of Beer

Barley had begun to be cultivated farther and farther to the Northwest in Europe in the centuries after the fall of the Roman Empire. The technology of brewing beer from barley went along with it. In the early to mid Middle Ages, the production of beer came under the purvey of the Roman Catholic Church. Abbeys were the early great centers of beer making a thousand years ago. As repositories for ancient knowledge and science, and also agricultural hubs, abbeys proved to be ideal for improving the means of brewing beer. They made their beer in these early years as a hospitable drink for the monks and for pilgrims who came to visit the abbeys. In subsequent years as the popularity of beer grew, this brewing industry became a way to finance their monastic communities and activities. At this point, the abbeys and their brew masters did not yet understand the importance of yeast to finish off the fermentation process.

Cuillin Brewery Ltd
Sligachan Hotel
Sligachan
Carbost
Isle of Skye
IV47 8SW

Phone     01478 650204
Fax         01478 650207