Iron Age Beer-Making Operation Discovered

Yup, the iron age is the way forward folks...
Del

Some would say (rather unkindly) that this is certainly true for France.

If they were brewing beer 2,500 years ago, why can't they do it now? It must have been the celtic influence.

In fact, I tend to divide Europe not by language or cultural differences, but by the libation of choice. If you draw a line more or less from Calais to Basel to Odessa, you will find mostly wine to the south and beer to the north of this line.

Is that because of the predominent wine-growing climate to the south of it, or are there simply social factors at play here?

Probably a bit of both.

Climate is certainly the main issue north of the "Libation Line", but I have had surprisingly good red wines as well as white from Germany, and we now have award winning wines in the UK (and talking of cold climates, I've even had surprisingly good whites from PEI in Canada). But Germans and Brits are certainly beer drinkers by nature.

On the other hand, there is no reason why good beer can't be made south of the "Libation Line", but I've never found any. I've heard that there is some growth in brew-pubs and microbreweries, even in places like Italy, but I have yet to sample their wares.

So beer making is the oldest proffesion in the world?

Don't be daft! This is what the oldest profession turned to to make a living when their first career slumped. The brewers of a village were more often brewsters.