History of Beer
Osher Online | Available (Membership Required)
Historians, beer enthusiasts, and curious minds alike will enjoy this exploration of the history of brewing. We will begin in the distant past with the invention of beer around 4000 BCE. Then we will journey through time to the modern rise of craft brewing. Along the way, we will dive into fascinating topics including medieval brewing, beer in Shakespeare’s era, colonial brewing, Prohibition, indigenous brewing traditions worldwide, and the evolution of beer commercials. This course meets during happy hour, so feel free—nay, encouraged—to raise a glass and toast to history while we learn.
Class schedule: Live lecture will take place on Tuesdays via ZOOM
Tuesday, July 8, Live lecture 1
Tuesday, July 15, Live lecture 2
Tuesday, July 22, Live lecture 3
Tuesday, July 29, Live lecture 4
Tuesday, August 5, Live lecture 5
Tuesday, August 12, Live lecture 6
As this class is delivered by the National Resource Center for OLLIs (NRC) at Northwestern University, you will receive a welcome email from?osheronline@northwestern.edu.? The email will include your credentials (username & password) as well as a hyperlink to the Osher Online Website through which you will access your course website. Please save the link once you receive it. Multi-session courses will use this same link each week.
History of Beer
Karl Brown
Dr. Karl Brown teaches courses in modern European history, film and media studies, and the history of drugs and drinking at the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater. Before his academic career, he installed and operated brewpubs in
Japan and Greece. Brown co-founded Second Salem Brewing Company in Whitewater and is an avid homebrewer
of beer, cider, wine, and mead.