There’s a lot more to beer than just what’s in your can, bottle, or glass. With every sip, you partake in a complex ritual that goes back thousands of years, to the earliest moments in human civilization.

Beer has been with us for millennia, and will likely be with us for another millennia, still. And while beer has always been—and always will be—primarily about enjoyment, your enjoyment of your favorite IPA or stout, or mass-produced light lager, expands when you see human culture through the lens of beer.

Have you ever wondered

How early humans first came upon the idea of brewing beer?

Why particular styles of beer emerged where and when they did?

What happens, at a scientific level, during the beer brewing process?

How politics and social mores have influenced how we consume beer?

What global brewing trends we can expect to see in the near future?

These and other questions are at the heart of The World of Beer: Tastes of History, Science, and Culture. J Jackson-Beckham, the Founder and Principal of Crafted for All, has crafted an engaging, immersive, and highly interactive series that takes a look at subjects from history and mythology to botany and marketing to economics and religion, all through the lens of beer. In 12 lessons, this Certified CiceroneÒ (think the beer-world equivalent of a sommelier) invites you to taste the incredible diversity of brewed beverages through a case of beer from around the world. Designed as the perfect “beer and knowledge pairing,” each lesson features one to two tastings that encapsulate a different aspect of beer’s myriad importance.

Instead of asking what the great wide world can teach us about beer, Jackson-Beckham asks: “What can beer teach us about the great wide world?” Find a comfortable seat, a clean glass, and discover the fascinating answers for yourself.

Learn the Best Way to Enjoy Beer

Before you, ahem, hop around the world and across time with this one-of-a-kind beer adventure, Jackson-Beckham teaches you the basics on how to properly taste all the amazing beer you’ll encounter. (The guidebook that comes with this course includes a full list of the beers you’ll sample, as well as suggestions on where to purchase them.)

You’ll learn—and get to practice—the four sensory markers that define different styles of beer

Appearance, which relies on everything from the color and clarity of the beer to the structure of the foam that tops your glass;

Aroma, which you notice when you pour the beer into your glass, when you take a whiff up close, and when you breathe out after your first sip;

Mouthfeel, or how the beer feels when you hold it in your mouth and then swallow, and which captures characteristics like carbonation, fullness, and alcoholic strength; and

Flavor, the main event that reveals which of five basic tastes the beer satisfies: bitterness, sweetness, sourness, and occasionally saltiness and savory-ness.

And here’s a fun fact about beer drinking (just one of many you’ll find in every lesson): Never, under any circumstances, put your glassware in the freezer. Freezing coats your glass with microscopic ice crystals that greatly accelerate decarbonation. Not only do frozen glasses lead to prematurely flat beer, but an “ice-cold” beer numbs your taste buds—which makes for a bland, unenjoyable sensory experience.

Beer History in a Glass

What makes The World of Beer: Tastes of History, Science, and Culture such a unique way to learn about this famous beverage is that Jackson-Beckham uses different beers—all of which you get to taste alongside her—as a gateway to deeper lessons about where beer comes from, how it’s made, how it’s been incorporated into ancient mythology and modern politics, and where it may go in the future.

These unique beers run the gamut of appearances, aromas, mouthfeels, and flavors. Here are just a few of the many beers you’ll learn about in this series, and what they tell us about the role of beer in world culture. If you choose to drink alongside Jackson-Beckham, it will be the best homework you’ve ever had.

India Pale Ale (IPA): IPAs are the best-selling style of craft beer in the United States, and highlight the power of hops. Historians believe it wasn’t until the sixth century AD that hops began to appear in beer. The Benedictine nun Saint Hildegard of Bingen hypothesized the bitterness of hops as having useful preservative effects on beer—and she was right.

Doppelbock: This classic German beer has its roots in monastic traditions. During the so-called Dark Ages, monasteries took up brewing on a large scale, including St. Gallen in present-day Switzerland, which became the first truly large-scale brewery in Europe. The brewing operations alone involved hundreds of monks, servants, and students.

Cream Ale: Homegrown American beer styles were pushed to the margins during Prohibition, but some, like the cream ale, survived. This style emerged in the 19th century as a competitive alternative to German-brewed lagers and combines established English ale traditions with the crispness and lightness of the (then new) lager craze.

Rauchbier: One style of beer in which you can clearly taste the importance of geography in beer brewing is Rauchbier, or smoked beer. Still made in places like the Schlenkerla brewpub in south-central Germany, these beers are probably one of the few ways you can get a sense of the smokiness most pre-medieval European beers would have had.

Whether you’re learning about the first written records of beer from ancient Mesopotamia, the influence of alewives on popular conceptions of witches, the rise of English pub culture and multinational brewing corporations, or even recent brewing trends like minimally invasive fermentation, this course will captivate you with every lesson and every sip.

The World of Beer: Tastes of History, Science, and Culture is proof that beer is more than just a beverage. It’s a veritable time machine.

What Will You Learn?

Learn the step-by-step method for evaluating the sensory aspects of beer

Examine what archaeology reveals about how beer was first brewed and enjoyed

Discover how beer brewing adapted to sweeping political and economic changes

Explore the role beer played in social rituals, from folk songs to popular games

Take a closer look at how modern breweries are changing the brewing landscape

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