Beer and Alchemy

Fruit of an ethnological study, this work combines field investigations and historical data to trace the history of beer, the oldest of beverages. Evoking its production methods through the ages, its folklore, songs, celebrations, and legends, Bertrand Hell reveals the connections between the brewers' guilds and those of the alchemists. By invoking the combination of forces symbolized by the intertwined double triangle of the brewers' star (which is none other than the seal of Solomon), the brewing "art" allows the transformation of an imperfect and putrescible substance into a beverage endowed with the life force of alcohol. It is through this symbolic thinking that one must understand both the historical importance of beer as a ritual drink and its contemporary modes of sociability that distinguish it from wine.