Art of Brewing Brewing is a process of nature, as  witnessed on many occasions, drunken bears smacking the crap out of each other after dining on fermented crab apples.  Brewing serves three basic needs. It creates: (1) a source of nutrition (2) a means of preserving said source  (3) an inspiring concoction that arouses the passions and inspires the soul.  How much more gratifying when it comes from  your own cupboard.  In Medieval Europe, where grain was  the most plentiful source of sugar, Ale and later Beer became the prominent drink followed  by Wine and Mead. One would generally assume that Mead, made from honey, would have  dominated regions where grains were more costly,  principally the North.  In Japan, Sake was at one point the national drink, was made solely from rice, water and  yeast, (and some weird mold). Again, they used  what they had in greatest abundance. Southwest Native Americans brewed with corn, a main staple and to the north, berries and fruits.  Long live Johnny Appleseed, or at least his spirit.  Apple Orchards that produced Cider, were at  one time, for myself, the most abundant source  of inebriating fluid. The raw Cider in and of itself containing all the components necessary to be aged into a fine potion of frivolity. All it requires is aging and filtering. A fact not understood by many, is  there are many varieties of yeast, a living organism that is ever present in the air we breathe. Some  yeast produce alcohol where as some produces vinegar. Comercial Vinegar's are not spoiled vine.  They are produced using vinegar yeast. On rare  occasions a batch of Cider, made from it's own  resident yeast will turn to vinegar. Bad luck, throw it out. There are those who will go to great lengths to insure this doesn't happen though, battling with the chaotic element of life, so to speak. This adds to the expense of the product, it is labor intensive by comparison and in a way spoils the spirit of the thing.  Let's face it, Beer is Malt (roasted grain sprouts)  water, yeast and hops. Anything added beyond  that is to make it more palatable. Which in essence can be likened to spicing up a pot of boiled shoe.  It's not tasty, it doesn't have a great deal of alcohol,  and unless you're malting your own grain can end  up costing you more to make then to buy. More  and more on the commercial market we're seeing high gravity malt liquor. This is basically fortified beer. That means you add sugar substances to increase the specific gravity of the wort (wort = the swill you're  fermenting) so you get a higher alcohol content.  Yeast at this point becomes a concideration as  some are more alcohol tolorant than others.  Weaker yeast will die before they finish coverting  all the sugars into alcohol.    Cheers