It was about 10,000 years ago that history, and the first batch of home brew, were made.
Naturally, a lot of people are keen to take the credit. But the most likely explanation of how it came together was some lucky bloke was in the right place, at the right time.

Back then, in the region between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, people were just beginning to settle down. Agricultural communities were emerging, animals were being domesticated, and crops planted.
Houses were built, and before you knew it people had to start specialising in just one job. That meant they had to trade whatever they grew, made, caught, or killed to get the other stuff they needed.

Take the people who grew grain. They'd plant the crop, look after it, harvest it and store it over winter. They couldn't store the whole harvest in a big warehouse because there weren't any yet, so they stored it in clay pots, and used caves as their store room. The first packaged products!

Any home brewer knows that the carbohydrates in cereal are the basis of good beer brewing. The other two elements you need are water and some yeast.

Yeast, fortunately, is found wild pretty much everywhere. It just needs the right conditions to start growing.
So, let's imagine you've harvested your grain early one morning, it's a bit damp from the dew, and maybe not quite fully matured. But you carry on anyway. You store the slightly damp grain in the clay pots, put the pots away in the cave and off you go - thinking she'll be right and you'll have grain to sell in winter.

But inside the clay pot, it's all on. The wild yeast covering the inside of the pot is working away on the carbohydrates in the damp grain - converting them to alcohol and CO2. Making the first mash!

A couple of months later, you go to sell the grain and what do you find instead? A delicious, sweet smelling, grain mash merrily fizzing away. Not one to waste food, you eat some that night when you have a few friends round. It's a huge hit. The best night anyone's had for a long time. Soon people are queuing up to trade fish, a table, a sheep, or whatever for your special mash. The next thing you know, you've gone from being a grain farmer to a brewer. (And, as a result, are invited to a lot more parties.)
That's the (fairly unofficial) story of home brewing.

As you can see, your Tooheys home brewing kit is steeped in history. And, remember, no matter how rushed and busy modern life gets, you can always retreat back into your 'cave' and enjoy the peace and quiet essential to the craftsman at work.

 

How Tooheys got into it

Our brewing tradition began back in 1869 with J.T. and James Toohey creating ales in the style of traditional English and German dark beers, including their first: "Tooheys Old". By 1931 they'd turned their attention to lagers - a style suited to Australia's hot, dry climate and it had a flash new name; "Tooheys New".

For over 130 years Tooheys beers have been part of Australian life - and one of the favourite parts, at that. Now our brewers have found another way to extend the pride and pleasure they have in their work to you - home brew. Made with some of the same ingredients and all the patience and expertise that go into their famous beers.

Follow the preparation and instructions carefully and look forward to sharing your very own Tooheys, with your mates.