194 | Business World Magazine |
Aug/Sep 2013
Beer has been delighting drinkers since before the dawn of recorded history and to such flavorful fascina-
tion that over the last 5,000 years many cultures have associated its origins with the awesome power of gods.
Slavic legends suggest beer was invented by Radegast, the God of Fertility who, most likely, helped foster the
malady mortals now recognize as “beer-eyes.” Ancient Sumerians so loved beer as to adulate Ninkasi who
was known as the Goddess of Brewing. In Norse mythology, the Sea God Aegir is credited for creating beer in a
special kettle acquired from none-other than Thor (who loved to get hammered). Beer has long been the stuff of
legends and that continues today in Utica, New York, where beer also represents a significant legacy of a fam-
ily who may not necessarily be worshiped like the gods of old, but are certainly revered as one of America’s
most historic and most masterful among brewers of the craft beers consumers crave.
