Believe it or not, the history of beer actually begins before history began. In fact, archaeologists believe that the oldest known recipe - written in the Sumerian language on stone tablets - is for beer. By 4000 B.C., the Babylonians were brewing at least sixteen varieties of beer and the Pharaohs of Egypt actually paid their workers with jugs of beer. (Talk about the good old days.)

The first thing to know about brewing is that basically, it's cooking. The brewer is a chef, the brewery is his kitchen and the brew kettle no more than a pot. Granted, at 1500 liters, it is a very, very large pot. The recipe for Gordon Biersch beer contains only four ingredients as dictated by the 500-year-old German purity law called Rheinheitsgebot. In Germany, breweries follow this law because they have to. At Gordon Biersch, we follow it because we want to.

Rheinheitsgebot: (Rine·HEIGHT·ski·bot') The German Purity Law that dates back to 1516 which says beer can only be made with 3 ingredients. Barley. Hops. And water. Interestingly, at the time no one knew that yeast was involved in the process. (It was in the air.) So yeast has since been added as the fourth ingredient.

1. MILLING OF THE MALT. The barley comes in from our silo and is put on the scale. As with any recipe, you have to be precise about the quantity of your ingredients. The kernels of barley are then cracked open as they pass through the mill to expose the flour inside. Once the malt is milled, it gets a new name: grist.

2. MILLED MALT (OR GRIST) IS WEIGHED.

3. START BREWING. The grist goes into the brew kettle and we add water (grist + water = the mash.) Next, we heat it. This is where it starts to smell good in the brewery.

4. LAUTERING. The mash is now passed through the Lautertun­which is a lot like a big coffee filter. The liquid that comes out is now called sweet wort.

5. BOIL THE SWEET WORT. The sweet wort is transferred back to the brew kettle and once it's boiling we add the hops and cook some more.

6. WHIRLPOOL SEPARATION. This is where we clarify the wort.

7. COOLING AND AERATION. The wort is cooled and oxygen is added to activate the yeast.

8. ADD THE YEAST. In the flo- tation tank, the yeast is added to begin fermentation.

9. PRIMARY FERMENTATION. In the primary fermenter, the cold hopped wort ferments for 7-9 days. The yeast turns the sugars into alcohol and CO2.

10. LAGERING. Lager actually means "to store" in German. The beer now sits for 5 weeks. During this time, two things happen: it is naturally carbonated and it also becomes more full-bodied as the flavors round out.

11. FILTRATION. The beer is clarified and transferred to a 1,550 gallon tank where it can be pumped up to the bar.

12. PROST. Our servers grab a willibecher glass and pull down on the tap handle.

SPECIAL NOTE: These days, there are a lot of beers out there with all kinds of fruit in them. But Dan Gordon is what you'd call a purist. As far as Dan is concerned, fruit just covers up the flavor of what beer ought to taste like. That's why Gordon Biersch does not brew beer with strawberries, raspberries, cherries, peaches, pumpkins, mangoes, papayas or passion fruit. Period. We prefer to brew only authentic German lagers.

Many people use color to classify beer. But an even more basic distinction is between lagers and ales. Most microbrews are ales. They use top fermented yeasts and are typically stored for about two weeks. Most ales are bitter and heavily hopped in flavor. Gordon Biersch brews lagers. Lagers use bottom fermented yeasts and are stored for about five weeks after brewing, which results in a full-bodied, smoother flavor than ales. Gordon Biersch brews beer that range in color from gold (Pilsner) to auburn (Märzen) to brown (Dunkles), but each of our flagship beers are lager style, resulting in what we think are wonderfully drinkable brews. The bottom line? Judge a beer based on taste, not on color.