Brian Smith and Brad Simshaw, founders of the Blackfoot River Brewing Co., packed 7,000 years of brewing history and emptied three pony kegs Thursday night during a crash course on beer.

Swirling suds and talking shop, they hit the high points of brewing, drawing a timeline through history while noting changes along the way that led to the various beers served readily at intermission.

Smith began the evening at ExplorationWorks, explaining how beer helped convince nomads to give up their wondering ways and settle agricultural communities. Chemical evidence found in clay jugs traces beer back 7,000 years to the Sumerians, with the oldest recipe dating to the Babylonians in 4,300 BC.

Even the Greeks and Romans made brew, inspiring Plato to note, “He is a wise man who invented beer.” The drink was more prevalent than wine in early Roman history, and it remained the beverage of choice in Medieval Europe, even after the addition of hops gave rise to commercial breweries.

“They found that beer made with hops, as compared with other herbs, did not spoil as quickly,” Smith said. “It would keep longer, allowing it to be distributed over a larger territory.”

The rise of commercial breweries and distributors prompted Duke Wilhelm IV to implement the Reinheitsgebot, or purity act, in 1516. The oldest food regulation in the world, the law protected beer as a product, stating that each batch must be made with water, malted barley and hops.

Even so, Smith grinned, the brewing process continued to evolve. In 1857, yeast was added. Shortly after, the invention of the thermometer and hydrometer turned brewing into a science, allowing brewers to repeat results.

Guests seated for Smith’s presentation eagerly eyed the twin taps waiting at the nearby table. But the history lesson went on. There was more to learn and more to note before the sampling began.

Prior to the 1800s, Smith continued, most beers were ales. That changed when brewers began using coke to kiln barley, producing malts pale in color.

“It certainly changed the way they made beer,” said Smith. “Brewers learned to blend different malts to achieve a variety of colors and flavors.”

Closing in on modern times, Smith said German immigrants brought their knowledge of brewing to the U.S., along with their preference and taste for beer. Brewing boomed as a result, with nearly 2,300 breweries running in the U.S. by the 1880s.

By 1914, however, that number had fallen to 1,400 breweries. The numbers continued to decline after Prohibition, with only 160 breweries surviving the unpopular act. When 1970 rolled around, only 44 breweries remained in operation. With brewing nearly extinct, the U.S. government legalized home brewing in 1978, laying the groundwork for today’s microbrews, or craft breweries, as Smith called them.

“People became very passionate about beer making,” Smith said. “You had a lot of people who started making beer at home.”

Today, roughly 1,390 craft brewers operate in the U.S., including the Blackfoot River and the Lewis and Clark brewing companies, both based in Helena.

Smith’s history lesson came to a close and attendees filled their cups with Steamboat Ale and Oktoberfest, two different brews that prompted discussions on what beer goes best with what food. Like wine, no two beers are quite the same, and no meal should be prepared without first considering a specific beer to wash it down.

Marie McAlear, a self-proclaimed wine connoisseur, attended the event to learn as much about beer as she knows about wine. As the saying goes, in wine there is truth, but in beer, well, McAlear wanted to learn more.

“I teach people about wine, but I don’t know anything about beer,” she said. “There are different flavors and they go with different foods.”

McAlear swirled her Oktoberfest and considered the subject further. She waited for the subtle flavors to come forth before settling on a summer salad with heavy bread as the perfect companion to her beer.

“In the wine world, you would say this is fruitier,” she said. “But I don’t know if you’re supposed to say fruitier with beer.”

Probably not, at least in a bar. In fact, as one taster noted, the Oktoberfest was heavily hopped. Smith admitted later in the evening that an extra batch of hops had been mistakenly added to the brewery’s latest batch.

Even so, beer connoisseurs have sought out the bitter batch at bars around town, hoping to taste the mistake and note the differences. By all accounts, the batch isn’t bad, just a little bitter, which can be a good thing depending on tastes.

The lecture turned to ingredients and, as the guests again took their seats, their cups full, the beer taking effect, Smith explained how he and Simshaw remain traditionalists when it comes to brewing.

Aside from water, they adhere to the scientific laws of malted barley (kernels that have been sprouted and dried) along with hops, which add bitterness, aroma and flavor to each batch.

“Hops are a poorly understood item,” Smith said. “Some people think it’s a grain, but its not, it’s a flower.”

Hops are actually a member of the cannabis family, Smith said. Flavors are described as floral, citrus, peachy, woody, piney, and resin-like. Hops purchased by the Blackfoot have been “laboratized,” shipped with information on how much bitterness the brewmaster can expect when using them.

Hops also are jumping in price, Smith noted. A 44-pound bag now costs the brewery $1,000. Smith called it a perfect storm, a series of events that have resulted in a worldwide shortage of hops.

“Guess what?” he quipped. “Beer prices are going to go up.”

Mention of rising beer prices was enough to prompt some in attendance to top off their cups. Others posed questions relating to water and how it impacts the flavor.

Soft water, used in many pilsners, allows other ingredients and flavors to come through, Smith said. Hard water, he added, produces a drier beer.

“Most English ales have been brewed with hard water,” he said. “A very important part of that brewing process is the hard water.”

The science of brewing proves a finicky affair. Smith and Simshaw can alter any one of the seven steps in the brewing process by adding more or less of any one thing, adjusting temperatures, and allowing more or less time in the fermentation process, which is achieved by adding yeast.

A single-cell microorganism, yeast ferments the sugar to create alcohol and carbon dioxide. Unlike some breweries, Blackfoot uses the carbon dioxide to naturally carbonate its beer. it also keeps the yeast strains alive through several brewing generations, taking careful steps to ensure the organism doesn’t mutate to impact the flavor of the batch.

“Each strain impacts different characteristics — each molecule of beer passes through a yeast cell,” Smith said. “We’ll keep our ale strain going for 20 generations, or 20 batches of beer. Our lager strains are much shorter, usually five batches.”

Whatever goes into the beer, Charlie and Vicki Hail enjoyed drinking it. The couple prefers locally brewed beer over that made by commercial breweries. Like McAlear, they also prefer to drink certain brews with certain meals, depending on flavor.

“If I’m eating fish, I’ll drink an IPA,” said Mr. Hail. “It’s a lighter beer. If I eat buffalo to make tacos or spaghetti, I’ll drink a porter.”

“I drink what I like,” added Mrs. Hail. “Cream ale, OPA (organic pale ale) and pilsner — it’s whatever I prefer. But I feel so fortunate we have so many craft brewers in the state of Montana.”

Reporter Martin Kidston: 447-4086 or mkidston@helenair.com