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List of oldest companies: Before 1300

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Re: List of oldest companies: Before 1300

#131

Post by 13of40 »

swerner wrote: post #123
rconti wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lots of breweries. Belgian Abbeys; Grimbergen, Affligem... Can anyone opine on how similar today's beers might taste to how they did "back in the day?" I'm sure some of the beers are based on the original recipes, and with the Reinheitsgebot, it's fairly plausible that all of the ingredients in the German beers in particular are very similar. But I'm not sure how the process might have changed over the years, or how…

Beers today taste nothing like they did back then. Microbiology aside (today's beer is made with pure-bred yeast, back then it was a wild mix of microbes), pale malt was not produced until the 17th or 18th centre, and the pale lager beers we nowadays associate with traditional German beer were developed as late as the 19th century.

It also would have been warm, flat, made with fire-dried malt (so smoky)[1], and possibly made with bittering agents other than hops, like gruit[2].

[1]https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/all-beer-tasted-like-s...

[2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gruit

Re: List of oldest companies: Before 1300

#132

Post by icebraining »

reitanqild wrote: post #101
minikites wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Beer nazi You may want to reconsider this phrasing.

When I write this minikites is downvoted for no good reason. As much as I support freedom of speech I also think it's unwise to normalize nazism. Reminding people not to normalize nazism isn't something one should be downvoted for in my book.

Just as an alternative point of view, they're debasing and ridiculing the term, whereas you're helping to inflate its importance by trying to keep it a taboo.

As an aside, here's an interview with the Jewish actor who played the Soup Nazi: http://uproxx.com/tv/soup-nazi-interview-seinfeld-apartment/

Re: List of oldest companies: Before 1300

#133

Post by nwellnhof »

oaiey wrote: post #69
laurentoget wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it probably depends what you mean by lager. and calling weihenstephaner a lager is questionable.

Their main beer is a "Helles" :)

Weihenstephaner is mostly known for their Weißbier which is OK. Their Helles tastes like shit, though, at least compared to other Bavarian breweries.

Re: List of oldest companies: Before 1300

#134

Post by cypherpunks01 »

_geke wrote: post #88
dmayle wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Beer nazi here... Hefeweizen/weissbier is not a lager. Lagers are cold bottom-fermented beers. Hefeweizen is warm top-fermented beer.

My mistake. I've always incorrectly grouped them with lagers in my mind, but it does indeed look like they are top-fermented beers. I'm actually surprised, there are quite a few beer variants that I assumed were lagers that are actually ales, including Berliner weisse, kölsch, and gose [0]. [0] https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/style/

Kölsch is actually a weird one. It's true that Kölsch is an ale and Kölsch yeast is a top-fermenting ale yeast, however the style also calls for lagering the beer at cooler temperatures at the end of fermentation, which is the same process that all true lagers undergo. This is why Kölsch has a clean lager-like taste, and is often mistaken or debated as a lager.

See also: California Common / Steam Beer, which is sort of the opposite case (lager yeast fermented at ale temps)

Re: List of oldest companies: Before 1300

#136

Post by divbzero »

jweir wrote: post #67

One take away from this list is that no software firms have survived. I would recommend hotels or booze if you want a business to last.

This was likely said in jest but also contains a solid kernel of truth.

On the other hand, the same forces that make for high turnover in the software industry also make it more fertile for new startups.

Re: List of oldest companies: Before 1300

#137

Post by usrusr »

rconti wrote: post #114
navidfarhadi wrote: post #26

The oldest name on this list that stood out to me is Weihenstephan brewery, founded in 1040 in Bavaria, Germany. They have some of the finest lagers I have ever tried. If you enjoy crisp, refreshing lager beers, I highly recommend their beers. My favorite one is probably the Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier, followed by the Hefeweissbier Dunkel. Note: I am not affiliated in any way with the company, I just highly enjoy…

Lots of breweries. Belgian Abbeys; Grimbergen, Affligem... Can anyone opine on how similar today's beers might taste to how they did "back in the day?" I'm sure some of the beers are based on the original recipes, and with the Reinheitsgebot, it's fairly plausible that all of the ingredients in the German beers in particular are very similar. But I'm not sure how the process might have changed over the years, or how…

Everything swerner wrote, with a minor interjection: part of a brewery's identity is based on their water source (nuances in chemical composition have a certain influence on the brewing process), so a brewery that stood out due to their well or spring 500 years ago might still do so today. Or not at all, since the interaction between ground water and geology can change a lot in that timeframe.

Re: List of oldest companies: Before 1300

#138

Post by twobyfour »

davidw wrote: post #120
twobyfour wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Switzerland and Japan, maybe. What is now Germany was not particularly stable during the Middle Ages. Or the Early Modern era. Or the 20th Century for that matter.

Yeah; it's a relatively large place though, so maybe some of the companies were in areas that didn't get quite so beat up in various wars?

Maybe. But then why would there be more in Germany than, say, the U.K.? Or Italy?

Re: List of oldest companies: Before 1300

#139

Post by darkhorn »

sctb wrote: post #53
darkhorn wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You must be United Statian who thinks that every organization must exist for profit and othervise it is evil communist, including garbage collectors, social security, police and military, educatiın, ambulance etc

Please don't post trollish generalizations like this here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

It makes United Statians question and compare their policies with other developed nations. Now, the USA has really big issue like social security, university education and militarized police etc
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