Around the turn of the millennium, beer played a pivotal role. Viking, those stalwart men of the North, never traveled without it. Before pillaging a village -- an event that usually entailed large-scale murder, rape, arson, and general mayhem -- the Vikings would load up on ale and go berserk. Fired up on many large tankards of primitive ale, these Nordic lads would become so inured to danger that they would remove their protective armor, going "berserk," or in the literal translation from the original Scandinavian, "without shirt." The obvious comparison to the American football fan notwithstanding, beer has been creating passionate responses throughout history.

Beer is pervasive. It is consumed by the young and the old, the rich and the poor, women and men. Beer transcends racial barriers, class and geographic location. The only thing more all-encompassing than beer on a global scale might be money. Interestingly enough, the word "cash" is derived from the Egyptian for beer -- a common form of payment for labor in the