Ancient Beer Brought Back to Life

(c) Beer Wiki.

Beer is a wonderful beverage. It is apparently the third most popular drink after water and tea. And it's been in this world for a very long time; thousands of years in fact. The earliest evidence of beer is from the Neolithic period - around the same time when the first farmers were about - and there are various sites around the world from the Neolithic that show beer in its early stages was still an important part of society:

• Godin Tepe, Iran: c.3,400-3,000BC
• Chemical analysis of a jug from this site has shown that it contained a form of barley beer
•  Jiahu, China: c.7,000-6,500BC
• Jars that were at this site were found to have contained a form of mead; chemical analysis showed evidence of rice, hawthorn and honey.
• Ebla Tablets, Syria: c.2,500-2,250BC
• 1,800 tablet were found in the city of Ebla, some of them contained information about many beers that the city exported, including one that was named after the city itself
• Alulu Tablet, Iraq: 2,050BC
• A stone tablet that is thought to contain a beer receipt for the "best ale in Ur"
• Eberdingen-Hochdorf, Germany: 500BC
• Excavations at this site found thousands of burnt barley grains, as well as henbane (used to increase intoxication), mugwort, carrot seeds; all thought to have been used to make beer
• Hymn to Ninkasi, Sumer People, Iraq : c.1,800BC
• The Sumerians wrote a hymn to Ninkasi, goddess of beer, which not onlt shows the importance of beer to the Sumerians, but it also implies a beer recipe in there too - you can read the hymn here

Alulu Tablet. (c) Wikipedia

Its should be noted that the use of hops to make beer was not used until 822AD at least - it was at this time when it was first mentione by Abbot Adalhard in Corbie Abbey, France. So, it is even more interesting to find out what people were making beer out of previous to this.

Corbie Abbey (c) Wikipedia.

The aforementioned prehistoric sites give us a very good indication; so good that in the past couple of years, someone has decided to recreate the ale from thousands of years ago using the ingredients and recipe that has been found in historical and archaeological record. Dr Patrick E. McGovern, Scientific Director of the Bio-molecular Archaeology Laboratory for Cuisine, Fermented Beverages, and Health at the University of Pennsylvania Museum in Philadelphia (see link below for more info on him), and Dogfish Head Brewery have worked together to create various beers based on the chemical analyses from the aforementioned prehistoric sites and more.

The following beers were created:

(c) Dogfish Head Brewery

Midas Touch - 9% - a sweet, dry beer based on the ingredients found in King Midas' tomb (buried in modern day Yassihöyük, Turkey) - c. 2,700 years old

(c) Dogfish Head Brewery

Chateau Jiahu - 10% - originally made from rice, honey and fruit based on the residues found on the inside of jars from Jiahu, China - c.9,000 years old

(c) Dogfish Head Brewery

Birra Etrusca Bronze - 8.5% - made from barley, Italian wheat, hazelnut flour, pomegranates, Italian chesnut honey and various honeys, based on drinking vessels found in Etruscan tombs, Italy - c. 2,800 years old

(c) Dogfish Head Brewery

Theobroma - 9% - a chocolate beer based on residues on pottery fragments in Hondoruas; Theobroma literally translates as "food of the gods", and is thought to be evidence of the earliest use of cocoa - c.1,200BC

(c) Dogfish Head Brewery

Ta Henket - 4.5% - made from wheat, hearth-baked bread, chamomile, fruit and herbs, based on ingredients from Egyptian hieroglyphics - date unknown

(c) Dogfish Head Brewery

Sah-tea - 9% - contains German weizen yeast, juniper berries and black tea, based on the traditional Finnish beer, Sahti - 9th century

(c) loveliveramble.blogspot.co.uk

Chicha - 6.2% - a corn beer made from pink Peruvian peppercorns, yellow and purple maize, strawberries and...er, spit; taken from the traditional beer from Central and South America - date unknown


Fossil Fuel Brewing Company have also created an ancient ale...

(c) chieftan.com

Working with Dr. Chip Lambert, they created a beer based on 45,000,000 year old yeast found in a piece of amber from Burma, the beer was served at the casting party for the film The Lost World: Jurassic Park.

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For further information about the origins and archaeology of beer, please check out the following links:
-Patrick E. McGovern; Scientific Director of the Biomolecular Archaeology Laboratory for Cuisine, Fermented Beverages, and Health at University of Pennsylvania Museum in Philadelphia
-The Langstone Tankard
-"The Beer Archaeologist" - an article on the Smithsonian Mag website with further information on the recreation of ancient beer by Dogfish Head Brewery
-Dogfish Head Brewery 
-Fossil Fuels Brewery Co.
-The Barbarian's Beverage, Max Nelson, 2004 (Google eBooks)
- Handbook of Brewing, Hans Michael Esslinger, 2009 (Google eBooks) 

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