Ancient Beer!

[PeteC]

9,000-year-old brew hitting the shelves this summer

This summer, how would you like to lean back in your lawn chair and toss back a brew made from what may be the world’s oldest recipe for beer? Called Chateau Jiahu, this blend of rice, honey and fruit was intoxicating Chinese villagers 9,000 years ago—long before grape wine had its start in Mesopotamia.

University of Pennsylvania molecular archaeologist Patrick McGovern first described the beverage in 2005 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences based on chemical traces from pottery in the Neolithic village of Jiahu in Northern China. Soon after, McGovern called on Sam Calagione at the Dogfish Head Craft Brewery in Milton, Del., to do the ancient recipe justice. Later this month, you can give it a try when a new batch hits shelves across the country. The Beer Babe blog was impressed, writing that it is “very smooth,” and “not overly sweet.”

But that’s not the only strange brew Dogfish is shipping out this summer. Next week, the brewery will be bottling up the first large batch of Sah’tea for the general public—a modern update on a ninth-century Finnish beverage. In the fall, The New Yorker documented the intricate research and preparation that went into making the beer, which was first offered on tap at the brewery in May. In short, brewmasters carmelize wort on white hot river rocks, ferment it with German Weizen yeast, then toss on Finnish berries and a blend of spices to jazz up this rye-based beverage. Reviewers at the BeerAdvocate universally praised Sah'tea, comparing it to a fruity hefeweizen. One user munched on calamari as he downed a pint and described the combo as “a near euphoric experience."

And Dogfish is also bringing back one of their more unusual forays into alcohol-infused time travel. Called Theobroma, this cocoa-based brew was hatched from a chemical analysis of 3,200-year-old pottery fragments from the Cradle of Chocolate, the Ulua Valley in Honduras. Archaeologist John Henderson at Cornell University first described the beverage in 2007 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, pushing the first use of the chocolate plant back by 600 years. Dogfish first sold Theobroma in May 2008, and the next batch—made from a blend of cocoa, honey, chilies, and annatto—will be on shelves and in taps in July. The chocolate beer was apparently too sweet for Evan at The Full Pint, who writes that it contained “a ton and a half of sugary sweetness” with “an insane amount of gooeyness left behind on the roof of your mouth."

[lomuamart]

There used to be an off license store close to where I lived. At the time, it boasted the widest selection of imported bottled beers in London.
After my weekly Saturday visit to the local shops, I enjoyed going in there and buying a few beers that I'd never tasted.
There were some good ones and some dreadful ones. I remember dark Russian beer, Belgian Trappist Monk ones, strange brews from Central America etc etc.
Used to keep all the bottles for display - one of each - but they had to go when I came over here.
The monks certainly knew how to brew. No wonder they believe in religion

[hhfarang]

I used to do the same thing Lomu. In all my travels I would search out the places with the biggest beer selection and try to taste them all. I collected pub mats from all I tasted that had mats available. I had an 8 by 12 foot office wall completely covered in them (pub mats) when I retired and came here. I left them for the next occupant...

I picked up a lot of the mats and drank a lot of different beers in a place in Berlin (frequent business trips) called "House of 100 Beers". They literally had 100 bottled beers from around the world on their menu plus between 5 and 10 on tap...

[sandman67]

go to Egypt

every single monument including those three big piles of bricks in Giza were built by blokes whose diet consisted almost entirely of beer and bread.

see what happens when you get really drunk?

"Ere Imhotep......what if....bear with me son...what if we pile up all these blocks into a big pile.....that would look great....you .....your my best mate you are you fuzzin bazza..."

[baron_wastelanduk]

"Ere Imhotep......what if....bear with me son...what if we pile up all these blocks into a big pile.....that would look great....you .....your my best mate you are you fuzzin bazza..."

echoes of 8 ace there SM?

[sandman67]

?

now im confused

what does echoes of 8 ace mean?

[baron_wastelanduk]

Sorry SM

thought you may have been aware of a Viz Mag Character called 8 Ace
for reference purposes it may be worth googling
that is if ya aint got nuthin better to do