Free Beer: Dogfish Head Brewery and Biomolecular Archaeologists Recreate Ancient Beer and Wine
Forget Oktoberfest - if you really want to combine culture with beer the place to be this month is the Penn Museum. The latest biomolecular archaeology techniques pioneered by the University of Pennsylvania have led to reproductions of ancient ales, which will be available to sample at an event on 8th October. The University's Patrick McGovern, the world’s leading authority on ancient brewing, has worked with the innovative American brewer Dogfish Head to develop the beers, which are not too dissimilar to what it the ancients are thought to have enjoyed.
Breathing New Life into Ancient Brews
Based on evidence found at archaeological digs, and using the techniques and ingredients of ancient times, Dogfish Head has produced several ancient beers for the modern beer connoisseur.
There are brews based on indigenous Peruvian traditions, like the Chicha, and the Chateau Jiahu, based on a 9000-year-old rice, honey and fruit recipe deriving from the Neolithic village of Jiahu in China’s Henan province.
The Theobroma or ‘food of the gods’, meanwhile, is based on an alcoholic chocolate drink enjoyed in 1200BC in what is now Honduras.
Then, of course, there’s the Midas Touch, which was Dogfish Head’s first foray into the ancient world. It’s based on the oldest-known fermented beverage – a 2,700-year-old recipe pieced together after the discovery of drinking vessels in the tomb of King Midas in Turkey.
Get the Recipe!
You can read the full (rather lengthy) story of Dogfish Head and its innovative approach to making ancient (and other ‘extreme’) beers in this New Yorker article.
Better still, if you're in the area, get yourself along to the Uncorking the Past beer-tasting and talks event at at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology this Thursday, October 8.
The night coincides with the release of Patrick McGovern’s new book, Uncorking the Past: The Quest for Wine, Beer, and Other Alcoholic Beverages. McGovern and Dogfish Head founder Sam Calagione will both be giving talks on ancient brewing techniques. More importantly, there will be tastings of Midas Touch, Chateau Jiahu and Theobroma on offer, along with wine from the Nile Delta. If you can't make this one, there are various other Dogfish tasting events coming up in the States over the coming weeks.
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Do they export to the UK? ;) But this definitely looks more tasty than the last example of 'neolothic beer brewing' I've seen... in a wooden pit in the ground. Although most people said it tasted ok, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't pass current-day standards. :d I'm curious for this one though, convinced it can't be as (horrible) sweet as todays beers in general are. The Theobroma sounds awesome though... . Sad they don't serve it at the Moctezuma exhibition, but rather go with chocolate that did not live up to my Belgian standards.
Now that's the sort of archaeology I want to get involved in!
The official word on the availability in the UK of Dogfish Head's ancient brews:
"Unfortunately, we have not started to export our brews overseas yet. We have recently begun an expansion on the brewery, which will allow for more production, and hopefully we can bring Dogfish Head to the rest of the U.S. first! After this process, we will then look into exporting internationally."
OK – maybe not the UK, but at least a little closer to you, Ann...
Apparently the cafe at the Lindholm Heights Museum in Aalborg in Denmark sells an ancient beer from the local Søgaard’s Brewery. I'm told it has a "fresh, slightly sour taste" and is brewed using heather honey, bog myrtle and malt rather than hops.
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