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First Cocktail 5,000 Years Old
Praxiteles writes "The first cocktail was...grog?! From the article: 'The first cocktail ever was made in Mesopotamia 5,000 years ago, using wine, beer, apple juice and honey. Patrick McGovern defined the mix as "grog", an archaic drink that in the United States is sold as the Midas Touch'."
"Boonesfarm."
Reminder: Apple owns 1/255th of the internet.
Does it run linux or something?
Everyone know that grog be rum and water.
"What is in that grog stuff anyway?" Guybrush Threepwood
If the traces of apple and honey weren't actually from alcohols based on those particular ingredients (apple brandy or mead, for example.) Other than that, though, it is pretty amazing how much they can find out about the diets of ancient peoples using a combination of archaeology and chemistry.
Going back to school for entry-level jobs?
Grog is an alcoholic beverage made with water and rum. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grog
All togeather now:
And it's all for me grog -- me jolly, jolly grog
It's all gone for beer and tobacco
Well, I spent all me tin on the lassies drinkin' gin
Now across the western ocean I must wander
(Hat!) Where is me hat? (me what?)
Me noggin', noggin' hat (oh!)
It's all gone for beer and tobacco
Well, the band is knocked about and the brim is all worn out
So me head is lookin' out for better weather
And it's all for me grog -- me jolly, jolly grog
It's all gone for beer and tobacco
Well, I spent all me tin on the lassies drinkin' gin
Now across the western ocean I must wander
(Shirt!) Where is me shirt? (me what?)
Me noggin', noggin' shirt (oh!)
It's all gone for beer and tobacco
Well, the sleeves are knocked about and the collar's all worn out
So me back is lookin' out for better weather
And it's all for me grog -- me jolly, jolly grog
It's all gone for beer and tobacco
Well, I spent all me tin on the lassies drinkin' gin
Now across the western ocean I must wander
(Pants!) Where is me pants? (me what?)
Me noggin', noggin' pants (oh!)
It's all gone for beer and tobacco
Well, the knees are knocked about and the seat is all worn out
So me arse is lookin' out for better weather
And it's all for me grog -- me jolly, jolly grog
It's all gone for beer and tobacco
Well, I spent all me tin on the lassies drinkin' gin
Now across the western ocean I must wander
(Boots!) Where is me boots? (me what?)
Me noggin', noggin' boots (oh!)
It's all gone for beer and tobacco
Well, the heels are knocked about and the toes is hangin' out
So me feets is lookin' out for better weather
And it's all for me grog -- me jolly, jolly grog
It's all gone for beer and tobacco
Well, I spent all me tin on the lassies drinkin' gin
Now across the western ocean I must wander
(Bed!) Where is me bed?
Me noggin', noggin' bed
It's all gone for beer and tobacco
Oh, I lent it to a whore, now the sheets they all are tore
So the springs are lookin' out for better weather
And it's all for me grog -- me jolly, jolly grog
It's all gone for beer and tobacco
Well, I spent all me tin on the lassies drinkin' gin
Now across the western ocean I must wander
you could only drink about 5 of these before ya started puking.. what kinda crap is that?
Thank god we've evolved to the point where we understand that you shouldn't mix wine and beer in a single brew. However this is a recent jump in evolution because "Malt Duck" (beer + wine) was still popular in the 70s and early 80s (my dad has the stories to prove it).
Now that they've found evidence of the ingredients of a 5000 year old drink, what makes them so sure its the "first ever"? Of course that's what they thought the last one was, however old (<5000 years) it might have been. This kind of arrogance really makes people look stupid. How about just "first in history"? That description would tell us as much about the drink as it might hint at how limited is our knowledge of history. I'll drink to that.
--
make install -not war
D'oh,
This whole time I thought Grog was the screen name for http://www.lemis.com/grog/ *nix developer, Greg Lehy.
Squidward: "Spongebob, If I had a dollar for every brain you don't have, I'd have 1 dollar."
I'm not sure about other English speaking parts of the world, but Australians still refer to "grog" as a general term for alcoholic drinks.
Interestingly, dictionary.com quotes its origins as such
"After Old Grog, nickname of Edward Vernon (1684-1757), British admiral who ordered that diluted rum be served to his sailors, from grogram(from his habit of wearing a grogram cloak)."
Gee. I dunno. Chemical analysis of archaeological finds. Sounds downright geeky to me.
Curiosity?!? My ass! He stole shit! -T. Carpenter
Midas Touch is made by Dogfish Head brewery in Delaware. It's an interesting drink, hard to catagorize.
More info can be found on their web site:
http://www.dogfish.com/beer/midastouch.cfm
Homer no function beer well without.
Whenever I read a story here that doesn't have to do with geeks or anything that matters (and how could it matter, given that it predates Linux?), I often notice that the editor in charge of the story is El-Zonko, The Most Zonkoriffic, Zonkalicious one -- -"ZONK" -- who is despised by the folks at anti-slash.org.
Go ahead and mod me down, idiot moderators.
http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_law/when_to_
Punch. Modern version of this, big coleman cooler, a bottle each of Everclear, Vodka, Whiskey, a case of beer, several cans of fruit punch, chunks of fruit, a bag or two of ice, close lid, shake, serve. Guarenteed to curdle your stomach
No one here gets out alive
"Cloth to wear
Cooked meat to eat
Beer to drink"
The important things never change.
"Academicians are more likely to share each other's toothbrush than each other's nomenclature."
Cohen
I don't know, but I'd rather think that your peanut butter is in my chocolate.
Oh wait, err, that sounds bad, huh?
A B A C A B B
Hey, the title of the site does not specify what kind of nerds it caters to -- sometimes us science/history nerds need news too. It's neat learning where things come from, whether those things are ancient cocktails or pieces of software.
:)
Plus the booze angle appeals to the average computer scientist/student
This is a reference to the list of how to make grog in the video game Monkey Island. While you don't have to mod it down mods cause it is funny I thought I'd point it out cause some of you are quick to mod things up without checking the validity.
Every slashdot reader who has ever been to a military Dining-in is having flashbacks of the grog bowl right now.
t ory.htm#grog
http://www.ftmeademwr.com/activities/clubmead/his
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Those old beer and wine recipes are quite different from their modern counterparts.
:)
The main differences would probably be the lack of effective filtration and the yeasts.
The filtration is probably the biggest difference.
We are used to beer and wine being relatively clear; in ye olde days the beers and wines were rather murky.
This has the interesting side effect that modern beers and wines are substantially less nutritious than their ancient counterparts.
The Egyptian beer (which built the pyramids) has been described as 'mildly alcoholic, liquid bread'
I've tried making wines and beers like these, they have a much lower alcohol content and are far more tasty.
People also tend to turn their noses up at them cos they look cloudy and have bits floating around. More for me! Yum!
And ahhh genuine Cornish scrumpy cider... even though I know they throw a dead rabbit into the vat, it still tastes good!
In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
What are these scientists using to determine that a vessel was used to hold this cocktail? Do they have any proof that the vessel held the cocktail rather than being used to hold several different liquids over the years?
Plus who stores mixed drinks other than bloody marys? Mix them at the bar and drink them there.
Supporting the finding was the nearby discovery of several small papyrus umbrellas...
Seeing bad movies only encourages them. Watch responsibly
It could have been a case of reusing a container without properly cleaning it, a practice that continutes with annoying roommates to this day!
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Despite the total lack of useful information in this article, does it strike any one as odd that they did not consider the possibility that the same container was used to hold multiple things over time?
It's not like they had industrial strength santizing dish washers 5000 years ago - over ten years of use, one could imagine an accumulation of residue inside such a container
Found nearby, a toilet bowl carved out of stone and the world's oldest recipe for a hangover cure.
And the first hangover was 4999 years, 364 days ago.
I'd also like to add that some nerds appreciate all knowledge and wisdom and are considerably more versatile at trades other than being a computer nerd. Those ubernerds are probably called "boss" by the rest--if they've made it out of their parent's basement that is...
And hey, if you don't know where you came from, it's hard to know where you're going, right? Now where did I put my martini?
Constitutional rights may be respected, repealed, or modified; but they must never be ignored.
A cocktail is a mixture or a liquor and a liquer, with possibly other additions. For example, gin or vodka and dry vermouth is a martini. Tequila and triple sec with lime juice is a margarita. Since distilled alcoholic beverages are not know before the eight or ninth centuries, whatever this was, it wasn't a cocktail. doesn't mean it couldn't knock you on your ass, however.
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
maybe they just unearthed containers from an old prison where they were making pruno.
An analysis of one old pot does nothing to prove the prevalence of such a drink.
I think this has inspired a new sig for me. "Booze, helping nerds get laid for 5,000 years."
"Does your computer have IP on it?"
Science is authoritative...
Science is authoritative when there is a strong confidence that the theory is correct (such that there is with gravity). Where there isn't that confidence, scientists regularly disclaim their statements, using terminology like "we believe...", or "it appears...". Few scientists immediately proclaim absolute based upon preliminary, or incomplete, information. "Bumble Bees can't fly! News at 11".
This is especially true of archaeology, a field where it is pretty difficult to place vague things like "firsts". To claim a first for something as generalized as an alcoholic drink is pretty questionable. Of course archaeology, like all other fields, has people who want attention.
Personally, I never use finings for filtration. If I leave the demijon with airlock sitting for a week, it is usually pretty settled. Not totally - a friend of mine took a batch of my mead to the LRP Summerfest one year, and it was pretty cloudy. Apparently it was still pretty good, though.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
> history channel ... keep showing WWII reruns.
Heh. I had a history teacher once who called the History Channel "All Hitler, All the time." I found it particularly amusing when I happened to be watching the History Channel one night when they were showing a documentary on the building of roads and highways, and at one point discussed Hitler's contributions to the German autobahnen. I laughed my head off.
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How do you figure limes a modern addition. Ships carried limes, hence the nickname for british sailors, limeys.
That doesn't mean it was in part of the grog, though. You can add lime to grog, and that's been done some, most commonly in modern times.
Traditional grog is just rum and water, though apparently lime was suggested as an addition earlier on than I thought:
As wikipedia says,
"Grog is an alcoholic beverage made with water and rum. It was introduced into the Royal Navy by British Vice Admiral Edward Vernon on 21 August 1740. Modern versions of the drink sometimes include lemon juice, lime juice, cinnamon or sugar to improve the taste....Until the grog ration was discontinued in 1970, Navy rum was 95.5 proof, or 54.6 per cent alcohol; the usual ration was an eighth of a pint, diluted 2:1 with water (3:1 until World War II).
But the Contemplator's History of Grog says:
"By Vernon's time straight rum was commonly issued to sailors aboard ship - and drunkenness and lack of discipline were common problems. On August 21, 1740, Vernon issued an order that rum would thereafter be mixed with water. A quart of water was mixed with a half-pint of rum on deck and in the presence of the Lieutenant of the Watch. Sailors were given two servings a day; one between 10 and 12 AM and the other between 4 and 6 PM. To make it more palatable it was suggested sugar and lime be added. In 1756 the mixture of water and rum became part of the regulations, and the call to "Up Spirits" sounded aboard Royal Navy ships for more than two centuries thereafter..."
rage, rage against the dying of the light