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The Archaeology of Beer
cold fjord writes with an excerpt from The Atlantic's profile of Dr. Pat McGovern, a biomolecular archaeologist at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, who has what sounds like a fascinating job: decoding ancient clues about what (and how) humans in the distant past were brewing and drinking.
"'We always start with infrared spectrometry,' he says. 'That gives us an idea of what organic materials are preserved.' From there, it's on to tandem liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry, sometimes coupled with ion cyclotron resonance, and solid-phase micro-extraction gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. The end result? A beer recipe. Starting with a few porous clay shards or tiny bits of resin-like residue from a bronze cup, McGovern is able to determine what some ancient Norseman or Etruscan or Shang dynast was drinking." The article points out that McGovern has collaborated with the Dogfish Head brewery to reproduce in modern form six of these ancient recipes.
...or did Beer help to create Civilization?
Obligatory futurama quote: "Civilization is just an attempt to impress the opposite sex."
Don't knock this as Homer Simpson level work, beer has shaped history for thousands of years. From the Pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock to the establishment of trade routes beer has always had it's place.
The idea of beer as somehow being sinful is a bit like the diamond ring, it's essentially a modern invention. Monks in Europe brewed beer for centuries as a bonafide way to make money for the monastery to live on. Any number of religions have brewed and used beer for their religious purposes all over the world, it is literally a mark of civilization. When water was historically often filthy and unfit to drink, it's use as a stock drink for the masses wasn't anything to mess about with. When the colonies were established beer was one of the first priorities for the colonists.
I kept thinking Ancient Alien Theorists every time the word "ancient" was used in tfa so H2 may have ruined that word for me, but the ingredients listed where not uncommon and did not include fermented badger milk or urine. I would try it.
It’s a hybrid of beer, fruit wine, and mead, flavored with (among other ingredients) yarrow, lingonberries, cranberries, bog myrtle, and birch syrup.
Ahh First World Food squeemishment.
Fermentation was one of the first way you could preserve your food. As well as making more healthier to eat.
What we call Fresh Milk, has been Homogenized and Pasteurized, so we don't get sick from drinking it. fermented milk was probably healthier overall than fresh milk at the time. The same with other sources of food. Having a way to dehydrate and keep your food clean was very difficult too.
Fermentation was the key to early civilization, it allowed them to store enough food for the hard times, and have some in excess... Allowing them to worry about other issues at hand.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
I would say Beer did help create Civilization.
Fermentation was one of the earliest ways to preserve food.
Many locations were too wet to dehydrate your food. Grains would rot and get moldy and fill up with stuff that isn't good for human consumption.
Fermentation is a good way to preserve the calories so you can hold on to your food in times of famine. Allowing people to gather more than they need. Allowing for sharing, trading, creating rules to insure fair trading, having a large stock of food that can last seasons means people can stay in one location, build better stronger buildings, which then can give people time to figure out how to grow their own food, manage livestock. When then keep on adding up.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Have tried all of DFH's "Ancient Ales" (except the Kvasir which hasn't showed up locally yet), and they were all interesting and surprisingly drinkable. Their "Theobroma", a cacao-based beer based on a Honduran recipe is one of their best products.
Dogfish beers aren't for everyone. But their slogan "Off-Centered Ales for Off-Centered people" should explain that...
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Fermented mare's milk is a national drink in Kazakhstan.
That is Kazakhstan, the real country that is tormented by Sasha Baron Cohen's fictional character, the "journalist," Borat.
Kazakh national cuisine
Kazakh documentary film "Kieli Meken" - Discover Real Kazakhstan
MEET THE STANS
The actual Kazakhstan national anthem, the "Borat" parody, and an unfortunate incident.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
Saccromyces pastorianus (aka "effing lager yeast") IS a bottom-fermenting yeast. It was discovered by brewers who put their casks of beer in cold mountain caves, in the days before refrigeration.
Learn something on the subject, beer-snob wannabe.