[SunkenCiv]

Brock University professor anxious to dive on Iron Age shipwreck
The Standard (St. Catharine’s Ontario) | Saturday, December 29, 2007 | Samantha Craggs
Posted on 12/29/2007 6:52:12 PM PST by SunkenCiv
14 posted on 01/02/2008 10:56:06 PM PST by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1945781/posts?page=14#14

[snip] Apropos of nothing, I re-watched that Helen of Troy documentary with Bettany Hughes; she and an archaeologist discussed the analysis of some Mycenaean jars which had been used for a mixture of retsina, barley beer, and honey mead. So of course they had to try it, and both praised the flavor. Of course, it must be pretty potent. Maybe this is what Homeric characters were doing when they’re described as “mingling wine” (it’s generally thought it refers to dilution with water). [end]

[Tax-chick]

How do they know the Greeks drank beer, mead, and wine at the same time, instead of at different times from the same cup?

[DallasDeb]

I have had homemade mead before—I’d love to drink nothing but it (if I were much of an alocholo-drinking person).

[Candor7]

Brock University professor anxious to dive on Iron Age shipwreck>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Dr.Elizabeth Greene, please dive on Sunken Civ ! The barnacles come off easier.

LOL

[Renfield]

I can’t imagine that anything containing retsina in any amount possess a good flavor. That stuff is ghastly.

If you’ve never had it, imagine a glass of Chardonnay, with a couple of spoonfuls of Pine-Sol stirred in.....

[AnalogReigns]

You and I can actually buy "mingled beer" based on the residue found in vessels the article is talking about.

Dogfish Head brewing of Delaware markets a beer called "Midas Touch" which is barley wort (raw beer) fermented together (not just mixed later) with honey and saffron...

I've served it at parties and its a big hit...even with people who really don't like beer.

From Dogfish Head's website:

This recipe is the actual oldest-known fermented beverage in the world! Our recipe showcases the known ingredients of barley, white Muscat grapes, honey & saffron found in the drinking vessels in King Midas' tomb! Somewhere between a beer, wine and mead, this smooth, dry ale will please with Chardonnay or I.P.A. drinker alike.

9.0% abv

20 ibu

Calorie content (per 12-ounce serving): approx. 307

Tasting Notes: Honey, saffron, papaya, melon, biscuity, succulent.

Food pairing recomendations: Pan-Asian dishes, risotto, curries, baked fish and chicken.

Glass recommendation: White Wine

Comparable wine style: Sauterne Champagne

If you like our Midas Touch, try our Zwaanend'ale - it has some similar honey characteristics! Of course, you'll have to come to Delaware during the 2006 375th Anniversary celebration because the beer is limited release (only in Delaware, only in 2006!)

More on Midas... His golden touch may have conferred fabulous wealth on King Midas, but he nearly starved to death when even his food and drink were converted into the precious metal. The well-known legend is based on an actual ruler of the ancient kingdom of Phrygia in central Turkey around 700 B.C. Under a huge mound at the capital of Gordion, a University of Pennsylvania Museum expedition in 1957 excavated an intact burial chamber which likely belonged to King Midas himself. The body of a 60-year-old male was laid out in state on a thick pile of purple and blue-dyed textiles inside a unique log coffin.

Most remarkably, the tomb held the largest Iron Age drinking set ever found--157 vessels, including a ram-headed and lion-headed situla--for preparing, serving, drinking and libating a special beverage at the funerary feast of the king. The secrets of the beverage were revealed by the new methods of Molecular Archaeology. Dr. Patrick McGovern of the Museum discovered that the residues inside the vessels belonged to a "Phrygian cocktail," which combined grape wine, barley beer and honey mead. Starting with the ancient chemical evidence, Dogfish Head Brewery "re-created" a marvelous golden elixir, truly touched by King Midas.

Here are just some of the comments made about Midas Touch by world-renown beer expert, Michael Jackson... "A wonderfully complex beer, a wonderfully delicate beer, a dangerous thing, a great drink to welcome people to a party... Fill your bath full of ice, put some bottles of Midas Touch on there a serve it in champagne flutes. Not some freak of nature, not some gimmick, it's something to be taken very seriously... It used to be wine... but King Midas touched it and turned it to gold!

CHEERS!