Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

2,500-Year-Old Booze Brewed Up From Recipe Found In Iron Age Burial: Would you dare drink the forbidden brew?
IFLScience ^ | March 3, 2023 | Laura Simmons

Posted on 03/13/2023 8:39:40 PM PDT by SunkenCiv

Bones, ancient grooming tools, even gold – these are all things you might expect to find if you go poking around an Iron Age burial site. What you might not expect to find is your new favorite tipple. But, back in 2016, archaeologists were stunned to uncover a 2,500-year-old cauldron that contained the remnants of an ancient alcoholic beverage.

Project lead Bettina Arnold, from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, was investigating a burial mound – called a tumulus – dating back to between 400 and 450 BCE, when she and her team came across what appeared to be a bronze cauldron. But it wasn’t only the vessel itself that was largely intact...

That contents amounted to nearly 14 liters (3.7 gallons) of an unknown alcoholic beverage, that had been buried along with the occupant of the tumulus. As the researchers explained in a blog post, the cauldron full of booze, as well as the weapons he had been interred with... we can see how arriving in the afterlife with 14 liters of liquor could help with that.

Of course, the only logical next step for the team was to figure out if they could make some of the ancient brew and taste it for themselves. They enlisted the services of palaeobotanist Dr Manfred Rösch, who was able to analyze the cauldron contents and come up with a rough idea of the recipe...

The beverage was determined to have most likely been a type of mead called a braggot, whose origins go back way into the distant past, long before Chaucer mentioned it in his Canterbury Tales. And, luckily for Arnold and the team, one of the cellarmasters at local Milwaukee beer producers the Lakefront Brewery, Chad Sheridan, had a fair amount of experience brewing this particular drink.

(Excerpt) Read more at iflscience.com ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: beer; bettinaarnold; booze; braggot; canterburytales; chadsheridan; chaucer; donatefreerepublic; epigraphyandlanguage; godsgravesglyphs; heuneburg; ironage; lakefrontbrewery; manfredrosch; mead; middleages; milwaukee; oenology; swabia; zymurgy
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061 next last
To: Seruzawa

I can attest to the horrid taste when warm. It left an aftertaste that made a person want to yank their tongue out. But as the saying went. “Beggars can’t be choosers”- so we drank what we could get. The folks we used to work for would so etimes have “beer for guests” that they stored in their basement or s9mething, and it was usually warm... blech!


41 posted on 03/14/2023 7:19:36 AM PDT by Bob434
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Fresh Wind

Perfect!


42 posted on 03/14/2023 7:30:20 AM PDT by null and void (Soros funded judges and district attorneys have Detention Deficit Disorder)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

Comment #43 Removed by Moderator

To: Bob434
looks like motor oil can lol


44 posted on 03/14/2023 7:35:33 AM PDT by Bob434
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: Fresh Wind

LOL post of the day


45 posted on 03/14/2023 7:39:34 AM PDT by Lazamataz (The firearms I own today, are the firearms I will die with. How I die will be up to them.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: Bob434

Buckhorn beer (Olympia’s bargain brand) was pretty bad. The best you could say about it was that it was no worse warm than cold.


46 posted on 03/14/2023 7:41:32 AM PDT by HartleyMBaldwin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: HartleyMBaldwin

Ah Buckhorn beer the nectar of my misspent youth. However, during the 1980s I remember generic beer. It came in a white can with a black stencil label that just said BEER. Sold at the local grocery for like $3 a six pack. Suitable only as a lawn mower beer on a hot afternoon


47 posted on 03/14/2023 8:36:41 AM PDT by The Great RJ
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv

The display table appears to not be level.


48 posted on 03/14/2023 8:39:06 AM PDT by Sawdring
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: The Great RJ

I remember BEER. I think it was made by the Lucky brewery. Bohemia was another cheapo (89 cents a sixpack when I was in high school), and Heidelberg. The last $5 24-pack I got was Heidelberg, in the early 80s.

Yep, I drank my share of cheap beer back then. Rainier Ale was 6% alcohol and cheaper than Bud. Different times.


49 posted on 03/14/2023 8:48:13 AM PDT by HartleyMBaldwin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 47 | View Replies]

To: HartleyMBaldwin

lol- sounds delicious


50 posted on 03/14/2023 8:49:18 AM PDT by Bob434
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: TigersEye
An interesting recipe just the same.

It is.

Brewer Yeast for B12, meadowsweet for aspirin and settle your stomach , mint to soothing the tummy and freshen the breath, all in a lightly alcoholic (small beer) liquid to re-hydrate and give a light dose of ethanol.

That is a hangover remedy if I have ever heard one. All that is lacking is the plate of scrambled eggs with hot sauce and some dry toast.

51 posted on 03/14/2023 10:50:05 AM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear ("EATING... BABIES.... IS NOT.... COOL!" -Rath)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv

Beer ain’t a liquor!

That article sounds like it was written by a (shudder) wine drinker.


52 posted on 03/14/2023 2:13:54 PM PDT by Grimmy (equivocation is but the first step along the road to capitulation)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Harmless Teddy Bear

LOL

I always found the best hangover remedy for me was to find an open leftover beer, without a cigarette butt in it, and drink some of that flat warm swill.

That’s the only thing that ever worked for me. Thank goodness that’s all 4+ decades behind me. :)


53 posted on 03/14/2023 5:11:20 PM PDT by TigersEye (Woke is a cancer of the mind and humanity)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 51 | View Replies]

To: Bob434

I liked Biere LaRue 33 (I.e; “Tiger Piss”) but then again, it was cold and I was a lot younger back then.


54 posted on 03/14/2023 5:36:50 PM PDT by Chainmail (Harrassment, to be effective, must be continuous.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: TigersEye
I am a two drink max person myself which was why I was the designated driver from college on.

Got my (soft) drinks for free and no hangover. :0)

55 posted on 03/14/2023 5:39:20 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear ("EATING... BABIES.... IS NOT.... COOL!" -Rath)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 53 | View Replies]

To: Harmless Teddy Bear

Well, ... I can’t help it if you’re smarter than me! lol


56 posted on 03/14/2023 5:52:39 PM PDT by TigersEye (Woke is a cancer of the mind and humanity)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 55 | View Replies]

To: TigersEye
My cousin was the county sheriff. A DUI or D&D would have meant a Talk with my aunt. I would have done (or not done) anything to have avoided that.
57 posted on 03/14/2023 5:59:06 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear ("EATING... BABIES.... IS NOT.... COOL!" -Rath)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 56 | View Replies]

To: Chainmail

lol cat urine- nothing more foul smelling in my opinion- not sure i coulda drank that


58 posted on 03/14/2023 6:07:02 PM PDT by Bob434
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 54 | View Replies]

To: Bob434
Puts hair on your chest - and a maybe everywhere else too. We also used to steal huge cans of pineapple from the mess hall and then ferment the juice over a three-day period and then pour it through clean T-shirt to "filter" it. Then we had a Corpsman standing by with his aid bag while we drank it.

Those were the days!

59 posted on 03/14/2023 6:27:45 PM PDT by Chainmail (Harrassment, to be effective, must be continuous.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 58 | View Replies]

To: Chainmail

ive drank beer from a can the next mornign that had cigarettes in it and not barfed- but cat wiz smell? Uggh-


60 posted on 03/14/2023 6:33:46 PM PDT by Bob434
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 59 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson