What Did Beer Taste Like 3,000 Years Ago? Egyptian Beer Recipe Brewed Using Ancient Yeast

Ancient Origins ^ | 07/06/2026 | RamseyHardin

[Adder]

A recent quirky project is challenging the taste buds of modern beer drinkers. Can a beer be made from yeast that’s nearly 3,000 years old, in combination with a 3,500-year-old Egyptian papyrus? The man behind this historic brew is Dylan McDonnell, a homebrewer and nonprofit operations manager. He holds a Master’s in Middle Eastern studies. During the pandemic, McDonnell heard about a man who was using a 4,500-year-old yeast strain to bake sourdough bread.

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TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: beer

[Adder]

"In the end, McDonnell produced a beer similar to a gose, a German-style beer with a tart, slightly salty taste. The gose produced is around 5% alcohol by volume and even features notes of apricot, with a floral aftertaste. The flavor tastes more like mead or cider than beer because it doesn’t contain any hops, the green, pinecone-shaped flowers that contribute bitterness."

"Mmmm...beer"

[ComputerGuy]

Beer without hops.

[equaviator]

Hints of sand with an earthy vibe.

[tired&retired]

Beer is proof that God Loves us.

A good beer is one that you like.

Occasionally, I enjoy a Belgian Farmhouse Ale, a Lambic with the special notes of wild yeast strains.

Most Americans only enjoy the sweet sugary lambics like Lindemans Framboise or Kriek. I also enjoy the complex sours at the other end of the spectrum, my favorite being La Cantillon. These beers are like fine wine getting better with age.

I would love to taste the old Egyptian beer recipe.

[tired&retired]

Per the article:

There were eight items shared in the majority of recipes: Egyptian balsam fruit (desert dates), Yemeni Sidr honey, sycamore figs, black cumin, juniper berries, Israeli golden raisins, carob fruit, and frankincense.

Sure doesn’t follow the German Beer Purity Laws.

[Tench_Coxe]

There is sahti, a beer brewed by filtering the wort through juniper (Boston Brewing Company had a version for a few years), and heather ales (Fraoch is a good example).

[Sirius Lee]

McDonnell heard about a man who was using a 4,500-year-old yeast strain to bake sourdough bread.

And immediately thought “why would you waste time making bread when you can make beer?” Good man!

[Tench_Coxe]

I like saisons. But some of the lambics I have tried have an aftertaste this is reminiscent of a post puke. No thanks on those.

Oddly enough, it doesn't surprise me about a 4500 year old yeast producing something like a gose.

[Tench_Coxe]

That’s why you have abbeys today that still are known for beer, like Kloster Andechs. See, it was a work around about that food business during periods of fasting.

[Texas Eagle]

Bud Light.

[Skwor]

FTA

"Egyptian balsam fruit (desert dates), Yemeni Sidr honey, sycamore figs, black cumin, juniper berries, Israeli golden raisins, carob fruit, and frankincense, Egyptian barley and emmer wheat. Also strain of yeast which had originally been taken from a piece of pottery in Israel. The set strain of yeast dates to 850 BC, but what makes this find particularly fascinating is that the Philistines likely used the same yeast to make beer."

Basically, liquid bread, keeps the workers pumped full of calories and a little tipsy, makes them easier to manage :)

[ComputerGuy]

Liquid bread. I’m going to remember that.