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How Bronze Age man Enjoyed His Pint
BBC ^ | 8-12-2007

Posted on 08/12/2007 4:39:08 PM PDT by blam

How Bronze Age man enjoyed his pint

Declan Moore and Billy Quinn have an ancient beer theory

Bronze Age Irishmen were as fond of their beer as their 21st century counterparts, it has been claimed. Two archaeologists have put forward a theory that one of the most common ancient monuments seen around Ireland may have been used for brewing ale.

Fulacht fiadh - horseshoe shaped grass covered mounds - are conventionally thought of as ancient cooking spots.

But the archaeologists from Galway believe they could have been the country's earliest breweries.

To prove their theory that an extensive brewing tradition existed in Ireland as far back as 2500BC, Billy Quinn and Declan Moore recreated the process.

After just three hours of hard work - and three days of patiently waiting for their brew to ferment - the men enjoyed a pint with a taste of history attached.

Three hundred litres of water were transformed into a "very palatable" 110 litres of frothy ale.

The archaeologists are producing their fourth batch of beer

"It tasted really good," said Mr Quinn, of Moore Archaeological and Environmental Services (Moore Group).

"We were very surprised. Even a professional brewer we had working with us compared it favourably to his own.

"It tasted like a traditional ale, but was sweeter because there were no hops in it."

Mr Quinn said it was while nursing a hangover one morning - and discussing the natural predisposition of all men to seek means to alter their minds - that he came to the startling conclusion that fulachts could have been the country's earliest breweries.

The two archaeologists set out to investigate their theory in a journey which took them across Europe in search of further evidence. On their return, they used an old wooden trough filled with water and added heated stones.

After achieving an optimum temperature of 60-70°C they began to add milled barley and approximately 45 minutes later simply baled the final product into fermentation vessels.

The men have since made two more batches of beer - the second was stronger and the third was "a disaster" - but they have started work on batch number four which the hope will taste as good as their first.

The archaeologists' experiment is described in detail in next month's edition of the magazine, Archaeology Ireland.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: beer; bronzeage; fulachtfiadh; godsgravesglyphs; irish; oenology; pint; truthbehindmyths; zymurgy
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To: SevenofNine; monkapotamus

Damn Monk Looter guy been for years and years he is original guy he is immortal you can’t rid of Looter guy


He seemed to be the only one in the entire city of New Orleans who knew what the hell he was doing! Maybe this explains why!


21 posted on 08/12/2007 5:34:26 PM PDT by Grizzled Bear ("Does not play well with others.")
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To: blam

Also remember that beer is food. Beer has a lot of calories, and is a lot easier to make than barley bread, which is a pain and involves a lot of hard work.

Barley does have the advantage that it is easier to malt, which means to germinate then dry before the plant grows. This produces the enzymes needed to convert its carbohydrates to sugars, which are needed for brewing.

It also grows in cold and salty ground, even colder than where rye will grow.

So either you have to dry it, hull it, grind it, etc., to make bread, or just mash it up for beer.


22 posted on 08/12/2007 5:35:29 PM PDT by Popocatapetl
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To: blam

Better living through archaeology!


23 posted on 08/12/2007 5:36:40 PM PDT by Coyoteman (Religious belief does not constitute scientific evidence, nor does it convey scientific knowledge.)
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To: Grizzled Bear; quantim; spinestein; 5Madman2; DTogo; Horatio Gates; Ribeye; decal; B Knotts; ...
Outstanding Ping GB.

I live for articles like this and am fascinated with the close correlation between civilization and beer.



On or off the Homebrewers Ping List, let me know.

Cheers,

knewshound

Brew Your Own.
24 posted on 08/12/2007 5:37:22 PM PDT by knews_hound (In order to not be banned, I no longer discuss Politics here.)
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To: Coyoteman
Better living through archaeology!

Now we need to find the ancient site where they made pretzels!

25 posted on 08/12/2007 5:37:42 PM PDT by Grizzled Bear ("Does not play well with others.")
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To: Grizzled Bear
And Corn Nuts.
26 posted on 08/12/2007 5:39:35 PM PDT by decal (Be honest, now - does this tagline make me look fat?)
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To: Grizzled Bear
Now we need to find the ancient site where they made pretzels!

I'll keep an eye out!

But I do archaeology in the western US, and I suspect we need to look to the Old World for the beer munchies!

27 posted on 08/12/2007 5:40:08 PM PDT by Coyoteman (Religious belief does not constitute scientific evidence, nor does it convey scientific knowledge.)
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To: blam
The men have since made two more batches of beer - the second was stronger and the third was "a disaster" - but they have started work on batch number four which the hope will taste as good as their first.

It makes me wonder if there is something magic about yeast, because that parallels my experience as a teenager.

My Irish grandmother was reminiscing about Prohibition. she lived in PA at the time, and "Felt sorry for her German neighbors who missed their beer".

So she regaled us with "Taking a can of Blue Ribbon Hop Flavored Barley Malt syrup, five pounds of sugar and five gallons of water and a yeast cake and...."

At some point that Spring, puzzled by the sudden popularity of the neighborhood nerd, my sister discovered our "Down by the pond" brewery, capping machine nailed to a stump, and a covered pottery vessel liberated from the cellar. She squealed. My father busted us, and was yelling and lecturing. The bottles were on strings, floating low in the pond, and were staying a pleasant 50° or so.

I pulled one in and opened it and handed it to him.

His eyes popped out and he said, "GEt all this stuff into the cellar!!"

I made it for years, and actually miss it, when I remember it. I may just dust off the old skills..it was full bodied and very malty, no doubt not a Great Beer, but still...

I wonder if that malt syrup is still around? It was a large can with (haha) Muffin recipes on the side!

28 posted on 08/12/2007 5:44:56 PM PDT by Gorzaloon (Food imported from China = Cesspool + Flavr-Straw™)
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To: Popocatapetl
"Also remember that beer is food. Beer has a lot of calories, and is a lot easier to make than barley bread, which is a pain and involves a lot of hard work."

And, the process kills all the (possibly deadly) bacteria.

Diluted wine was often used to sterilize water.

29 posted on 08/12/2007 5:46:07 PM PDT by blam (Secure the border and enforce the law)
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To: SevenofNine
Looter guy been for years and years he is original guy he is immortal you can’t rid of Looter guy

Yes, he has turned his life around.

He has taken a shower, gotten a job and learned proper English.

30 posted on 08/12/2007 5:51:32 PM PDT by humblegunner (Word up!)
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To: blam

Why can’t I do “scientific” research projects like this? [I’m a geologist, I can only study what kinds of rocks the prehistoric men threw at each other when they were drunk]


31 posted on 08/12/2007 6:06:44 PM PDT by rockprof
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To: rockprof

From what I know about geologists, I’m sure they’d be pretty good at this kind of “research”.


32 posted on 08/12/2007 6:23:53 PM PDT by seowulf
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To: blam

What I would like to know is how it only took three days to brew the beer?


33 posted on 08/12/2007 6:42:47 PM PDT by Red_Devil 232 (VietVet - USMC All Ready On The Right? All Ready On The Left? All Ready On The Firing Line!)
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To: blam

The guy on the right reminds me of Martin Short!


34 posted on 08/12/2007 6:46:28 PM PDT by Red_Devil 232 (VietVet - USMC All Ready On The Right? All Ready On The Left? All Ready On The Firing Line!)
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To: Red_Devil 232

Martin Short as Ed Grimely


35 posted on 08/12/2007 6:51:27 PM PDT by Red_Devil 232 (VietVet - USMC All Ready On The Right? All Ready On The Left? All Ready On The Firing Line!)
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To: Popocatapetl
So either you have to dry it, hull it, grind it, etc., to make bread, or just mash it up for beer.

I'll go for making beer. Less work, more fun.

36 posted on 08/12/2007 6:55:19 PM PDT by LibKill
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To: blam
"Yeah, so we like to loosen up a bit after work. Got a problem with that?"


37 posted on 08/12/2007 6:58:33 PM PDT by Larry Lucido (Hunter 2008)
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To: Gorzaloon

“I wonder if that malt syrup is still around? It was a large can with (haha) Muffin recipes on the side!”

I still see malt syrup in grocery stores. I buy mine by the pound at the Brewer’s supply. I remember my mother telling me about my grandfather making beer during prohibition and the bottles exploding in the cellar. It made my grandmother furious that he was making beer but she didn’t mind at all that he was a bootlegger for my uncle down in Hickman County Tennessee. Go figure.


38 posted on 08/12/2007 7:14:07 PM PDT by dljordan
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To: blam
In Bolivia they make a corn beer.
Women masticate the corn and spit it into a crock.
They do put cheese cloth over it to keep out most bugs while it is fermenting.
Nasty stuff.
39 posted on 08/12/2007 7:25:49 PM PDT by HuntsvilleTxVeteran (Remember the Alamo, Goliad and WACO, It is Time for a new San Jacinto)
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To: blam
Interesting. They might be onto something. The process sounds similar to a couple of other brewing techniques:

Sahti

Steinbeer

40 posted on 08/12/2007 7:42:07 PM PDT by Tench_Coxe
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