Brewers Concoct Ancient Egyptian Ale ("..tastes very different from today's beer.")

BBC On-Line | Saturday, 3 August, 2002 | staff writer

[yankeedame]

Saturday, 3 August, 2002, 10:06 GMT 11:06 UK

Brewers concoct ancient Egyptian ale

Did King Tut sup on the Old Kingdom recipe?

A Japanese beer maker has taken a 4,400-year-old recipe from Egyptian hieroglyphics and produced what it claims is a brew fit for the Pharaohs.

The Kirin Brewery Co. has called the concoction Old Kingdom Beer.

It has no froth, is the colour of dark tea and carries an alcohol content of 10% - about double most contemporary beers.

Sakuji Yoshimura, an Egyptologist at Waseda University in Tokyo, helped transcribe the recipe from Egyptian wall paintings.

Kirin spokesman Takaomi Ishii said: ''It has a taste very different from today's beer. It tastes a little like white wine.''

Research purposes

The beer is based on barley, but does not use hops, which give modern beer its bitter taste, Mr Ishii said.

Drinkers will have to stick to normal ales. Old Kingdom is not for sale

However, don't expect the brew to be drawn from a pump in your local.

Kirin has no plans to sell Old Kingdom commercially, and said it developed the beer for research purposes.

The 36 litres (eight gallons) brewed in the current batch will be presented at a conference of the Master Brewers Association of America in Texas in October.

Evidence of beer making in Egypt dates back to the 10th century BC.

In 1996, British beer maker Scottish and Newcastle sold a limited edition, 1,000-bottle batch of beer brewed according to an ancient Egyptian recipe.

A bottle of its Tutankhamen Ale sold for £50 ($78).

[ikka]

So King Tut drank something that tasted like white zinfandel?

[snicker]

[southernnorthcarolina]

And for a tasty snack with that Old Kingdom Beer... here ya go.

Like Budweiser and pretzels. Or not.

[Big Bunyip]

An ancient Egyptian prayer, repeated much as we say "God bless you," was, "Give us our beer and onions" -- from which we can deduce that the pyramid builders were a cheerfully devout lot with really bad breath.

[dennisw]

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20020221b3.htm

[Treebeard]

Uh...yeah...research! That's what we'll call it! Sign me up.

[Redcloak]

I've heard it suggested that the domestication of grains wasn't for the purpose of making bread, but rather for brewing beer.

[laredo44]

An ancient Egyptian prayer, repeated much as we say "God bless you," was, "Give us our beer and onions" -- from which we can deduce that the pyramid builders were a cheerfully devout lot with really bad breath.

Sounds like a prescription for a lot of gas. Any correlation between this period in Egypt and the disappearance of an Ice Age?

[WoofDog123]

I would bet it isn't unrecognizable from belgian gueuze, wild-yeast fermentation without flavor from hops (gueuze does have aged hops added to protect from disease, but they impart little if any taste). Gueuze at first whiff is a sour somewhat vinegary smell, definitely an acquired taste but I have become quite fond of it. Too bad they don't actually describe the taste of the beer in this article...

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

That article said they "may" market it. I think that would be great.. many people are allergic to hops! It would be fun to taste what they used to drink. Interesting!

[pgkdan]

No thanks...I'll stick to my Bud and pretzels. Dried lizards!!! I'm going to need a 6 pack just to erase the thought.

[SunkenCiv]

from 2002. I think we've had a topic about this on GGG, but just consider this another round. ;')

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest -- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

[ValerieUSA]

So they served it in Texas in October, 2002, and once again no one bought me a drink.....

[SunkenCiv]

Hey, maybe they saw that red hair, and didn't want to see you get alcohol in your system. Can't be too careful, y'know. ;')

[SunkenCiv]

since I've said g'night, I won't ping this one below to the list until later:

Chemistry Used to Unlock Secrets in Archeological Remains
VOA News ^ | 27 Apr 2002 12:35 UTC
Written by Laszlo Dosa , Voiced by Faith Lapidus
Posted on 04/30/2002 6:10:04 PM PDT by vannrox
http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/675661/posts

[SW6906]

This looks like something you might be interested in........

[Bellflower]

Too bad they don't actually describe the taste of the beer in this article...

Hey, what about the recipe for home brewers?

[Sam Cree]

The Milwaukee Brewers?

[Cloud William]

I've heard of this stuff before. Comicus (Stand-Up Philosopher and Waiter) was told to "push the malt wine"...

"Judas... would you like a beverage?"

[SunkenCiv]

Just updating the GGG information, not sending a general distribution.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
Gods, Graves, Glyphs PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)