Free Republic

This has cast doubt on the popular theory that Mesopotamian brewers used to crumble flat bread made from barley or emmer into their mash. The so-called "bappir" (Sumerian for "beer bread") is never counted as bread in the administrative texts, but in measuring units, like coarsely ground barley. Damerow also points out that the high degree of standardisation, which meant that the quantities of raw materials allocated to the brewers by the central administration remained exactly the same over long periods, sometimes even decades, makes it difficult to base any recipes on them. According to Damerow, even the "Hymn of...

ATLANTIC CITY - The world has waited too long. A Maryland man is in negotiations to bring the Beer Hall of Fame to Atlantic City. Or Orlando, Fla. Or Las Vegas. One of those three. Dennis E. Beuttner, 40, of Severna Park, Md., commissioner of the U.S. Beer Drinking Team, is still deciding. There are 90 million beer drinkers out there, he says. Where can they go? Aside from, of course, the local pub. "They have no Cooperstown," he lamented. "They have no basketball hall of fame." They need a place to celebrate their collective love of the brew. The...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. LONDON (Reuters) - British beer lovers have enlisted the support of a Sumerian goddess in their efforts to shake off the masculine image of their favorite tipple. Fed up with the drink's beer bellied image, the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) said on Tuesday it had adopted the goddess Ninkasi -- said to have created a recipe for beer 4,000 years ago -- as patron in a bid to attract more women to the pumps. "We think real British beer is something to be proud of and it should be marketed...