An Ancient Medicine (Enjoy in Moderation)

Today’s NY Times  article An Ancient Medicine (Enjoy in Moderation), by Natalie Angier, states that according to the World Health Organization, 39 nations out drink us with Luxembourg topping the list.  Patrick McGovern, archaeological chemist at U. Penn says that “[a]s far back as we can look, humans have had a love affair with fermented beverages. And it’s not just humans. From fruit flies to elephants, if you give them a source of alcohol and sugar, they love it.”  Natalie Angier reports that “[o]ne of the oldest known recipes, inscribed on a Sumerian clay tablet that dates back nearly 4,000 years, is for beer.  Chemical traces inside 9,000-year-old pottery from northern China indicate that the citizens of Jiahu made a wine from rice, grapes, hawthorn and honey, a varietal recently brought back to life by the intrepid palates at Dogfish Head Brewery in Delaware.”

Full article

Dogfish Head Brewery’s Chateau Jiahu, “uses pre-gelatinized rice flakes, Wildflower honey, Muscat grapes, barley malt, hawthorn fruit, and Chrysanthemum flowers. The rice and barley malt were added together to make the mash for starch conversion and degredation. The resulting sweet wort was then run into the kettle. The honey, grapes, Hawthorn fruit, and Chrysanthemum flowers were then added. The entire mixture was boiled for 45 minutes, then cooled. The resulting sweet liquid was pitched with a fresh culture of Sake yeast and allowed to ferment a month before the transfer into a chilled secondary tank.  Truly a unique beer!”

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