A Utah man has used ancient brewing techniques and ingredients to bring the flavors of the past to modern palates.
He recreated the drink that was once freely consumed at the pharaohs’ courts and consumed daily by ordinary ancient Egyptians.
His beer was made from yeast that was almost 3,000 years old, and the recipe was found on a 3,500-year-old Egyptian papyrus.
The beer was created by Dylan McDonnell, a homebrewer and non-profit operations manager.
He has a master’s degree in Middle Eastern studies and lives in Mill Creek, Utah. So how did McDonnell revive the drink in the first place?
During the pandemic, he heard about a man who was baking sourdough using a 4,500-year-old yeast strain.
McDonnell wondered if something similar could be done with beer, so he studied the phenomenon for three years.
He began by reading the Ebers Papyrus, an Egyptian document dating to around 1550 BCE that contains hundreds of prescriptions claiming to treat or cure a variety of ailments, including crocodile bites and male baldness.
He found that there were about 75 recipes that called for beer, and was able to narrow it down to the most common ingredients.
Sign up for the Chip Chick newsletter to get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
