A 2700-Year Old Beer?

Earlier this year, I read about some of the interesting projects under development at Dogfish Head Brewery. One that caught my attention was an ale being created from a 2700-year old “recipe” that was decoded from pottery discovered in a tomb in central Turkey.

The story goes that University of Pennsylvania archeologists discovered what could have been the tomb of the real King Midas. Taking the Iron Age drinking set back to Penn Museum, a molecular archeologist analyzed the reside, providing the formula that became Dogfish head’s Midas Touch ale. I thought that whole process was fascinating.

So the ale includes barley, honey, white Muscat grapes, and saffron. To drink it quickly is to taste a honey beer. To savor it is to find the subtle flavors and the particular soft taste from the saffron. The scent is also very soft, pretty far removed from the hoppy beer that I often prefer.

Dogfish Head also has an ale developed from a 9000-year old recipe. I’ll get to that one of these days.