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Stone age beer! 9,000-year-old brew hits shelves this summer

scientificamerican.com — University of Pennsylvania molecular archaeologist Patrick McGovern first described the beverage in 2005 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences based on chemical traces from pottery in the Neolithic village of Jiahu in Northern China.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jun 6, 2009

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  • Spanq, on 06/06/2009, -0/+566,000, *****. If you're gonna get it wrong, at least get it wrong right.
  • jessenoob, on 06/06/2009, -3/+48IT'S OVER NINE THOU-
    Wait...never mind.
  • akchrs, on 06/06/2009, -2/+47"based on chemical traces from pottery"

    Scientist: That's weird, this beer tastes like urine.
  • inactive, on 06/06/2009, -1/+45Love that pic of that gal.... not much better than a German gal gussied up in one of those outfits hoisting a beer stein....
  • ShingoEX, on 06/06/2009, -1/+31Not this ***** again...
  • PlusTheBear, on 06/06/2009, -11/+34*6,000-year-old
  • RiMac, on 06/06/2009, -0/+21In high school, my bio teacher had this theory that the first civilizations formed for the sole purpose of brewing beer, a complex process necessitating a lot of cooperation. I'm definitely a believer.
  • LaughingMan89, on 06/06/2009, -0/+20Better luck next year.
  • Temo1, on 06/06/2009, -1/+18Dogfish is awesome.
  • MacEnvy, on 06/07/2009, -0/+15They found Bud Lite!
  • EpicSelekta, on 06/06/2009, -0/+15Let's party like it's 7000 BC

    *clubs someone*
  • ghatid, on 06/06/2009, -1/+139000 years ago, stone age? Not in China, bitches. We were ***** sipping tea and using our compasses to aim our gun powder-powered rockets.
  • theweegie, on 06/06/2009, -0/+12In the taste test you used to determine your opinion. What did you try first.. the beer or the *****?
  • EpicSelekta, on 06/06/2009, -0/+10Actually, that's dependent on which culture you're in. Some cultures are still in their stone age, some left it 7500 years ago. The term "stone age" refers to when a culture is using stone as the main material for tools and doesn't have a generalized end date.
  • frieddonuts, on 06/06/2009, -0/+10I am a very negative person, but the concept of beer is one of the few things that I can't find much to complain about. Beer is the best beverage ever devised in my opinion.
  • milomilomilo, on 06/06/2009, -1/+10Man! Beer 9,000 years ago.
    We've been finding ways to get high since the dawn of civilization!
    It's something you just can't legislate away, it's part of being human.
  • ghatid, on 06/06/2009, -0/+9We got bored, so we opiumed it up to wait for the rest of the world to catch up...you guys sure did take a long time...
  • inactive, on 06/06/2009, -4/+13And it took 7 days to ferment.
  • SummerofGeorge, on 06/06/2009, -0/+8YES

    take that you f-ing egyptians, the chinese win!
  • Mueritz, on 06/06/2009, -2/+9I like the Munich Oktoberfest
  • inactive, on 06/06/2009, -1/+8And so it was that Adam lured a young and naive Eve into bed with a bottle of apple puckers.
  • KarateMedia, on 06/06/2009, -0/+7It's actually a fairly common theory: http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/everything/scientist-de ...

    (first link I found, but a good one)

    Sounds good to me.
  • inactive, on 06/06/2009, -0/+7hmmmmmmm beer!
  • willbrown83, on 06/06/2009, -0/+7the theobroma from central america however might be better classified as a mead instead of a beer as there is no mention of a grain in the ingredients, especially if the alcohol is derived primarily from the honey... if the alcohol is from the fruits/berries mentioned - then it's a wine...
    technically speaking...
  • Capta1nA, on 06/06/2009, -0/+7Dogfish Head! www.dogfish.com
  • ZombieSociety, on 06/06/2009, -0/+7Fun fact: Contrary to popular belief, the earth is only 17 years old.
  • KarateMedia, on 06/06/2009, -0/+7I just tried a Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA last night with dinner. It was quite good, a great, full taste. And it's got a 9% ABV!

    I guess this will be their (roughly) 4,730,400,000 minute beer. I'll definitely keep an eye out for it.
  • bobbi21, on 06/06/2009, -0/+6I'm gonna say it was opium. all the war didn't help either.
  • nullcodes, on 06/06/2009, -0/+6With such a head start how come you pissed it away?
  • InMSWeAntitrust, on 06/06/2009, -1/+6Since the beginning of time, man has brewed the best beer ever.

    And this summer, prepare to taste it.

    Jackie Chan is--THE BREWER

    sorry, got carried away
    proceed to read that in the movie guy voice for added effect.
  • robbiedo, on 06/07/2009, -0/+4There is a reasonable argument that beer production was a large factor in the rise of the first Mesopotamian civilizations. Steady supply of beer motivates cooperation.
  • bitterbug, on 06/07/2009, -0/+4We've been getting drunk since BEFORE civilization.
    Gorillas, chimps, elephants, pink pigeons and more are examples of pre-civilized species that consume fermented berries and become intoxicated.
    There's no reason to exclude our earliest ancestors from the same behavior as far back as one could conceive.
  • dijkstra22, on 06/06/2009, -2/+6I don't count the last thousand because everyone has been so godless.
  • GeyserShitdick, on 06/07/2009, -0/+4Yes, you should avoid drinking containers.
  • btraxx, on 06/06/2009, -0/+4mmm 9,000 year old beer

    /homer
  • tonyteetime, on 06/06/2009, -0/+4strange brew
  • inactive, on 06/06/2009, -1/+4perhaps your glass of beer was contaminated by your dripping wet vagina

    edit: meant to respond to beatoff
  • deddiode, on 06/06/2009, -0/+3Theobroma, Chateau Jiahu, and Midas Touch are all based on ancient recipes.

    None are new for this year though.
  • MrJagil, on 06/06/2009, -0/+3bile is cool too
  • Wreckage, on 06/06/2009, -0/+3It's only recently (last 500 years or so) that they really started using hops in beer, so it won't taste much like anything on the market today.
  • nwhysee, on 06/07/2009, -0/+3Still better than budweiser.
  • getoffmybridge, on 06/06/2009, -0/+3Damn I hope I can find some
  • westquote, on 06/06/2009, -0/+3According to their site, this is old news... http://www.dogfish.com/brews-spirits/the-brews/occ ... Apparently, it was first released back in 2006. Perhaps it's just a typo on the site?
  • Ragzouken, on 06/06/2009, -3/+6And 'asshat' isn't old and overused?
  • deddiode, on 06/06/2009, -0/+3Nice to see craft brew get some play - kind of old news though.
  • masamunecyrus, on 06/07/2009, -0/+3If you live in northern California, you can enjoy 45,000,000 year old beer.
    http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/09/23/ancient-y ...
    http://www.fossilfuelsbrewingco.com/
  • damonic, on 06/06/2009, -1/+4Overused? Maybe. Still true? Yes.
  • wmuldoon, on 06/07/2009, -1/+4$20's? no nipple is worth 20 bones.

    @hoogs, happy bday, no it wasnt worth the wait, sorry, you shouldve been hammered at least once in the last five years.

    but yes, go to a titty bar on your 21st, drink and puke somewhere inappropriate, then explain how youll never do that again, till next weekend.
  • macromorgan, on 06/06/2009, -0/+3Stuff like this (and their high quality IPAs) are why I consistently tell people that Dogfish Head is the best brewery in America.
  • rinote, on 06/11/2009, -0/+2It was the damn mongorians.
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