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Was ancient Sumerian beer alcohol free ?

By T.K. Randall
January 22, 2012 · Comment icon

21 comments

Image Credit: sxc.hu

The beer variant enjoyed by the ancient Sumerians may not have contained any alcohol at all.

Details of ancient Mesopotamian brewing practices were researched by the late Peter Damerow who examined ancient texts and 4000-year-old cuneiform writings to learn as much as possible about them. He eventually concluded that the end product, while popular, would have been quite unlike other beverages and would not have contained any alcohol. "Given our limited knowledge about the Sumerian brewing processes, we cannot say for sure whether their end product even contained alcohol," he wrote.

The fermented cereal beverage enjoyed by Sumerians, so-called Sumerian beer, may have been alcohol-free, suggests a recent review of ancient Sumerian practices.

Source: Live Science | Comments (21)

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Recent comments on this story

#12 Posted by Imaginarynumber1 12 years ago

Alcohol free beer is like a book without words. Couldn't have said it better myself. I never started drinking beer for the taste....

#13 Posted by rashore 12 years ago

I could see the stuff being non-alcoholic. After all, we ferment up sourkraut and kimchee and those aren't alcoholic. Fermenting is just as much a non-alcoholic preservation process as it is an alcohol producing one. I think it's probably more likely that it did have alcohol in it though.

#14 Posted by randym23 12 years ago

a lot of beers were low-alcohol. The fermentation process was to make a safe liquid to drink, not to create something to get drunk. Wine was generally used for that. Water wasn't very safe back in those days. To many sources of water were also used as bathing areas and sewers, so you didn't really drink it from the source.You either boiled it or made it into beer.

#15 Posted by BiffSplitkins 12 years ago

Alcohol free beer is like a book without words. Very true. It's also like driving a sports car with an automatic transmission or drinking decaffeinated coffee... WHY?

#16 Posted by and then 12 years ago

PLEASE tell me it's a mistake. Mouthy Mormons I can deal with but holier than thou Sumerians? Too much to be borne.

#17 Posted by Conrad Clough 12 years ago

I am mystified by the first sentence of the article... would alcohol free beer really be 'enjoyed'?

#18 Posted by orangepeaceful79 12 years ago

I am mystified by the first sentence of the article... would alcohol free beer really be 'enjoyed'? If fermentation of the sugars from the grains occurred then there would absolutely have been alcohol in it, unless the Sumerians boiled it after fermentation to remove the alcohol, which seems unlikely. HOWEVER if during the brewing process the grains did not reach the proper temperatures, allowing the starches therein to convert to fermentable sugars, it is possible that the sumerians could have made drinks with no alcohol. Also the amount of alcohol in the beer would have been dependent on sev... [More]

#19 Posted by Leonardo 12 years ago

...Sumerian beer, may have been alcohol-free... Homer Simpson does not approve of your so-called 'civilisation', Sumerians!

#20 Posted by Anne-Marie 12 years ago

Ouch! I'm an aussie and I like my beer, especially after a hard night working. Mind you, I never started drinking it for the taste either. From my knowledge though Randy is right, water sources back in those days weren't all that safe, but that wasn't why sumerians brewed beer. It was done more as a religious thing. And yes, apparently it was alcoholic cos when the babylonians took over they offered guests preparations to ward off hangovers. You'll never guess what these preparations were usually dissolved in though... yep, that's right, beer. Lol

#21 Posted by orangepeaceful79 12 years ago

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