Archaeology & History

World's oldest brewery discovered in Israel

By T.K. Randall
September 16, 2018

Image: Mug of Beer
Credit: Steven Walling / CC BY-SA 4.0 (adapted) The discovery was made by a team of researchers who had been studying the Natufian people - semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers who lived in the region during the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods.

Traces of beer made using wheat and barley were found in stone mortars on the cave floor.

The find is important because it not only pushes the date of the first beer brewing back several thousand years but also suggests that it was more than just a side product of bread making."This accounts for the oldest record of man-made alcohol in the world," said study leader Li Liu.

The beer that these ancient people would have brewed was a lot different to today's beverages in that it was much weaker and had a consistency more like porridge than an actual drink.

Its creation involved germinating the grain, then heating the mash and fermenting it with wild yeast.

It's happy hour somewhere! Archaeologists have found what they believe is the world's oldest site for alcohol production, saying the beer-like beverage may have been served in ceremonies some 13,000 years ago 🍺 https://t.co/164FD4AA44

— AFP news agency (@AFP) September 13, 2018

Source: BBC News

Tags: Beer, Israel