Whether you’re a cook, baker, or a homebrewer, you’ll know that experimenting is what makes the process of creating something from scratch so much fun. It may take a significant investment of time and money to perfect your creation, but the experimentation process is sometimes even more rewarding than the results.
Dylan McDonnell was already an experienced homebrewer when he came up with the idea to create a beer similar to what the ancient Egyptians would have imbibed. Though he didn’t find an exact recipe to follow, he certainly did his research, combing the Ebers Papyrus for references to beer. The ancient text, written around 1,550 B.C., mentioned beer around 75 times, alongside hundreds of medicinal remedies.
The eight most common brewing ingredients turned out to be sycamore figs, desert dates, golden raisins, Yemeni honey, black cumin, juniper berries, carob fruit, and frankincense. McDonnell chose purple Egyptian barley and emmer wheat (also known as farro) for the base of his beer. Amazingly, he was able to source a strain of yeast extracted from a 2,850-year-old piece of pottery found in Israel, with the help of Primer’s Heritage Yeast, a collaborative venture headed by archaeologists, microbiologists, and brewing experts.
Hops was notably absent from the brew, so the flavor of the resulting concoction lacks the bitterness associated with many popular beer styles. McDonnell’s beer, which he eventually named Sinai Sour, was most similar to the German gose beer style, which is somewhat tart and a little salty, with floral and fruity notes. Like many modern brews, Sinai Sour is 5% alcohol by volume, so it can be drunk just like any other beer.
McDonnell estimates that brewing a 10-gallon batch of the Egyptian-inspired beer (which he did in his backyard) cost him around $1,000. That's far more expensive than a typical batch of home-brewed beer. But he considers the experience to have been worth it for the chance to taste something similar to what the ancient Egyptians would have quaffed.
Bottling the past:
- McDonnell, who works as a nonprofit operations manager and has a master’s degree in Middle Eastern studies, was inspired to undertake his historical brewing project when he read about Seamus Blackley baking sourdough bread using a strain of 4,500-year-old yeast from an Old Kingdom pottery vessel and ancient grains such as barley, einkorn, and kamut.
- Though you probably won’t find Sinai Sour served at any restaurants or bars anytime soon, McDonnell plans to publish a modified version on the Primer’s Yeast website, so other homebrewers can attempt it for themselves.
- Recreating the alcoholic beverages of the past is a passion shared by brewers around the world. In 2018, the Australian brewing company James Squire created a porter-style ale based on 220-year-old beer discovered onboard the Sydney Cove, which sank near Tasmania in 1797.
