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Yeah, my wife, brother and his wife have all been roped in to help us figure out if these theories hold water... err... hold beer?

Thanks for asking. A TV show will be difficult to research online, but I'll give it a shot!

@Leadgolem, that would be amazing if true and would strongly support the burnt bappir hypothesis. Would it be possible to ask your mother where she learnt this from? Perhaps it is just age, which will get the better of all of us in the end, but there's a chance that it's real, so I'm cautiously...

Great point, I will need to do more research into the German lambic beers... hopefully my drive for authenticity will not force me to use Brett!

Ha, I take nerd to be the highest compliment :) I expect to be able to at least get a drinkable beer, I hope to be able to get a great beer, I dream of one day re-creating the original divine worshiped beer...

Interesting points. The fact that beer pre-dated bread by thousands of years would only further support the burnt bappir hypothesis, right? It would suggest that the addition of burnt bread was more likely to improve the taste of overly sweet beer that could already be made using semi-natural...

Yes, this is the current mainstream theory, but doesn't quite match the Sumerian stored food lists: http://sidurisadvice.com/Damerow.html Damerow's research is actually one of the major pieces of evidence in support of the burnt bappir hypothesis...

Thanks everyone for the links and videos! I am still working me way through them, thanks! Following my first "eureka" moment when I realized that the bappir the Mesopotamians cooked may have been, at least partially, burnt, I performed a simple preliminary taste test using burnt toast and...

Yes, the images show the Mesopotamians drinking from long straws directly from the large containers, in fact, the evidence of fitted lids in these images is one of the reasons I propose at least one highly regarded Mesopotamian beer was at least mildly carbonated...

Thanks, I am going to use the current commercial offerings as a jumping off point, but I think with some dedicated research we can get closer to a more authentic brew. I am not sure burnt bappir and lacto-bacteria have been used in the commercial brews to date...

No doubt they had a lot more variability than we get we modern technology, but the Sumerians seem to taken great efforts to reduce this variability using specilized equipment (for example certain settlements had fermenting vats half burried in the ground, maintaining a temp difference that...

Thanks, great link!

Actually, I think you are probably right that the beers would likely have been consumed during fermentation. While this would result in a lower alcohol content (thus less alcohol-induced euphoria) it would also have potentially helped keep the beer from spoiling. However, the theory that...

Thanks for the tip. I will give one a go, but I suspect that without the bitterness provided by the burnt bappir the result will be a unbalanced sickly sweet beer, would this be close to what you experienced? I guess I am going on faith here that the beer that the Mesopotamians worshiped in...

That's a perfect solution! I will get the bitterness from the burnt bappir, and the preservative qualities of these aged lambic hops without removing the essential taste of what our ancient ancestors drank. Thanks so much! I knew this was the right forum to figure out how to do this :)

I understand why they suggest serving the beer flat. It is probable that much of the Mesopotamian beers would have been completely flat. However, a careful examination of the Hymn to Ninkasi suggests at least one highly prized Mesopotamian ale was at least mildly carbonated, ref...

Awesome! Thank you, I appreciate the link.

I think malted spelt may have come a bit later, although I could be wrong on this one. Most of the research I have done on the analysis of the Hymn to Ninkasi suggests a recipe for an all barley beer. Unmalted barley for the bappir (burnt or not) and malted barley and date syrup(which they...

You're right, the use of HME in particular didn't feel right. You're not being negative you are just highlighting a weak point (use of hops) from the authenticity front. The reason I wanted to use at least some hops was because I could not understand how a beer with no bittering agent at all...

Great, thanks for the link!