Saturday, January 23, 2010

Nerd Beer


On an inauspicious Saturday night with little money and no plans, my husband and I hopped into our car went for mexican food and then began a quest.  He had come home earlier that week and shared with me a fascinating article he'd read in the UPenn Gazette about McGovern, the director of UPenn's Bio molecular Laboratory, and Calagione, the founder of Dogfish Head Brewery coming together to brew "Ancient Ales".  

"McGovern, the scientific director of the Bio molecular Archaeology Laboratory for Cuisine, Fermented Beverages, and Health at the Penn Museum, has spent the last two decades on the trail of ancient wines and beers. Scraping the gunk out of old cauldrons and pottery sherd's, he has found evidence of alcoholic beverages as far apart in space and time as Iron Age Turkey and Neolithic China. Some of his discoveries have been surprising. Some have been bizarre. Using tools like mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography, McGovern has deciphered, with unprecedented exactitude, the ingredients of fermented beverages brewed as far back as 9,000 years ago. 

Calagione has helped him put some of that evidence to a literal taste-test. Together they have reverse-engineered four archaic grogs. Each started out as an academic exercise, but the project has taken on a commercial life of its own. Two have won medals at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Colorado. One, a mixed wine/beer/mead concoction reconstructed from McGovern’s analysis of a drinking set buried with the legendary King Midas circa 700 B.C., has won more awards than anything else Dogfish Head makes. "
- UPenn Gazette

Read the full article at:
http://www.upenn.edu/gazette/0110/feature1_1.html

That's right!  An archaeologist has just spent part of his career analyzing ancient ruins to figure out what their poison was.  Then a local brewer (Dogfish calls Milton Delaware home) says, "Hey, how about I just take those findings and turn it into some tasty concoctions so people can experience what ancient civilizations experienced."  Say no more!  I'm sold!  It's really a nerd meets libation love story and I fell in love.  So, archaeologist scrapes ancient barrels.  Brewer brews concoctions and on a cold January night a couple of enthusiasts hop into a car with a mission.  

First we went to a local store that sells beer.  No go.  Then we went to a large beer distributor, but to no avail.  Finally we went to the Blue Dog Cafe in Valley Forge Road in Lansdale.  This is a bar I frequent to grab a stout and edit my photos in peace on Monday nights.  So, I was pleased to find they did not disappoint.  They hosted a variety of the beers mentioned in the article at varying, but reasonable prices.  We assembled a six pack and made our way back home.

We had agreed that we were extremely interested in "The Midas Touch" as it infused elements of wine and beer together.  Seeing as we both love wine and beer, but rarely drink any hard liquor, this sounded brilliant to us.  Perhaps our "kill two birds with one stone", is over kill, but never the less, we agreed to snag a few of these for our six pack.

I have to say The Midas Tough is gold!  The flavors are unique and distinct, but not over powering.   One can taste the fruity influences.  However, they do not subtract from the dominating hops flavor.  I recommend any beer, wine or cultural enthusiast hurry out and snag a brew or two before they're gone.  If you decide you can't get enough then certainly visit the brewery, which is practically in your back yard if you live in the tri-state area. (I mean, it's Delaware.  How long can it take to get to any point in that state? P.S. No sales tax, score!)  I plan to go on a tour, myself in the near future.  Maybe I'll see you there and we can share a pint together.

www.dogfish.com




1 comment:

  1. I've been inspired....

    Folks from ancient times
    Brewed beer that required no limes
    It dulled their pain
    and numbed their brains
    as they slept it off under the pines

    ps- come check out the useless stuff i'm saying at http://noexcuse2beheard.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete