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About Me

7/31/2016

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Beer is proof that god loves us and wants us to be happy
     Benjamin Franklin

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Except that Franklin never said that. Nor is it true that the IPA was invented to last the journey to India, the Pilgrims went ashore because they ran out of Beer, or that Ale-Conners sat on benches to test the strength of beer. But that is one of the joys of learning and especially with studying the history of beer, you get to re-discover the truth and learn how things really happened.

Brewing has been a part of human material culture ever since the Neolithic. It is intertwined with religious, culinary, and ethnic traditions. As such, studying the history of brewing not only covers the scientific/technical development of an industry but also ourselves, our political games, economies, rites of passage, and daily rituals. That is why I decided to start researching it.

My dissertation focused on the Faroe Islands, with a pre-viking era settlement. Incidentally, there were some pots with potential beer residue, so my adviser and I decided to have a look. The results were inconclusive, and we were unable to modify our experiments to increase resolution due to time constraints. Hopefully in the future we will be able to try again, but in the meantime, the materials will sit in the storage area of the archaeological department. 

My fondest memory of my masters was sitting in the library with piles and piles of articles and text books on beer. Whether about beer in Africa, India, Asia, South America, drinking rituals to the legitimacy of residue analysis, it was really an endless exploration for more knowledge. An experience I never felt with biology.  

This blog, then, serves as a continuation of my studies. So, here you will find my jottings on academic papers, investigations, interviews, and brewing. Topics I hope to cover are the current knowledge of brewing archaeology, the roles beer played in the past, and the people acting behind the scenes.

Cheers!

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History of the Week (and some updates)

7/29/2016

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Updates

Firstly, I have the new spiffy timelytipple.com domain now! Plus, I know the RSS feeder wasn't working, but that should be taken care of (hopefully). Also spent a week in Italy vacationing and getting caught up on some reading and writing. So the next few blog posts are already in the pipeline!

​Also working on a few other side project that I hope to announce soon.

Alcohol History Links July 22 - 29th
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Pub Goers of the 1970s

The good peeps over at Boak and Bailey are undergoing a research project, it seems. If you drank in pubs during 1975 - 1981, drop them a line!
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Pulque's support of Agave crops

Good! I have had pulque only once (and can understand why it might not be to everyone’s taste), and really enjoyed it. Would be rad if it was more available.​
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Blessing the barrel

Religious views aside, nice to see the revival of a ritual.
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Archaeological Support

I hope something good comes out of this, but it may already be too late. It’s pretty grim in the archaeological world (and science in general, if you dont study medicine / engineering related things).
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Brewing Heritage Trail

“The trail will tell the story of Cincinnati’s beer culture by showcasing the city’s historic breweries and taverns through a series of plaques and murals."

Microbial diversity of Borassus akeasii wine

An academic journal was recently published on the microflora of palm wine from Burkina Faso. They monitored the fermentation of two palm wines during the time theyre traditionally produced and consumed. Their results showed different yeast and bacterial populations. Saccharomyces cerevisiae remained the only yeast in one fermentation, but was outcompeted by Corynebacterium sp, and Lactobacillus. I’ll have to do a full review of this later on as it seems like an interesting read.
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History of the Week

7/15/2016

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Alcohol History Links July 9 - 15

BREWING IN SAUK CITY

The journey of a man who decided to uncover the local brewing history in Wisconsin.

Brewing in Ghana

"Raised in Ghana’s once German-occupied Volta Region, Djameh was exposed to beer from an early age. His father was a German teacher, and often socialized with visiting Germans in need of translation services. They would drink German beer together, and it fascinated Djameh. He promised himself that he would learn to make it some day."

Story of Clement Djameh who recently opened Ghana's first microbrewery.  Clement started his brewing career by attending TU Munich, then moving back to Africa to brew with some of the big names. The brewery's website states that they make some indigenous African beers as well, so I hope some day I get to visit.

The History of the Stroud Brewery 

The history of the Stroud Brewery has been published in a new book by historian Marion Hearfield

Beer Caves in Iowa

Archaeologists out in Iowa City recently went exploring some old beer caves using 3D imaging known as LiDAR
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History of the Week

7/8/2016

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Alcohol History Links June 24 - July 8th

trough, mash and wort

Merryn goes over how the vast amounts of burnt mounds throughout Britain could be explained with trough style brewing. Would love to try brewing that way, seems like a lot of fun (but a lot of work at the same time).

Bringing It Back Bar: What to Do with Suze

A short history of Suze, a gentian root aperitif made without wine.

Revived yeast

The attempts at revival of a ‘45 million year old’ yeast found from fossilized amber discovered by Dr. Raul Cano in 1992. I’ll have to read the scientific article to see whether I trust his findings, but more yeast to brew with the better.

Brewing History in Arkansas

For the Historic Arkansas Museum’s 75th anniversary, a local brewery developed a historic beer that should be close to what the area’s first brewery would have made.​​
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The Session #113

7/1/2016

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Joining in on mass observations

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​Observation starts at 18:33
 
One man is sitting outside, drinking what appears to be a porter.
 
Above the entryway is a wooden plaque displaying the name of the pub, with Victorian-esque light fixtures adorning the outside wall.
 
Inside the pub are beer steins (Steinkruege) adorning wooden nooks, crannies, and display cases. The decorations are akin to a British pub, with the atmosphere to match. For the sake of anonymity, though, it is tough to go into detail about the place as it would be a total giveaway. But there is brewing memorabilia towards the back, with paintings of various beer labels and brewery logos.
 
This is an international craft beer bar and dedicates itself to beers from only one country. An idea normally afforded to the Belgians, and one which I hope catches on. It gives me more reasons to go out.
 
I order a pale ale. There are 19 taps, of which three are dedicated to cask ales. This is the only place (to my knowledge) that offers cask ale in Berlin, despite it not being a British pub. The beer styles range from pilsner to hefeweizen, a hopped bock to double IPA. It is one of the more impressive tap lists, but the majority of the beers are only from one brewery, despite it advertising as a craft beer bar, and not a brewery tap house.
 
There are also around 20 different bottles available, ranging from 11 to 40 euros in price.
 
An Italian woman walks up to the bar and greets the bartenders in a boisterous manner. While they exchange pleasantries, I stand in silence waiting for a freshly pulled beer.
 
I decide to sit outside, as the weather is agreeable and the bar is located in a nice neighborhood. There are six plants in the venue, hedges on the outside, with two trees shading the front patio. People walk by every other minute or so, always looking tempted to join in. Two others enter; this time German. They order a hefeweizen and a bock beer.
 
There are normally no TVs here, but given the European Championships, one is hanging in front of a window.
 
The Italian woman joins the man drinking outside. It appears they have organized a social gathering for a large group of internationals as they switched to English once more of them arrived. Their party eventually grows to eight. They’re all drinking different beer, but none of them have the hefeweizen or pilsner.
 
I finish up my pint and decide to sit inside next to the window. A couple walks in and start asking the bartender for advice on what to drink. Do bartenders get enough credit? It must get tiresome to recommend beer day in and day out.
 
The chef is preparing something, but it involves a giant wheel of cheese. Another man walks in, this time American. He seems to be the most talkative out of all the patrons, as he jumped from group to group trying to start a conversation. He is drinking the double IPA.
 
I try to distinguish what people are talking about, but it’s a touch difficult given the three different languages being spoken in here. Some are catching up; others are discussing the philosophy of death. Typical pub talk, really.
 
There are five people smoking, no vapes. Oddly enough, there are also five people with visible tattoos.
 
As I am about to leave, I notice an ‘American lager’ on tap. I am not aware of any American-style lager that is worthwhile, but to my surprise, it was a good beer despite my palate being wrecked after the session IPA.

It is now 20:02 when I leave, and there are sixteen people in the pub.
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    Jordan Rex

    Beer archaeologist

    From California, migrated to the UK to study,  drank in Berlin, now settled in Switzerland

    @timelytipple
    instagram.com/timelytipple/
    Untappd: Tikiwartooth

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