[imagesource:Wikicommons]

If you have a friend who is always going on about his 20-year-old KWV, you might want to send him this link.

Back in 2016, archaeologists from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee were digging through an Iron Age site when they happened on a 2 500-year-old bronze cauldron within an ancient burial mound. Along with the ‘normal’ finds, this cauldron contained what was believed to be about 14 litres of an unknown alcoholic beverage. Now, after examining the contents along with a palaeobotanist, scientists have managed to brew a version of this ancient tipple.

The beverage was determined to have most likely been a type of mead called a braggot, whose origins go back way into the distant past.

With the help of palaeobotanist Dr Manfred Rösch, the scientists were able to analyse the contents and come up with a rough recipe for the brew.

“The contents consisted of a honey-based alcoholic beverage in which two plant species, represented by pollen remains, were present at levels suggesting that they were added as flavorings […]: meadow sweet (often found in prehistoric mead) and mint.”

Luckily the cellarmasters at local Milwaukee beer producer, the Lakefront Brewery, had experience with fomenting strange brews. It took about seven hours to formulate the recipe and after two weeks of fermenting, the drink was ready for testing.

Now, as an amateur moonshiner who tried to brew his own beer during the lockdown, I can only imagine that someone must have drawn the short straw for the taste test, but nonetheless, journalists from NPR were allowed to try the Stone Age beverage.

“I got to sip the final product. The result was smooth and pleasant — almost like a dry port, but with a minty, herbal tinge to it. It also packed an alcoholic kick.”

Obviously, the beverage is not going to be competing with Budweiser any time soon, but it has given scientists a good insight into a long-buried part of Iron Age culture. Ancient rituals often included burying the dead with gifts and weapons for the afterlife. This discovery then helps us understand the important role alcohol played in forgotten cultures as a ‘gift’ to the afterlife. Even today, alcohol is part of our special moments.

“If you take the example of a toast — everyone raises their glasses, they drink a little bit of the alcoholic beverage and it makes everyone pay attention to that specific moment, which helps them remember it in the future,”

So the next time your buddy rocks up at a braai with no booze of his own and then proceeds to drink all your craft beer, just remind him that even in the afterlife, it’s considered good manners to bring your own booze.

[source:NPR & ifls]