Dogfish Head Ancient Ales

By Marc Bayes

In 1999 Dogfish Head, a small microbrewery from Delaware, decided to start a new series of beers; something that has never been done before. They wanted to reconstruct ancient recipes long lost and forgotten and show the world what some of these carbonated beverages would have tasted like. There are many old and very traditional styles of beer that are close to extinction that has seen a resurgence in the past few years. This series of beer from Dogfish Head however are not those styles. They are extinct and were lost. This series of craft beer was appropriately named the Ancient Ales series.
With the help of Dr. Patrick McGovern, a biomolecular archeologist at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology, and one of the worlds most leading experts on ancient fermented beverages, they began to delve into the past of ancient brewing and resurrect the past. A tomb was found in Turkey which is thought to have belonged to King Midas. In this tomb Dr. Patrick McGovern found a drinking vessel that dates back 2700 years! Using modern technology they determined that the beverage within the drinking vessel was a beverage somewhere between wine and mead. Deeper analysis revealed that this beverage was made using white muscat grapes, saffron, and honey.
Midas Touch was the first Ancient Ale to be reconstructed. Dogfish Head liked the beer so much and the ingredients were easy enough that they decided to make this a year around beer available four packs of twelve ounce bottles. This beer is pretty incredible all around. Aside from the fact it's a beverage once enjoyed by King Midas it definitely speaks volumes for how similar beer and wine can be.
The next of the Ancient Ales takes place 9000 years ago. Dr. Patrick McGovern had the opportunity to inspect a preserved pottery jar from the Neolithic Village of Jiahu. Jiahu is in the Henan province of Northern China. This pottery jar showed evidence that a fermented beverage containing honey, rice, and hawthorn fruit was being produced ages ago. Right around the same time as this beverage was being made fermented beverages using grapes and barley were being produced in the Middle East.

Chateau Jiahu was the reconstruction of the ingredients found in the pottery jar of Jiahu. In 2005 Dr. Patrick McGovern teamed up with Dogfish Head to recreate the oldest known fermented beverage in the history of mankind. In order to keep with the traditional aspects of this beverage Dogfish Head brewed Cheateau Jiahu using brown rice syrup, Orange Blossom honey, Muscat grape, barely malt, and Hawthorn berry. The wort, mixture of all the above heated to a boil and then it's fermented using sake yeast for one month before being bottled. This Ancient Ale is one of the most coveted by beer connoisseurs and aficionados across the globe. This ale is released in July.
In 2008 Dr. Patrick McGovern made another very interesting discovery. Pottery fragments from Honduras were found and using chemical analysis they discovered something very unique. The beverage that was held in these pottery fragments contained the earliest known alcoholic chocolate beverage known to man. Early civilizations used this beverage to celebrate special occasions. These pottery fragments dated back to 1200 B.C. Dogfish Head teamed up with the doctor again to recreate the past.
Theobroma translates to Food Of The Gods. To reconstruct this Ancient Ale Dogfish Head stuck with the data from Dr. Patrick McGovern and used Aztec cocoa powder and cocoa nibs from Askinosie Chocolate; award winners of Sofie medals and leading craft chocolate producers. They brewed the beer using ancho chilies, honey, ground anatto seeds (fragmented tree seeds). The beer itself pours a bright honey gold with little to no head. The aroma is bready and full of honey. The first sip reveals the flavor of honey, bready malts, and slight spice and earthiness on the finish. Pouring a bright gold this is a very different beer than just about any chocolate beer out there. Having tried this beer just the other day I would love to save a bottle and sip it on the steps of a Mayan temple on Dec 23, 2012. They release this beer in June.
The next installment of the Ancient Ales series comes from a 9th century Finnish proto-beer. A proto-beer is a fermented and carbonated beverage that is similar to beer as we know today but not made in the same methods. Before modern industrialization of the beer industry the beverages being brewed has to be heated using hot rocks. There were no copper or steel fermentation tanks only wood. Add hot rocks to wood and you now have a fire. Instead the early forms of brewing boiled the wort using river rocks that were heated to a blinding hot white. They would then drop these rocks into the wort in order to caramelize the wort. Sah'tea, the fourth installment to the Ancient Ales was done in the same method.
Before brewing began Dogfish Head made a black tea of sorts. Blending cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and black pepper they created this tea and blended it with rye and juniper berries which were picked from Finnish country-side. This became the wort. From here they heated river rocks till they were white hot. Placing them into metal wire buckets they dipped them into the wort and created a boil and caramelized the wort. For fermentation they used traditional German Weizen yeast. Weizen beers typically have a banana ester qualities on the nose and palate. They named this beer Sah'tea and it's released in May.
This beer is ridiculously good. This Ancient Ale pours the same as most Weizen beers. Pale straw gold and slightly hazy with great carbonation. The aroma is that of cloves, cinnamon, and peppery spice. The beer tastes outstanding. Juniper, clove, cinnamon, and mild banana esters. Overall it's very light in body and doesn't weigh much on the mouth. Sah'tea is very drinkable and perfect for a great summer day.

The last of the Ancient Ales from Dogfish Head is Pangaea. Pangaea was first released in 2003 and it's a fall release for the brewery. While this beer isn't from an ancient recipe or a reconstruction of ingredients found from historic civilizations, it is however a beer made using a different ingredient from every continent across the globe.
Using crystallized ginger from Australia, basmati from Asia, muscovado from Africa, quinoa from South America, maze from North America, yeast from Europe, and last but not least, water from Antarctica. The idea behind Pangaea was to make a beer that spanned the globe. Each ingredient is vital to the flavor and aroma of the beer.
Overall this Ancient Ale is a spiced ginger beer. The predominate flavor is the ginger. There's hints of sweetness that comes from the muscovado and basmati rice. The maze smoothes out the beer and adds a creaminess and the quinoa adds interesting spice notes. Overall this is an amazing beer that would pair perfectly with grilled vegetables on a summer day.
The Ancient Ale series is something so unique that there really is no category for these styles of beer. Each beer is released once a year and the allocation is very high. The demand for these beers far exceed the production rate. When these ales hit the shelves they sell out within the day if not the first few hours. For me the Ancient Ale series is a window to the past. It allows us to experience and enjoy what earlier civilizations were drinking. It's a connection to something long lost and forgotten. Above all they are fun and that's exactly what craft beer is all about; having fun.

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