2007年VOA标准英语-9,000-Year-Old Beer Tastes Great

By Liu Enming
Delaware
26 June 2007
 

A Delaware brewery 3 known for its specialty 4 beers has created a new one based on a 9,000-year-old recipe.  VOA's Liu Enming recently traveled to Dogfish Head Craft Brewery to taste Chateau 5 Jiahu beer.  Jim Bertel narrates 6.

Of the more than 1300 breweries 7 in the U.S., Dogfish Head Craft Brewery in Delaware stands out for its uniqueness.

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery Owner Sam Calagione



Owner Sam Calagione says the 26 kinds of beer brewed 8 at his microbrewery cater 9 to different people's tastes, but have one thing in common. 

"Our motto since the day we've opened has been 'off-centered ales for off-centered people',” says Calagione.  “Just by virtue 10 of that definition it's obvious that we are not planning on brewing 11 light lagers, boring beers. The ideas for beers that come out of our brewery Dogfish Head either usually come from my own inspiration; a feeling for a style that doesn't exist yet that I think it would work well."

Calagione's latest concoction 12, Chateau Jiahu, made headlines in the National Geographic 13 News and other media.  But more importantly, it is a hit with many of the brewer 2's customers.

"It was very tasty, the honey-suckle almost flavor to it, tastes of a little bit of white grape in the background; very smooth, very mellow 14, very tasty," said a customer.

"It was good; it was, like, buttery but also sweet, honey, a little bit (of) crispness to it going down.  It was good," says another.

"I am glad that they found the recipe; this is the type of beer I can drink," says a third customer.

The ancient brew 1 was rediscovered in pottery 15 dating back thousands of years at an excavation 16 site in the Neolithic 17 village of Jia Hu in Northern China

Research shows the ancient brew included rice, honey, grapes and hawthorn fruit.



Dr. Patrick McGovern, an archaeochemist at the University of Pennsylvania's Museum of Archaeology 19 and Anthropology 20 in Philadelphia, derived 21 the recipe from residue 22 found in pottery jars.  Careful research shows the ancient brew included rice, honey, grapes and hawthorn fruit. 

"If you have pottery vessels 24, they are very useful in making a beverage 25 and also storing and serving and drinking it,” says Dr. McGovern.  “Often the beverage will be absorbed into the pottery and it will be held in the pottery by the clay matrix, the pores. The Jia Hu mixed beverage is so far the earliest chemically attested 26 alcoholic 27 beverage or wine from anywhere in the world.  I think it's really quite remarkable 28 that it doesn't come from Middle East.  People often assume the first wine and first beer has to be from the Middle East, but it comes from China."

Bryan Selders, the lead brewer at the brewery explains how the ancient beer was resurrected. 

Bryan Selders explains how the beer is made



"This is our first step brewing Chateau Jiahu, this vessel 23 here is called 'mash 29 tun',” says Selders.  “In the mash tun what we do is mix up the mash.  And what a mash is is a combination of crushed malted barley 30 and hot water."

In addition, the recipe calls for rice flakes 31.  The rice and barley malt are combined to make the mash for starch 32 conversion 33 and degradation 34. 

"In the boil kettle we collect the full volume of wort that we need and we boil the wort,” explains Selders.  “What that accomplishes is it concentrates sugars and sterilizes 35 the wort. Then we are able to spice the wort with hops 36. We also add honey and hawthorn berries."

The liquid is then mixed with a fresh culture of sake yeast 37 to ferment 38.  The result is a golden colored, fragrant 39 Chateau Jiahu beer.   Calagione believes his new take on the ancient brew probably tastes better than the original.

"I am sure the original wines and beers back then had infections of bacteria and wild yeast, whereas today in our modern brewing facility with our lab and high tech equipment, we can make sure that no wild yeast and bacteria gets into the beer,” adds Calagione.  ”So it will be a lot cleaner tasting."

And beer lovers will tell you it is all about the taste.

"Man, I will tell you what. For an old beer that's good stuff, very good; I enjoyed it very much," says a customer.