Sumerian Beer
The history of beer begins around 10,000 BCE during the Neolithic era and the rise of agriculture. During this period, societies began shifting away from hunting and gathering to establishing roots in agricultural development, cultivating crops like barley and wheat. Some scholars posit that the discovery of the intoxicating effects of beer may have actually inspired the transition from nomadic societies to cultural settlement through farming. Conversely, many historians believe that the discovery of beer likely resulted from a piece of bread or grain became wet and began to ferment, following the establishment of agricultural settlements.
Earliest Evidence of Sumerian Beer
It is widely believed that beer was first developed by Sumerians in Mesopotamia, or present-day Iraq, around 4000 BCE. This time period represents significant social and cultural achievements in Sumer, where villages grew into cities and Sumerians developed a system of writing known as cuneiform. Often regarded as the earliest system of writing, cuneiform is a logo-syllabic writing system where logograms represented words or morphemes and syllabic characters denoted syllables.
Cuneiforms were used by Sumerians for writing letters, myths and stories, but also to record business activities, including the production and consumption of beer. During an archeological excavation in Mesopotamia, archaeologists discovered a cuneiform tablet from roughly 4000 BCE depicting villagers drinking a beverage with straws from communal bowl.
Hymn to Ninkasi
The first written evidence of beer making comes from cuneiform tablets from around 1800 BCE. There are three known copies of the poem famously referred to as Hymn to Ninkasi – an ode to the Sumerian goddess of brewing. Although this historical text is often cited as the first recipe to produce beer from barley via bread, it is difficult to glean any definitive knowledge about ingredients and brewing processes. The story of Sumerian brewing is limited through translation from a long extinct language, and modern assumptions of ancient brewing practices.
On each tablet, the hymn is followed by another poem, thought to be a drinking song dedicated to a female tavern-keeper. The additional poem is relevant as it likely the oldest record connecting women and brewing. In the deeply patriarchal Sumerian culture, brewing was viewed as a female chore related to food preparation. As brewing was a female vocation, women were provided economic opportunity to sell excess beer, many of whom established their own taverns.
Beer Production in Sumer
By 3000 BCE, beer-making was well-established, as evidenced by extensive lists of ingredients, brewing vessels, and beer types. Ancient accounting records show beer was made from malted barley and a barley bread called “bappir.” Although it’s difficult to know precisely how bappir was made, it has been suggested that malted barley was combined with flour, honey and other spices, that were formed into conical cakes and baked. To initiate the brewing process, the baked bappir would have been added to hot water, where the bread started the fermentation process through the enzymatic conversion from starch to sugar.
Ancient Sumerian beer was thick with a viscous consistency, often consumed from a communal vessel with long straws made from reeds. Relative to today’s standards, the beer would have been weak in strength, between 2-5%, and considered a central food source as part of a typical meal. This beer also contained an assorted array of flavour additives including fenugreek, coriander, dates, safflower, lupine, mandrake, grape pips, and orange skins.
Although the details surrounding brewing in is somewhat obscure, we do know that beer played an important role, influencing economic, social and religious aspects of society. The economic value of beer is evidenced in that it was measured in units and used as currency as a medium of exchange. From a religious perspective, Sumerians believed that beer was a gift from the gods as a means to promote human health and happiness. The Sumerian word for beer is “kas” which has been translated to mean “what the mouth desires,” giving a very good sense of how integral beer was to Sumerian culture.
(Leah is a Toronto based freelance writer as well as the Beer Boss and a server at C’est What)