Complex Numbers

Beerstory

Looks like humans have been brewing some type of beer for at least 13,000 years.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-45534133

Brewing beer was thought to go back 5,000 years, but the latest discovery may turn beer history on its head.

"Head." You gotta love the British predilection for puns.

This involved first germinating the grain to produce malt, then heating the mash and fermenting it with wild yeast, the study said.

Well, that's certainly similar to the process used to make modern beer.

You know, I've always wondered about certain early inventions, including beer - specifically, I've wondered how they came to be. I'm sure a lot of other people have, also, and some of them are vastly better equipped to investigate the question. Likely, there was a lot of serendipity involved; accidental discoveries are still a great driving force in invention today.

Thing is, it's the yeast part that intrigues me. Anyone can grind grain, given grain and suitable tools. Adding it to water to soften it would follow logically. But the yeast - that would have been the happy accident. Yeast, as we know today, consume carbohydrates and release alcohol and carbon dioxide. We didn't know this, of course, until scientists started studying microorganisms. Before that, well, it might as well have been magic.

So yeah, CO₂ is yeast farts. And alcohol is yeast piss.

And then there's the question of who decided to drink the stuff in the first place? From a position of ignorance, fermentation can be indistinguishable from food going bad. Maybe it was all a practical joke. "Hey, this porridge smells off. Let's feed it to the village simpleton and watch him puke everywhere." "Oh, great idea! I need a good laugh." Joke was on the pranksters, though, when the village simpleton suddenly acted all happy and stuff.

You know what? I'm going to go with that. Necessity is the mother of invention, they say. I say that laziness is the milkman. And I like the idea of pranks being the midwife.

The ancient booze was fermented but probably weaker than modern beer.

Probably, but probably not weaker than Coors Light. Almost certainly tasted better, too.