Tonight, an adventurous friend of mine who loves beer gave me the opportunity to taste two recreations of historic brews that were discussed in Patrick McGovern's book "Uncorking the Past": Chateau Jiahu, a no-hops brew based on archaeological reconstruction of a Chinese brew from 9,000 years ago, and Midas' Touch, a similar reconstruction based on a 2,700 year old find in Turkey presumed to be the tomb of King Midas, of the "golden touch" legend.
Sadly, I could discern no meaningful difference between them. Despite the absence of hops from both beverages (the use of hops in beer was a surprisingly late development), both early brews simply tasted like beer to me--and beer (as opposed to wine, for example) has never been a beverage of which I've been very fond. Since beer has been so significant in the development of civilization, I regret that I am so incapable of seeing what people find desirable about it (other than the raw pleasure of getting drunk, that is).
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