Craft beer, an ever dynamic industry, demands inovation to drive sales, unlike the Big Beer industry that relies on clever marketing. The utilization of technology, never hurts. Dogfish Head's Chateau Jiahu is one of those risky beers that not only exemplifies insane innovation, but cutting edge scientific savy. Dogfish Head collaborated with molecular archeologist, Dr. Patrick Mcgovern, to analyze alcoholic residue found on a 9000 year old pottery shard found in the Neololithic Chinese village of Jiahu. The recipe called for rice, Chrysanthenum flowers, honey, grape extract, hawthorn fruit, the innovation of barley (to be considered beer!), a gutsy brewer and an adventurous consumer.
From the Wuxia Society website, we get some insight on the complexity of this brew:
Mike Gerhart, distillery manager at Dogfish Head's brewery in Milton, Delaware, led the Chateau Jiahu project. "It was one of the more creative and exciting projects I've ever worked on," he said.
McGovern, the archeochemist, knew the ingredients of the ancient drink from Jiahu, "but he wasn't sure how to use them or how they would go into action," Gerhart said.
The trick for Gerhart was to mimic the brewing process used in China 9,000 years ago.
To get the fermentation started, McGovern imported a mold ...
