When he wasn’t busy turning water into wine, I like to think Jesus would have been a beer drinker. Hell, with that long hair and Birkenstocks, I’m willing to bet he enjoyed the occasional bong rip too.
At about the same time that barley was first being used to make beer, and grapes to make wine, it has been discovered that some heady dudes in Northern China were making some righteous nectar of their own. This discovery led Molecular Archeologist Dr. Patrick McGovern of the University of PA and the boys over at Dogfish Head to team up and try to recreate this curious beverage. That’s right, he’s a Molecular Archeologist.
Let me just say that I was very much in love with Dogfish Head before I had the pleasure of purchasing their Chateau Jiahu. Now that I’ve had the honor, as my wife would say when she sees the likes of Denzel Washington or Johnny Depp, I wish I could have ten thousand of their babies.
I mean, look at the label on this fucker…
Tell me that ain’t the sexiest beer label you ever did see. Labels aside, this is one complex and fascinating brew. To quote the horse’s mouth, Sam and the gang over at DFH have this to say about the concoction:
In keeping with historic evidence, Dogfish brewers used pre-gelatinized rice flakes, Wildflower honey, Muscat grapes, barley malt, hawthorn fruit, and Chrysanthemum flowers. The rice and barley malt were added together to make the mash for starch conversion and degredation. The resulting sweet wort was then run into the kettle. The honey, grapes, Hawthorn fruit, and Chrysanthemum flowers were then added. The entire mixture was boiled for 45 minutes, then cooled. The resulting sweet liquid was pitched with a fresh culture of Sake yeast and allowed to ferment a month before the transfer into a chilled secondary tank.
Come on, how cool is that?!
I’m always a little skeptical of “beers” like this. I always fear that they’re going to try to be too far out there and have no real substance. That was not the case here. This thing has a whole lot going on palate-wise. From the 750 ml bottle to the wine glass, this brew looks like and smells of honey. It’s a hazy yellow with orange hues and a modest white head. It smells of fruit, flowers, honey and a touch of spice.
In the mouth, it’s almost like a wine, perhaps a riesling? Fruity flavors of apricot, melon and grapes. It also oozes honey. Despite the lack of hops, there is a slight bitterness to balance out the sweet. It is my opinion that they used the Chrysanthemum flowers for bittering in place of the hops. I wouldn’t know for sure as I’ve never actually tasted Chrysanthemum flowers by themselves, it’s just a hunch.
To say I was impressed with this beverage would be an understatement. I’m impressed on many levels. It’s very pleasant to drink, but it’s also incredibly cool that the brewery put so much research into creating something that nobody has for thousands of years. I hate to be that guy that buys a bottle for it’s label, but I can’t hide my attraction to this label that Tara McPherson designed for them. She also designed the label for their Fort brew, which I just managed to score three bottles of as well! Yay me!
So, fellow beer lovers, as we prepare to celebrate the birth of lil’ baby Jesus, I ask you to ponder this question. What would Jesus drink? I’m willing to bet he’d dig on some Chateau Jiahu. I’m betting you will too. If you can find it, I encourage you to run out now and round up as many as you can. They won’t be around long. If you’re lucky enough to grab some, round up a couple of your closest friends to enjoy it with. This is a very special brew.
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