The Oldest Known Beer Recipe Was Also An Ancient Hymn

Thousands of years before Trader Joe's Cookie Butter Beer ever came to be, the Sumerians were making their own craft-style concoction. Clay tablets from about 1800 B.C.E. contain the first known recipe for brewing beer, along with praise for Ninkasi, the Sumerian goddess of beer. Though beer was likely invented by accident, this hymn shows that the citizens of ancient Mesopotamia not only enjoyed beer — they viewed it as sacred.

It's unclear why Sumerians held beer in such high regard, but historians theorize it may have something to do with limiting the spread of disease. Water used for brewing had to be boiled, and fermentation is a naturally antimicrobial process. Though germ theory wasn't a thing in 1800 B.C.E., people likely noticed that those who drank beer got sick less often than those who drank directly from natural water sources. This, plus the drink's stress-relieving properties are likely why beer is the most frequently used word in the Sumerian language.

This may also explain why Ninkasi existed at all. Ancient peoples only had gods for things they viewed as vital to daily life, so it makes sense they'd want divine support to ensure the brewing process went well. The hymn to the goddess was also likely used to teach Sumerian brewsters both about beer-making and Ninkasi herself. The verses transition fluidly from praising her divinity to describing how to blend bread, malted barley, honey or dates, and water to create a beer likely much sweeter than those we enjoy today.

When reading the Sumerians' hymn to Ninkasi, it doesn't take long to realize how much they venerated her. The first three verses describe Ninkasi's parentage and how powerful members of the Sumerian pantheon, Ninhursag and Enki, love and care for her. The hymn then shifts into a handful of verses honoring Ninkasi's skill in beer brewing, beginning with adding "bappir" — a type of bread baked specifically for making beer — into the brewing vats. 

Bappir was made from water, barley flour, local spices, and honey. The result was hard and dry and might have served as emergency rations. To prepare for brewing, the poem tells us bappir was mixed with honey or dates, beer-brewing essential malted barley, and water, which was then fermented in vats:   

Ninkasi, you are the one who handles the dough [and] with a big shovel,
Mixing in a pit, the bappir with [date] — honey,
You are the one who bakes the bappir in the big oven,
Puts in order the piles of hulled grains.

As you can see, the hymn is equal parts veneration and instruction. Learning the poem not only honored Ninkasi and her sacred brew, but also conveyed how to mix the crumbled bappir with honey and measure out the grains used to flavor the beer. While there are no specific quantities listed, the hymn likely served as an effective mnemonic device that was taught along with specific instructions passed from experienced brewers to novices.

Though Ninkasi was the one taking action in the poem, the verses clearly outlined the necessary ingredients and equipment, and provided clear instructions for brewing beer. Nothing Ninkasi did in the hymn required godlike power, which may be how historians recognized it was as much a recipe as a way of honoring this popular goddess. The lyrical language in the poem also evoked a sense of ease and comfort in the reader, describing each step as pleasing to the senses:

Ninkasi, the filtering vat, which makes a pleasant sound,
You place appropriately on a large collector vat.
When you pour out the filtered beer of the collector vat,
It is [like] the onrush of Tigris and Euphrates.

From these lyrics, it's clear Sumerians felt beer-making was a true labor of love, filled with pleasant scents and sounds associated with the brew that supported their vitality, health, and survival. Archaeologists have also found that beer was both brewed and enjoyed communally, having found depictions of Sumerians using reed straws to drink it from large, ceramic, communal vessels. As for taste, the recipe recorded in this hymn produced flavors very different from modern beers. According to the Anchor Brewing Company who recreated the recipe in 1989, the flavor was light, sweet, and acidic — similar to champagne — with fruity undertones from the dates used in the brewing process.