2009 Jun 10 A 9,000 Year Old Wine
The folks over at the Grape Wall of China bring us the news that an American brewer, the Dogfish Head, has cracked an ancient Chinese secret.
Apparently, the brewery has successfully recreated a liquor that is "similar to one made in China some 9,000 years ago" made of rice, honey, grape, and hawthorn fruits.
If that sounds good to you, head over to the Grape Press for more.
the_remedy (not verified)
Re: A 9,000 Year Old Wine
On behalf of America:
You're welcome, China.
Any more ancient mysteries for us to figure out? We can excavate that old emperor's tomb Shaanxi if you want.
JenniferYingLan
Re: A 9,000 Year Old Wine
Haha, yeah, I was a little surprised when I saw that it was an American brewery. There are probably hundreds of little villages in China that never stopped making this wine...they just don't have friends that work at a blog.
the_remedy (not verified)
Re: A 9,000 Year Old Wine
That would mean hundreds of villages in China had not only enough rice, grapes, honey, and hawthorn to eat, but they had enough to brew booze with.
I don't think that's likely at all.
If you think about the 1900s, the great leap forward and the massive famine that combined killed 60 million Chinese people, the scenario you are suggesting would be impossible.
And that's just a few decades during the last century. If you take into account all the wars, famines, cultural shifts, demographic shifts, etc over the last 9000 years, chances are that practice dies out ages ago.
wefrucar
Re: A 9,000 Year Old Wine
Don't be so hard on 'em, Remedy, just because the discovery of this wine was a significant archeological finding published by the National Academy of Sciences doesn't mean it hadn't been getting brewed all over China the whole time.
Don't worry, the next ancient wine that gets discovered can be all theirs to re-create and claim.
中国加酒!
Sometimes I feel it is maybe unbearable always be traditional Chinese girl.
JenniferYingLan
Re: A 9,000 Year Old Wine
Edited Version (apologies, first one was a little harsh)
I think you underestimate the strength and ingenuity of the Chinese people. Given all of the "wars, famines, cultural shifts, demographic shifts, etc over the last 9000 years," if I took your stance, I'd be surprised that anything has survived.
the_remedy (not verified)
Re: A 9,000 Year Old Wine
That might be true. I find it hard to praise people for ingenuity when they steal everything from other countries and companies. But I do give them points for that melamine thing; I never would have thought of that.
Very little has. I look around me I don't see a lot of 9000 year old Chinese things.
I can't think of anything other than the language, and that has changed to fundamentally that today's Chinese would be unrecognizable to those who lived here 9000 years ago.