Uncorking the Past

Uncorking the Past: Ancient Ales, Wines and Extreme Beverages Beer Tasting, Lecture and Book Signing

Date: Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Time: 6:30 p.m. Lecture, 7:30 p.m. Beer Tasting
Location: Atrium and Civic Hall Blackwood Campus
Cost: $45.00 per person

Must be 21 years old to attend this event

6:30 p.m. Lecture by Patrick McGovern
Following a tantalizing trail of archaeological and chemical clues around the world and through the millennia, Patrick McGovern, Scientific Director of the Penn Museum’s Bimolecular Archaeology Laboratory, tells the compelling story of humanity’s ingenious, intoxicating quest for the perfect drink.  Whether it be mind-altering, medicinal, a religious symbol, a social lubricant, or artistic inspiration, fermented beverages have not only been a profound force in history, but they may be fundamental to the human condition itself.

YOU MAY SIGN UP FOR THE LECTURE ONLY FOR WHICH THERE IS NO CHARGE. PLEASE SEE REGISTRATION FORM.

7:30 p.m. Beer Tasting Featuring Dogfish Head Beers and Book Signing
We will sample the following three beers from Dogfish Head, all based on the discovery of Patrick McGovern:

Chateau Jiahu: The ingredient list was discovered from a 9,000-year-old site in the Yellow River Valley of China. It is made with hawthorn fruit, rice, grape and honey, and is based on the chemical evidence for the oldest known fermented beverage in history.Food Pairing:
Shrimp Sesame Noodle ShooterMidas Touch: This was the first brew in the Ancient Ales series. Somewhere between wine, mead and barley beer, Midas Touch is based on molecular evidence found in a Turkish tomb believed to have belonged to King Midas or his father, Gordius, ca. 740-700 B.C. It’s sweet yet a dry mixed or hybrid fermented beverage made with honey, white Muscat grapes, barley malt, and saffron.Food Pairing:
Slow cooked Spicy BBQ Shredded Pork Shoulder
Mini Onion Boule
Sweet & Sour Cabbage and Cucumber

Theobroma: This beer is light in color and is brewed with artisanal Askinosie dark cocoa powder and from the premier Aztec production area of Sosonusco, honey, ancho chilies, corn and annatto or achiote. This Ancient Ale is based on chemical analysis of pottery fragments found in Honduras, ca. 1400 B.C. that revealed the earliest known alcoholic chocolate drink used by early civilizations to toast special occasions. This brew is based on Mayan and Aztec ceremonial drinks, as well as alcoholic drink made from the sugar-rich pulp that led to the later use of the beans. Theobroma is considered a celebration of chocolate, the “food of gods.” It was the elite fermented beverage of the New World, the equivalent of grape wine, barley beer, and rice wine in the Old.

Food Pairing:
Roasted Chicken Roll Ups
Garnished with Toasted Nuts, Brined Olives and Licorice
Dark Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cream Cheese Dessert Bar