Beer Origins: Ancient Egypt

An actual Egyptian painting depicting beer

By now, many people have heard that beer was enjoyed by the ancient Egyptians. But most don’t truly appreciate how critical it was to their society.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that beer was of central importance to ancient Egyptian society. Beer was enjoyed by both adults and children and was the staple drink of poor Egyptians. It was also central to the diet of wealthy Egyptians. The gods were often made offerings of beer and beer was mentioned in the traditional offering formula. Wages were often paid in beer (and other supplies) and the workmen living in the workers village at Giza received beer three times a day as part of their rations.

If you think about it, it makes perfect sense. Water quality was sketchy in those days and disease was widespread, but beer is boiled, and therefore safer to drink than your average water source. Not only that, but an inebriated worker is a happy worker, and is less likely to realize he or she is possibly getting a raw deal (and is also less likely to do anything about it).

Beer was often known as "Hqt" ("heqet" or "heket"), but was also called "tnmw" ("tenemu"). There was also a type of beer known as haAmt ("kha-ahmet"). The glyph of the word Hqt (beer) was a beer jug.

This one might be a fake

There is some evidence that as a staple foodstuff, ancient Egyptian beer was not particularly intoxicating. Rather it was nutritious, thick and sweet. However, it is clear that beer could also be as intoxicating as Egyptian wine, as participants in the festivals of Bast, Sekhmet and Hathor would get very drunk as part of their worship of these goddesses. A popular myth tells how beer saved humanity when Sekhmet (in her role as the "Eye of Ra") was tricked into drinking colored beer which she mistook for blood and became very drunk, passing out for three days! Although the above three goddesses were closely associated with beer, it was Tjenenet who was the official ancient Egyptian goddess of beer.

According to legend, Osiris taught ancient Egyptians the art of brewing beer, and the brewing of beer was traditionally (though not exclusively) a female activity, in which women could earn a little extra money (or bartered goods) for themselves and their families. The main ingredient in the beer was bread made from a rich yeasty dough possibly including malt. The bread was lightly baked and crumbled into small pieces before being strained through a sieve with water. Flavor was added in the form of dates and the mixture was fermented in a large vat and then stored in large jars.

However, there is also evidence that beer was brewed from barley and emmer which was heated and mixed with yeast and uncooked malt before being fermented to produce beer.

Made with native Egyptian yeast

Interestingly enough, the beer jug glyph also appears in the glyphs for breakfast, dinner, food, meal, payment, and offering. Obviously, beer was a huge part of everyday ancient Egyptian life.

Fast-forward a few thousand years to 2010, when none other than the Dogfish Head Craft Brewery in Milton, DE set out to recreate the ancient Egyptian beer (who else but Dogfish would try such a thing?). The story goes that the Dogfish guys based their recipe on hieroglyphics that were found in Egypt and even went so far as to capture a wild Egyptian saccharomyces yeast strain to ferment their Egyptian brew. The resulting beer is called Ta Henket, brewed with an ancient form of wheat and loaves of hearth-baked bread, and flavored chamomile, dom-palm fruit and Middle Eastern herbs.

Here’s to craft-brewed happiness… Cheers!