Best from the First: Chateau Jiahu

Give it to Dogfish Head - they can find the archeologists searching for ancient alcohol around the globe. At 9,000 years old, this recipe comes from scientific studies of the oldest known example of brewing, fresh from Yellow River sites.

So take that, Ziggurat Brewing Company and Old Hammurabi Ale (to my knowledge, no such beers exist).

Despite origins in early civilization, Chateau Jiahu couldn't taste more contemporary.

For starters, the nose is sublime, with slivers of malt cutting through once tempered by the honey. Brewed with honey, hawthorn fruit and grape concentrate, it still tastes closer to an unhopped beer than any wine, but represents another staggering exhibit in Dogfish Head's push into new brewing frontiers. the honey imparts a softness to the whole experience - there's not a bittering agent within ten brew kettles of Chateau Jiahu. Any expectation that the grape concentration might give this brew a wine-like turn is thankfully dashed. The grape definitely asserts itself, but as a widespread backdrop, not a forceful flavor.

Beware of the alcohol content, the characteristic at which Chateau Jiahu most resembles a wine. Honey adds softness, but it adds to the brew time, and the more time those yeast cultures have to devour the honey, the more alcohol they create.

Dogfish Head's ancient ale series - Theobrama, Midas Touch and Sa'Tea - all express different colors of the beer spectrum, few which modern taste buds have sampled. This might be the best of them all, since it can easily cross alcoholic lines. Pour it for the non-beer lover in your life, and watch them convert.