Scientists have brought ancient beer recipes back to life using the remnants of yeast found inside antique Egyptian vessels discovered in the Holy Land.
Using six strains of yeast found inside the vessels, scientists from the Bar Ilan and Hebrew universities, have jointly re-created a set of ancient ales.
"We managed to find vessels from various archaeological sites in Israel, and Egyptian vessels from five thousand years ago, Philistine vessels from three thousand years ago and Judai vessels from two thousand five hundred years ago," explained professor Aren Maeir. "The concept that I'm holding beer here, that's made out of an organism that continued to survive for three thousand years and I can drink it," Maeir said. It is "really unbelievable," he added.
For microbiologist Don Ronen Hazan, it felt like they were "the first people to drink after Goliath or maybe Achish, the king of Gath that is mentioned in the Bible".