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Beer

Climate change is already a sobering topic. Drink up while you can.

Thanks to Climate Change, Beer Will Go the Way of Bees, Chocolate and Coffee

It’s not the most severe impact of rising temperatures, but the lack of a cold one on a hot day could “add insult to injury,” says a new study

Ancient beer wasn’t exactly the crisp, cold beverage we know today. Researchers think it probably looked more like thin porridge or gruel.

Traces of 13,000-Year-Old Beer Found in Israel

According to the authors of a new study, the discovery marks the earliest-known evidence of beer production among ancient peoples

Beer-drinking cups being excavated at Khani Masi held some of the earliest chemical evidence of beer. Researchers had to take extra precautions to avoid contaminating the cups with modern compounds.

Ancient Ceramic Cups Reveal Oldest Direct Evidence of Beer in Mesopotamia

Researchers are working on resurrecting the recipe

Cool Finds

This Beer Was Developed For Breast Cancer Patients

A Czech brewery’s Mamma Beer is alcohol free and slightly sweet to help overcome the metallic taste of “chemo mouth”

Flying Dog plans to release a seasonal beer each year with hops grown from the project.

The East Coast May Be On the Brink of a Hop Renaissance

Can a farmer and a brewer come together to bring hops back to the eastern United States?

A Hangover Pill Is Working on Drunk Mice

The new antidote may lower blood alcohol levels, helping a hangover and preventing alcohol overdose deaths

A diver brings up a sealed glass bottle from the shipwreck of the Sydney Cove

Cool Finds

Australian Brewers Are Making Beer From Yeast Found on a Shipwreck

A new porter-style ale gets its funk from a 220-year old specimen

Scientists have created a hoppy beer without hops.

Scientists Brew a Hoppy Beer Without the Hops

Hops are expensive and require lots of water to grow, so researchers tried to recreate the distinctive taste

How Do You Make Beer in Space?

Strap on your beer goggles and join us on a hops-fueled rocket ride

Why Winter Is the Perfect Time to Visit Bavaria

This corner of Germany is the ultimate cold-weather playground, a place where sledding down a mountain, or knocking back beers are equally worthy pursuits

Rumrunner at St. Pierre

This Tiny French Archipelago Became America’s Alcohol Warehouse During Prohibition

Before the 21st amendment was ratified, remote islands off Canada’s Newfoundland province floated on a sea of whiskey and wine

This pumpkin is eventually going to hold about 250 gallons of beer.

How Elysian Brewing Company Turns a 1,790-Pound Pumpkin Into a Keg

And is this insane thing really a pumpkin?

Inside Taiwan’s Craft Beer Renaissance

Once a state-run industry, beer-making in Taiwan is blending globally-minded brewing with local flavors

Cheers!

Cool Finds

Did Lager Beer Originate In South America?

Residue from 1,000-year-old pots suggests people in Patagonia were fermenting beverages with lager yeast well before the Bavarians

On a summer Friday, people gather at O'Connor Brewing Co. in Norfolk, Virginia.

Are Craft Breweries the Next Coffeehouses?

Taprooms springing up across the country are cultivating communities and helping to revitalize entire neighborhoods

The beer that flooded the streets was porter, an extremely dark-colored beer that was traditionally aged for a time before being drunk–which is why it was stored in vats.

This 1814 Beer Flood Killed Eight People

More than a hundred thousand gallons of beer burst onto the streets of London when a vat broke

Sam Kass explains the brewing process.

How Barack Obama Became the First President to Brew Beer at the White House

The former president and his staff crafted ales featuring honey from the White House garden

Brewing beer and other fermented beverages was a crucial activity for humans throughout history.

Ancient Humans Liked Getting Tipsy, Too

In a new book on the archaeology and chemistry of alcoholic beverages, Patrick McGovern unravels the history of boozing

Hamm’s Draft Beer Can

Raise a Glass to the Smithsonian’s First Beer Scholar

Theresa McCulla is ready to start the “best job ever” chronicling the history of American brewing

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