🍺 Her name is Ninkasi (the lady who fills the mouth), she is the Sumerian goddess of beer, one of the oldest drinks in Mesopotamian mythology. Her father is the king of Uruk and her mother the high priestess of the temple of Ishtar (the goddess of procreation).
🍺 “The Hymn of Ninkasi” dedicated to the goddess is the first documentation about beer with more than 5,000 years of antiquity (3,100 – 3000 BC). This hymn tells a poem and includes a recipe.
🍺 The tablet containing this poem was found in the early 18th century, but it wasn't until the 20th century that it caught the attention of university professor Miguel Civil and brewer Fritz Maytag, who, in addition to translating the recipe, also brewed a replica of this Sumerian beer following the written texts.
🍺 As a result, they managed to produce a beer with 3.5% alcohol by volume, quite similar to the more commercial contemporary beers on the market, with the peculiarity of lacking bitterness and being somewhat dry; very similar to apple cider. Unfortunately, this drink was never sold and was not produced in large quantities, due to the strangeness of the recipe and the difficulty of keeping it fresh for long periods.
🍺 The tablets with these writings are on display at the British Museum in London, where a beer called “Alulu” is described, highlighting its characteristics. To represent beer, the Sumerians drew a jar in a vertical position with a pointed base.
Source: Cervecera Identity, Brewers of Mexico
The hymn begins by telling us about the origins of Ninkasi; that she was born from running water, or that clear water that flowed from the springs or in the Euphrates River. The city mentioned on the shores of the Sacred Lake is probably Eridu, the lake would be Hammar a few kilometers south of the Euphrates River, one of the oldest cities in Sumer, if not the oldest, where it is thought that societies began to form more or less as we know them today. In it, people dedicated themselves primarily to 3 trades: farmers, fishermen, and shepherds, and gradually a class or system of government began to emerge to manage the growth of the city.
