Egyptian Drum Roasting: An Invention That Changed Brewing History

This article originally appeared in the July/August 2024 issue of Zymurgy Magazine

By Luis Hernandez Martinez

The importance of beer in Egyptian culture is no mystery. The ancient cultures of Egypt and Mesopotamia were credited with being among the first to brew beer. Mesopotamian and Sumerian peoples are recognized as the true inventors of the process, but the Egyptians are thought to have made alterations and improvements to create a smoother, lighter beer, and archaeological digs suggest they were the first to produce beer on a large scale. The oldest known brewery in the world was unearthed at an old cemetery site by American and Egyptian archaeologists in February, 2021, in Abydos, Egypt. The brewery is believed to be more than 5,000 years old, and to have had an impressive production capacity of up to 5,900 gallons (22,4000 liters) at a time. This brewery goes back to King Narmer’s era around 3,150 BC.

Access the full article in the July/August 2024 Zymurgy Magazine.

This article includes the following:

• HOMEBREW RECIPE: Monday Lager (Coffee Lager)
• HOMEBREW RECIPE: Mexa Stout (American Stout with Coffee)
• Egyptian Beer
• Discovering Coffee
• Evolution of Roasting
• The Refinement of Malt