Durham Brewery is utilising “the oldest beer recipe in history” to celebrate its 30th anniversary, creating Sumerian, a honey and date wheat beer.
The 8.4% beer has been crafted over the past six years. “We’ve just been waiting for the right time to release it commercially,” says the brewer.
Sumerian has been created from the Sumerian Hymn to Ninkasi, which dates back to around 1750 BC. Ninkasi was the Sumerian goddess of brewing and beer.
Durham has used local Humble Bee honey, dates, and spices to create a beer which has been described as liquid banana bread. The aroma is an alchemy of spices that would have been available in ancient Mesopotamia.
The beer will be available on 1st July, almost a month ahead of the brewery’s 30th anniversary beer festival, which takes place on 27th July.
The event will take place at the brewery, in Bowburn, from noon until 7pm. There will be street food and live music. Children and dogs are welcome as long as they are supervised by well-behaved adults.
Making an appearance on draught at the festival will be Sumerian, plus two other anniversary specials. Bede’s Barrel (10.5% ABV) is a brandy cask-aged Belgian tripel, while there’s a new brew of Redemption, a 10% ABV rich tawny abbey ale, fermented with Belgian yeast.
Festival details and tickets are available here.
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