The Drunken Botanist: The Plants that Create the World's Great Drinks by Amy Stewart Read Free Book Online Page B

metal tanks, came next?)
    By archeological standards, it took no time at all for sophisticated beer-making techniques to develop. Patrick McGovern, a University of Pennsylvania Museum archaeologist who studies the history of fermentation and distillation, analyzed the residue on pottery fragments found at the Godin Tepe site in western Iran. He detected the residue of barley beer on drinking vessels and was able to date it to 3400 BC to 3000 BC. He believes that the beer was probably not terribly different from what we drink today, except that it might not have been as finely filtered. Cave paintings and markings on the pottery depict people sitting around a large pot of beer and drinking through long straws. The straws were aimed at the middle of the brew so that whatever sediment sank to the bottom or rose to the top could be avoided.
    Beer making grew more sophisticated in Roman times. Roman historian Tacitus, describing German tribes, wrote that “for drink they use a liquid made of barley or wheat and, by fermentation, given a certain likeness to wine.” It wasn’t long after that, perhaps as early as 600 AD, that people in barley-growing regions realized that just like wine and cider, beer could be distilled into a much more potent spirit. By the late 1400s, whiskey—which was then called aqua vitae, a generic term for distilled spirits—was being made in the British Isles.
    WHERE DO BEER AND WHISKEY GET THEIR COLORS?
    Whiskey does not necessarily come out of the barrel with a deep amber color , and beer is not always as dark in the fermentation tank as it is in the bottle. Caramel coloring is used in some beer and spirits to ensure the color is consistent from one batch to the next. Color is also used to indicate the age of a particular bottling: While an eight-year-old Scotch and a twenty-year-old Scotch may not come out of the barrel in different colors, the older Scotch can be tinted a darker color to suggest a longer aging period. In the case of beer, the color of the beer is closely associated with its branding: an amber is expected to be red, and a stout is supposed to be dark brown.
    Purists consider caramel an unnecessary additive that should be dispensed with. So-called beer caramel, or Class III 150c caramel, is prepared with ammonium compounds and is one of two types of caramel that have come under criticism from consumer groups for the possibility that they contain carcinogens. (Class IV “soda caramel” is the other type made with ammonium compounds.)
    Whiskey, on the other hand, is typically colored with “spirit caramel,” or Class I 150a caramel, which is not made with ammonium compounds. Although it is not considered harmful and apparently does not change the flavor of the drink, some whiskey purists advocate for the return of “real whiskey” without unnecessary coloring. Highland Park Scotch boasts that it adds no coloring to its spirits; many smaller craft distilleries also avoid caramel color. In the United States, only blended whiskies are allowed to include caramel, but “straight whiskey” or “straight bourbon” may not.
growing the perfect barley
    Although the debate between the Irish and the Scottish over who invented it may never be settled, the fact is that whiskey was born in that region precisely because its climate and soil is so well-suited to growing barley. Stuart Swanston, a barley researcher with the Scottish Crops Research Institute, believes that Scotland’s chilly weather is perfect for its most famous crop. “The advantage we have on the eastern coastal strip of Scotland is that we’re close to the North Sea,” he said. “We have mild winters and rubbishy summers—it’s a long, cool, humid growing season. That means lots of starch in the grain, which is very suitable for high levels of alcohol.” But if the weather is off and the starch doesn’t form perfectly in the grain, it gets fed