Archaeologists bring beer know-how to St. John's

The Canadian Archaeological Association held its annual meeting in St. John's over the weekend, and invited the public to take part in a seminar on ancient alcoholic beverages. 

Patrick McGovern, director of the biomolecular archaeologist laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania, spoke about his studies of the composition and reconstruction of ancient brewing techniques at Saturday's forum at the Sheraton Hotel.

McGovern, who studies the composition and reconstruction of ancient brewing techniques, said the earliest ancient fermented beverages date back at least 9,000 years ago in China. 

"It has tremendous advantages in terms of health, killing off bacteria, and also in our social relations, opening each other up to one another — and then in religion too," McGovern said. 

He said humans had a much different way of making alcohol drinks thousands of years ago.

"The first ones, we assume, would be fruits with high sugar or honey with high sugar," McGovern said. 

"Also, we have enzymes in our saliva that break down carbohydrates into sugar, so if you take a root or a wild grain or a stock — it could be rice, barely, whatever — you can break that down and spit it out, which may not seem very appetizing, but then yeast will come in and kill off the bad bacteria and convert it into a fermented beverage."

McGovern referred to these potent drinks as "extreme beverages," and said they were used by hunter-gatherer societies to bond. Vikings also incorporated alcohol into their group decision-making.

Liam McKenna, a brew master at YellowBelly Brewery and Public House, was also a guest speaker on Satuday. McKenna spoke about the cultural importance of beer, while St. John's archaeologist Stephen Mills discussed the role of taverns in 17th century Newfoundland. 

Watch highlights from the forum in the video player above.