The Louvre: Beer History

Not only did ancient Egyptians make beer; they made little models of people making beer. These models were put in a royal tomb in order to give the deceased servants in the afterlife. The idea was that these wooden models had a spirit that would enable them to do what they were pictured doing in the spirit-world. They had all sorts of models - for example, of boats, cattle herders, bakers, and, of course... beer brewers.

Here's a model from about 2000 BCE (or 4,000 years ago). These are beer brewers; the guys on the right are pounding out the grain, while a woman does something next to them (the model here is damaged). She's probably brewing the beer. Next to her is a big jar of grain and smaller vats of fermenting beer. Probably tasted like crap, but seriously, it's enough that they are making the stuff (but no hops, remember: that's not until the middle ages).

Below is another dude pressing a wet fermented bread-cake on to a filter over top of a jar. He's squeezing out the beer and leaving behind the grain. I am glad we don't brew like this today, or we might be using words like "putrid" and "insipid drivel" to describe our beer.