Ancient Egyptian recipe inspires modernized brew

An ancient burial chamber at Gordian in central Turkey supposedly houses the tomb of King Midas. Midas was not only a myth, but an actual king of the ancient kingdom of Phrygia around 700 B.C.E. His intact tomb seems to have been the location of the final funeral party for its permanent resident, and someone neglected to clean the 157 different drinking vessels left behind. Some of these vessels still had some residue on them. The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology used some new methods of molecular archaeology and found that the residue was the remnant of an old drink with traces of barley, honey, and grapes; it was seemingly a mixture of beer, mead, and wine. Assuming this wasn't a mixed drink gone wrong, Dogfish Head Brewing did the only thing it knew how—made a beer from it.

Midas Touch Golden Elixir is one of Dogfish Head's year-round limited monthly releases and tries to best replicate the ancient cocktail in a modern beer. The ale is handcrafted using the basic recipe discovered in the Turkish tomb with the primary ingredients of barley and honey in the mash. Muskrat grapes and saffron are added later in the brewing process. With a golden color (appropriate), it pours with little to no head.