He has identified the world’s oldest known barley beer (from Iran’s Zagros Mountains, dating to 3400 B.C.), the oldest grape wine (also from the Zagros, circa 5400 B.C.) and the earliest known booze of any kind, a Neolithic grog from China’s Yellow River Valley brewed some 9,000 years ago. Pat,” as he’s known at Dogfish Head, is the world’s foremost expert on ancient fermented beverages, and he cracks long-forgotten recipes with chemistry, scouring ancient kegs and bottles for residue samples to scrutinize in the lab.

The Anchor Steam Brewery, in San Francisco, once cribbed ingredients from a 4,000-year-old hymn to Ninkasi, the Sumerian beer goddess. They’ll brew beer in dung-tempered pottery or boil it by dropping in hot rocks. They’ll slaughter goats to fashion fresh wineskins, so the vintage takes on an authentically gamey taste. The truest alcohol enthusiasts will try almost anything to conjure the libations of old. But Calagione, grinning broadly, greets the dignified visitor like a treasured drinking buddy. Proper to the point of primness, the University of Pennsylvania adjunct professor sports a crisp polo shirt, pressed khakis and well-tended loafers his wire spectacles peek out from a blizzard of white hair and beard.

Pat to try this,” says Sam Calagione, Dogfish Head’s founder, frowning into his glass.Īt last, Patrick McGovern, a 66-year-old archaeologist, wanders into the little pub, an oddity among the hip young brewers in their sweat shirts and flannel. The microclimate that prospers in different regions of Greece, such as the island of Limnos, with its wild herbage rich in thyme, wild herbs and wildflowers, as well as the mountainous forest areas of Halkidiki, the origin place of the great ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, who was the first to study bees, produces honey of great nutritional value and excellent quality The secret to the unique aroma, the rich taste and the special texture of their high quality honey, lies in the traditional way of production and the excellent raw material.Įxplore our range of Honey and Spreads from Melimnos.It’s just after dawn at the Dogfish Head brewpub in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where the ambition for the morning is to resurrect an Egyptian ale whose recipe dates back thousands of years.īut will the za’atar-a potent Middle Eastern spice mixture redolent of oregano-clobber the soft, floral flavor of the chamomile? And what about the dried doum-palm fruit, which has been giving off a worrisome fungusy scent ever since it was dropped in a brandy snifter of hot water and sampled as a tea?

It was founded in 2017 by Alexandros Balderanos and Anastasia Papatsiflikioti, two people with respect for nature and love for honey. “Melimnos” in collaboration with selected beekeepers, with years of experience in beekeeping, produces and packs exquisite varieties of honey operating in Nea Moudania of Halkidiki. This variety is available in a carved wooden box, perfect for gifts. This velvety delectable honey is the perfect combination with hot scones, crumpets or even fresh toast with a cup of tea. In its wondrous deep aroma are distinguished characteristic aromatic notes of thyme and wild herbs of the land of Limnos !

Wild thyme pottery