04
360 cm
—
500 cm
Layer 04 · ~9000 BCE – PRESENT
The Grain
Water, barley, fire. Everything else is arrangement.
Water, barley, emmer, rye — the raw materials that precede every style and determine most of what ends up in the glass.
5 pieces in this layer
Ordered by depth- 383 cmWater, Barley, FireThe three inputs that precede everything else in grain fermentation — water chemistry, barley variety and heat — and why their interaction determines far more of the final character than any later addition.7 min
- 407 cmEmmer Before BarleyEmmer wheat and barley as brewing grains — when and why barley displaced emmer in most traditions, and what the older grain tasted like based on archaeological residue analysis and modern experimental archaeology.3 min
- 430 cmMalting Without a FloorPre-industrial malting practice — germination in baskets, drying over open fire, and the variability that comes with it — contrasted with how the industrial floor maltings standardised what had been an essentially local process.4 min
- 453 cmThe Adjunct That Wasn'tThe use of unmalted grains — oats, wheat, rye — in historical brewing, pushing back on the modern craft assumption that adjuncts are a cost-cutting shortcut and showing they were often the intended base.2 min
- 477 cmSmoked Malt and the Open KilnWhy almost all malt was smoked before indirect kilning existed — what that means for our reading of historical beer character — and where smoke-dried malt survives as the default rather than the specialty.2 min
↑ The Monastic Centuries (200–360 cm)↓ Before Hops (500–680 cm)