Ancient Chinese people were working hard to create the perfect recipe for making beer 6,000 years ago, scientists reveal. Nine Neolithic amphorae shards - used for transporting beer, wine and grain - were studied by researchers at Stanford University. They found remnants of prehistoric beer as well as evidence of two clear methods used to brew the alcohol.
     The methods were carried out separately and could have been combined to make different varieties of alcohol. One method, employed by the Yangshao people in Dingcun, was to use malts made of sprouted millet, grass seeds and rice to produce low-alcohol drinks. Whereas another made use of qu, mouldy grass and grains, to produce stronger drinks.
     "Yangshao people may have been experimenting with various methods to find the best way for alcohol making, or were brewing multiple types of alcohol for different purposes," Dr Liu Li, writes in the study. Millennia later, the two techniques were recorded into literature, with the booze made from cereal known as li alcohol while the higher concentration drink was dubbed jiu.
     Amphorae were produced in huge numbers in Neolithic China and were manufactured to be up to three feet (one metre) tall. Dr Liu believes the growing popularity of amphorae in China is one of the Yangshao culture's most significant types of artefacts. It served a core role in their culture, and researchers believe this may because it was used to produce alcohol.
     The researchers write: "It is notable that the size of amphorae increased over time, with many measuring nearly one meter in height during the Miaodigou phase [around 6,000 years ago], suggesting a growing demand for alcohol, probably for communal drinking rituals."

Edited from Mail Online (20 January 2020)