{"id":47162,"date":"2024-01-30T17:22:08","date_gmt":"2024-01-30T21:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebeertimes.com\/?p=47162"},"modified":"2026-06-28T19:12:57","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T23:12:57","slug":"hymn-to-ninkasi-oldest-beer-recipe-in-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thebeertimes.com\/en\/hymn-to-ninkasi-oldest-beer-recipe-in-history\/","title":{"rendered":"The “Hymn to Ninkasi”: The Oldest Beer Recipe in History?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Beer is the second most consumed alcoholic beverage worldwide, but it has a very long and distinguished legacy. In fact, it is older than wine, older than whiskey and even older than bread.<\/p>\n

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Figurine of the goddess Ninkasi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As soon as humans learned to cultivate grains, about 13,000 years ago, fermentation appeared as a natural phenomenon.<\/p>\n

But it was not until the 5th century BC that we have sources documenting the deliberate production of beer<\/a> in ancient Sumer.<\/p>\n

However, beer has been described as the “midwife of civilization” due to its central role in agriculture, trade, urbanization and medicine.<\/p>\n