Archaeologists have unearthed traces of a 5,000-year-old beer recipe with "advanced beer brewing technique" and elements of East and West in northern China.

"The beer recipe indicates a mix of Chinese and Western traditions - barley from the West; mille, Job's tears and tubers from China," Jiajing Wang of Stanford University told AFP.

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The ancient recipe was dug in underground pits at Mijiaya, near a tributary of the Wei River in northern China, presumably built between 3400 and 2900 BC. Included on the recipe discovered were funnels, pots and specialized jugs. Based on its sizes, experts believe these kits were used for the brewing, filtration and storage processes.

Archaeologists found that ancient brewers not only used specialized tools but also "applied the same principles and techniques as brewers do today," Patrick McGovern, a biomolecular archaeologist from the University of Pennsylvania Museum, said.

Moreover, finding a barley in the beer also surprised scientists. According to NPR, even though barley is a common staple in China, the history of how it first arrived in the country was unknown.

However, researchers suggested barley made its way to the mainland around a thousand years earlier than previous notions. Some even suggested that when barley was first brought from Western Eurasia to the Central Plain China, it also came with the idea that it was a key ingredient for beer brewing. "So it was not only the introduction of a new crop, but also the movement of knowledge associated with the crop," Wang said.

But ultimately, the question is how does ancient beer taste?

"My guess is that the beer might have tasted a bit sour and a bit sweet," Wang said. "Sour comes from ferment cereal grains, sweet from tubers."

The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

TagsBeer, beer recipe, barley, brewery, ancient brewery