The recipe included a mix of fermented grains: broomcorn millet, barley and Job's tears, a chewy Asian grain also known as Chinese pearl barley. The recipe also called for tubers, the starchy and sugary parts of plants, which were added to sweeten and flavor the beer, the researchers write.
Chinese and other Asian beer brands on display at a supermarket. An ancient brewery discovered in China's Central Plain shows the Chinese were making barley beer with fairly advanced techniques some 5,000 years ago. Photo by Chris/Flickr. Image sourced from NPR. Available at: https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2016/05/23/chinesebeer_custom-2cd63a4f487dee3bf7419579d92cdf31d7dbe702.jpg?s=800&c=85&f=webp