THE WAKKER WEEKLY – Issue #1800
Issue #1800 – Posted on: 25 – July – 2025
Editor’s Note: Although the 1800th edition of our Bushwakker weekly newsletter may seem to be of no particular importance other than being a nice and somewhat round number, YOUR Wakker Weekly has seen quite an evolution since its inception almost 35 years ago! Back in 1991 there wasn’t much of an internet so our newsletter was distributed via fax and was appropriately named, The Bushfax. But soon enough we began distributing our newsletter by email and it was renamed The Bushwakker Picayune. A number of years later when we embraced social media we again rebranded our newsletter as The Wakker Weekly. There are currently no newsletter rebranding plans but let’s see what edition 2000 will bring! Our weekly newsletter distribution tradition is our longest continually executed marketing program. It’s creation was due to the efforts of late Bushwakker founder and president, Bev Robertson, who was also a physics professor at the University of Regina.
BUSHWAKKER SEASONAL SUDS STATUS. Bushwakker head brewer, Michael Gaetz, reports the bottles of BLACKBERRY MEAD are now gone but MORK’S MEAD is still available in our offsale as part of our Summer Doubly Bubbly Mead Release. Our seasonally available PONCE DE LEON BLACKBERRY RASPBERRY ALE, KAI’S MUNICH HELLES and ENIGMA PALE ALE are currently available. There are also batches of BOMBAY IPA (to be released on Saturday, July 26th), SUMMER WHEAT (to be released on Saturday, August 2nd), TANGERINE DRAGON FRUIT ALE, and GOSE TO THE FINISH Queen City Marathon 25th Anniversary Ale currently working their way through the brewery.
July 25 – 26: BUSHWAKKER ITALIAN WEEKEND. In an effort to give you yet another reason to visit YOUR Bushwakker during the “Disruptive Dewdney Dig,” our kitchen will be offering an Italian-themed sandwich, pizza and hot special this weekend. Fans of Italian cuisine won’t want to miss this. Don’t forget our new Free Parking Lot right across Cornwall Street is now open. Mamma Mia!
Last Tuesday saw a fine evening of eclectic Saskatchewan musical talent including: Emily Dubois, The Matt Remenda Ensemble, Mary Liv, and Glenn Sutter. Much thanks to SaskMusic, the incredible musicians and the fans who were here to cheer them on. We’ll do it again on Tuesday, August 19th!
Our new SUMMER SMOKIN’ SEASONAL MENU is really putting our 60 year-old English beer aging tank which we have converted into a big 800-litre smoker to the test! The Pork Belly Bites appetizer may rival our famous nachos in popularity! Smoked pork over crispy cheesy tortillas? You decide! Check out more details on our new Smoked Menu at https://bushwakker.com/full-
2025 HOP CIRCUIT! The supply of Hop Circuit glasses is running low! So don’t delay and jump on the popular Hop Circuit today! Grab your free map and take a hike or your bike and visit all six participating Regina craft breweries. “Defy the Dewdney Dig” and take advantage of our two bike racks and two free parking lots! Collect a stamp on your map at all six locations and receive your free 2025 Hop Circuit commemorative glass while quantities last!
SUMMER “DOUBLY-BUBBLY” MEAD RELEASE. Although the bottles of our famous BLACKBERRY MEAD sold out quick, for the first time ever this summer we have our original MORK’S MEAD bottles available! They are in limited supply so don’t delay in visiting us today! Mead on ice is twice as nice!
Our FOOTBALL WEEKEND SPECIAL DINING FEATURE for July 25th & 26th is an ELKS BURGER & A PINT! Our Saturday CLASSIC STEAK & A PINT SPECIAL as well as our Monday and Wednesday WINGS & A PINT SPECIAL and Tuesday PIZZA & A PINT SPECIAL are also great value deals.
JULY PREMIUM WINE FEATURES: This month’s wine features hail from Australia! The Red is JACOB’S CREEK GRENACHE/SHIRAZ and the White is ROSEMOUNT ESTATE TRAMINER RIESLING. Both are $8.95 for a glass and $23.95 for a half litre.
UPCOMING EVENTS
July 25: RIDERS HOST THE EDMONTON ELKS. Another 7:00 PM Friday night football showdown in the Queen City! Our Green & White plays host to the Green & Yellow. Be sure park in the massive free parking lot nearby and then take the free 8th Avenue shuttle to and from the game. Enjoy our Chef Mike’s kicked-up ELKS BURGER & A PINT special and come “devour” the competition!
July 28: Monday Night Jazz & Blues. COLIN WEIST. The real deal. Veteran bluesman delivers 1920’s Mississippi delta to 1960’s Chicago blues on acoustic, resonator and electric guitar. 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM.
July 30: Wednesday Folk Night. BRIAN PAUL D.G. & FRIENDS. Saskatoon folk musician returns with an ever-revolving group of eclectic supporting players! You just never know what treat you’ll get! 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM.
When was Beer Invented?
Humans discovered fermentation thousands of years ago, but ancient brews would have tasted much differently from the beers of today.
Beer is one of the most popular beverages in the world, with nearly every country having its own local lager. In the U.S. alone, the overall beer market in 2023 totalled $116.9 billion, and breweries shipped out 192 million barrels of beer. But the ice-cold, bubbly beverage we know today didn’t always exist. So when was beer invented?
The answer traces back thousands of years. But there’s still some mystery surrounding the exact origins of beer, and the beer of ancient times probably didn’t taste anything like what you’re used to today.
“We don’t actually know exactly how [beer] was discovered,” Tate Paulette, an associate professor of history at North Carolina State University, told Live Science. “Partly because of the kind of evidence we have, it’s unlikely that we’re going to get that kind of answer.”
Because humans discovered fermentation so long ago, it’s difficult to find evidence of exactly where beer-making began, Paulette explained. Much of the evidence comes from organic-residue analysis, he said.
Using this technique, archaeologists can identify the chemical signatures of grain fermentation on ancient ceramic or stone vessels. Researchers have found strong evidence of beer brewing as far back as the Neolithic period (10,000 to 4,000 years ago), when agriculture took root, in sites all around the world.
The oldest beer
Kirk French, an assistant professor of anthropology at Penn State, pointed to 9,000-year-old sites in China as the best evidence for ancient beer brewing. At the Qiaotou archaeological site in southeastern China, archaeologists found residues of plants, yeast and mold on ancient pots near human skeletons, suggesting that they once contained a beer-like fermented beverage. Analyses indicate that the beverage those pots contained also included rice, tubers and fungi.
Another site in China from the same time period, Jiahu, also contains bronze vessels with chemical signatures of grain fermentation, as well as residues of rice, honey and fruit.
French said the Jiahu site contains the most foolproof evidence of ancient beer because the chemical residues were found in drinking vessels. There are even older potential instances of beer brewing, but the evidence isn’t as strong. That’s because analyses of the older sites rely on residues found on cookware, which also could have been used to make bread or porridge; both foods involve a small amount of fermentation and can leave the same chemical signatures as beer brewing.
One of these older sites is an 11,000-year-old cultic feasting location in Turkey. At the site, named Göbekli Tepe, researchers found large stone kilns with residues of ground grain. Although these kilns also could have been used to grind grain for bread, one of the researchers argues that the finish on the stone suggests the grain was ground coarsely, in a manner more appropriate for fermenting beer or making porridge than for baking bread.
Some archaeologists have proposed that beer dates back even earlier, to a 13,000-year-old cave near Haifa, Israel. There, researchers found starch granules in pits taken out of the bedrock that could indicate fermentation. But again, it’s possible these stone pits were used for making food rather than drinks.
“It’s totally possible (and maybe even likely) that they were making beer,” French told Live Science in an email. But ultimately, he said the evidence is too ambiguous to make a conclusion.
Paulette said we likely will never know the exact date that humans brewed their first batch of beer, though emerging evidence continues to push the potential date back further and further. Both experts agreed it’s unlikely that beer was “invented” in one place and spread from there; rather, fermentation was probably independently discovered by different groups of people throughout the world.
What did ancient beer taste like?
Though it’s still a mystery exactly when and where the first beer was made, one thing is clear: Ancient beer would have tasted quite different from a modern lager.
For one, it would have been sour — a flavor resulting from both yeast and lactic acid bacteria fermenting the grain, Paulette said. It also may have been thick and unfiltered. That’s because the process of ancient beer brewing began with a mixture of ground grain and water, and the remaining sediment wasn’t always filtered out after fermentation. Paulette said there is some written evidence of “strained” beer in Mesopotamia. But more often than not, imagery and artifacts from the period show that people drank beer through straws with filter tips, suggesting that the beer itself was unfiltered.
In ancient times, beer was also likely drunk shortly after it fermented; otherwise, it could quickly go bad and develop harmful mold or bacteria. Because of this, ancient beer was likely relatively flat and not particularly high in alcohol, unlike our bubbly, boozy IPAs. And without refrigeration technologies, beer was definitely not ice-cold.
French said the beers we know and love today are only about 500 years old.
“They really start in the 1500s, with the Czech beers and German beers,” he explained. This is when lagering — the process of cold-fermenting beers that creates a clear, crisp and bubbly beverage — was developed. As Germans migrated around the world in the coming centuries, they brought this brewing technique with them.
“That’s why, if you’ve traveled a lot, it doesn’t matter where you go in the world — you can find your basic lager,” French said.
TIME OUT
John was at the grocery store purchasing beer for poker night with his buddies. As he peruses the frozen food section, a curvaceous redhead approaches him and says:
“Excuse me, I think you are the father of one of my kids.”
John replied, “Ohhh, are you that redhead I banged in the bathroom at MacGregor’s Pub a couple of years back? You certainly look good.”
The redhead responded, “No sir…, I’m a kindergarten teacher, and I teach Timmy, your 5-year-old son.”
No problem! We’ve got you covered all summer long. Our converted beer tank smoker has been hard at work smoking ribs, pork butts, pork belly, beef briskets, cheese and even tomatoes!
