honestly, beer's probably one of the better sectors for that. I know we like to treat germ theory like this watershed where everything before it is death - but for brewing, you need to have some idea of what works and what doesn't, because it's the difference between alcohol and vinegar. It's probably more ritual than understanding, but it works.
Plus the base recipe for beer is so simple that they're really just looking to see how ancient hops/grain/yeast differed from modern. or what modern varieties are closest to what was used at the time.
before germ theory fermentation was pure vibes, like medieval bakers who lost their starter or moved to a new area and had none, would just make dough in a bunch of small bowls and leave them out until one or more of them happened to get enough wild yeast, and that was the starter
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u/Previous_Soil_5144 8h ago
Somehow I fear that the original recipe didn't exactly respect most of our new regulations on food and beverages.
Might also taste horrible compared to today's Guinness.