r/Snorkblot • u/netphilia • 9h ago

History *quiver*

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u/bigdave41 8h ago

If the recipe for Guinness contains DNA I'm not sure I want to drink it anymore

9

u/Advice_Thingy 8h ago

Boi do I have some bad news about your food for you.

1

u/glittervector 8h ago

I mean, true. But on the other hand, why would you need DNA to reconstruct a beer recipe? Maybe for the yeast strain, but otherwise?

2

u/wosmo 6h ago edited 6h ago

Beer is basically water, yeast, hops, barley.

DNA would help isolate the yeast (which is usually the biggest deal because it has such a short lifetime that it's going to evolve quickly), but also help isolate exactly what varieties of barley and hops.

It's like if you had a recipe that included Rose, and to get it exactly like your grandma's, you had to figure out exactly what roses she grew, because there's like 500 of them. It's not that old is good and new is bad, or vice versa - just that you won't get it exactly the same without identifying the exact cultivar.

(especially in the 1800s where the hops probably are more likely to be a local variety and less likely "Monsanto Hop #12; patent pending, please check license conditions before pollinating, terms and conditions apply".)