MILLCREEK, Utah (KTVX) – Using recipes from ancient Egyptian papyrus and a master’s degree in Middle Eastern studies, a Utah man brewed a beer based on recipes nearly 3,000 years old.

Dylan McDonnell, a self-described avid beer brewer, recently used yeast from ancient pottery to recreate what he called an authentic ancient Egyptian beer recipe.

Brewing such a drink allowed him to taste history and become “connected to that era,” he said.

He derived the recipe for his beer from the Ebers Papyrus, a text of medicinal herbal knowledge dating back to around 1550 BC.

“What I did was I took every recipe that mentioned beer … and took the top eight ingredients from that recipe and used them to make the beer,” McDonnell said.

Among the ingredients he needed were purple Egyptian barley, emmer wheat, Egyptian balsam fruit, Israeli golden raisins, and frankincense.

The yeast used in brewing beer was also ancient. A group of scientists in Israel were able to extract the yeast from a jar that dates back to the 9th Century BC.

Since January, McDonnell has spent hours each day crafting his beer.

“It’s cool,” he said. “Three thousand years ago, there was some guy in Egypt that was likely putting the same ingredients into a pot and boiling it with the hope of making the same thing.”

As for the taste, it’s tangy, with a hint of citrus. It’s like a sour, but no hop flavor whatsoever.