Missouri State University associate professor of history Dr. Julia Troche admits it. She is fascinated by the history of beer.

“I have always held an academic interest in the role of feasting (and drinking) in ritual and history,” said Troche, a specialist in Egypt as well as ancient history.

When she and her colleague, assistant professor of classics and global studies Dr. Bryan Brinkman, attended a local beer festival, they enjoyed visiting with brewery employees who thought their academic specialties were interesting.

From those conversations, Troche and Brinkman decided to coordinate a community-facing event about the history of beer that would align with MSU’s public affairs mission while using an interdisciplinary approach.

This would allow MSU faculty to share their expertise “in fun, accessible ways,” Troche said.

“A Brief History of Beer”

Troche and Brinkman, along with assistant professor of history Dr. Chelsea Davis and associate professor of agriculture Dr. Michael Goerndt, made it all happen Sept. 28 at Mother’s Brewery Company with their first community outreach effort, “A Brief History of Beer.”

Co-sponsored by Mother’s and the American Research Center in Egypt, Missouri Chapter (ARCE-MO), the event was structured around four talks inspired by one of the four traditional ingredients in beer (water, grain, hops, yeast). Each talk was accompanied by a beer sample from Mother’s.

“Kyle and Amy at Mother’s contributed so much and made the event possible,” Troche said. “Mother’s generously covered the cost of the beer samples, which ARCE-MO would otherwise have paid for. They also had two employees working the event, introducing the beers and pouring the samples.”

All speakers waived speaker fees to ensure the event was free to the public.

Water, grain, hops and yeast

Representing the William H. Darr College of Agriculture, Goerndt gave a talk on “Water: the fuel of agricultural empires – from Mesopotamia to ancient Egypt.”

“The main point that I wanted the audience to take away is that the proximity of major water sources, and the rich fertile soils that are created over eons through presence and movement of water, were key factors to human society actually making the transition from hunter/gatherer to agricultural societies,” Goerndt explained.

“It was only through agricultural advancement (greatly the ability to utilize water for irrigation and transport) that ancient societies were able to reach levels of productivity and even ‘abundance’ that they could use some of their yield to make products like beer,” he added.

Brinkman, who represented the Department of Languages, Cultures and Religions, spoke on grains in his talk “Bread Ingredients and Circuses: The Grain Supply in Ancient Rome.”

“My talk focused on the fundamental role that grain, and securing the grain supply, played in the way that Rome’s empire spread, as well as the subsequent impact this had on the internal politics of the Roman state,” Brinkman said.

“I also discussed the general Roman attitude toward beer consumption and the cultural conceptions that informed these attitudes,” Brinkman continued. “For the Romans, beer was an ‘effeminate’ drink, while wine was the beverage enjoyed by the Romans and, therefore, what they would consider ‘masculine.’”

Davis, from the Department of History, helped the audience explore British history with her talk “Hops and the British Empire.”

“My talk centered on the ingredient of hops and their relation to the British Empire in the nineteenth century,” Davis said. “I offered two case studies related to the creation and consumption of India Pale Ale (IPA) as well as hop plantations in Aboriginal Australian reserves in colonial Australia.”

“In both case studies,” Davis continued, “whether IPAs drunk by British colonial officials in India or grown by indigenous groups in Australia, hops served as a bitter reminder of the gap between white and nonwhite peoples in the British Empire. Here, hops and beer became a marker of racial and colonial distinction.”

Troche’s talk “Yeast, Beer, and the Origins of Civilization” explored the role beer played in the emergence of early civilizations in Egypt and Mesopotamia as well as the contributions of civilization on brewing and beer manufacturing. Troche also spoke about women’s roles in brewing ancient Egyptian beer. 

Audience all in

Troche was pleased with the audience response. Several audience members asked questions and appeared thoroughly interested in the topics.

“One attendee asked about the role of women in ancient brewing, which was a very thoughtful question,” Troche said. “Another attendee asked about the economies of different alcoholic drinks in ancient Rome. It was clear the audience was engaging with the material.”

“[The] audiences were really engaged,” Davis added, “especially as many of them enjoyed drinking IPAs without fully knowing the history of how the drink was created originally.”

“I was definitely a bit different from the other speakers in that I am a forester speaking from the standpoint of agriculture and not so much as a historian,” Goerndt said. “Regardless, I was able to field some very good questions and the audience seemed to be receptive.”

None of this surprised Troche. “Generally, audiences are very interested in ancient history,” Troche said. “They always come with a lot of enthusiasm and interest.”

“Ancient history is engaging and exciting,” Troche continued. “It gets people thinking critically and engaging with evidence in a way we often can’t do with local, contemporary or U.S. history. We are able to approach ancient history with a bit more of an open mind because it is so removed from us in time and space. But nevertheless, the opportunities for critical thinking and learning remain potent.”

Public Affairs mission key goal

“I was very pleased to be able to bring our specialized knowledge to the wider public,” Brinkman said. “I think this was a good example of the ways that faculty can contribute to community engagement, one of the pillars of Missouri State’s public affairs mission.”

“MSU’s Public Affairs mission is one of the major reasons I came to Missouri State,” Troche said.

Brinkman has already continued his outreach efforts.

His talk, “Civic Engagement in Ancient Rome: Voting Practices and the Power of Popular Politics,” part of the Missouri Council for History Education’s “history on tap” series, was held Oct. 10 at Wire Road Brewing Company.

Brinkman was also a featured speaker for a recent episode for the “Talking History” podcast. In the program “Roman Twitter?,” Brinkman discussed the role of mass communications in the ancient world.

Meanwhile, Troche is busy organizing another outreach effort.

Free and open to the public, the fifth annual virtual symposium “New Directions in Teaching Ancient Egypt and Nubia” will be held 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Oct. 21.

Sponsored by American Research Center in Egypt, Missouri Chapter (ARCE-MO), the symposium will focus on pedagogy, bringing together scholars, educators, students, museum professionals and anyone invested in teaching about ancient Egypt and Nubia in order to address practical matters, recent innovations and future collaborations.

Register for the ARCE-MO symposium.

“Absolutely” would do it again

Each of the professors said they would “absolutely” consider participating in similar outreach events.

“I think that it was a wonderful experience, and definitely the type of experience that we (as academics) don’t get to engage in nearly often enough in our regular duties,” Goerndt said.

“I was really excited about the number of members from the public and our on-campus community who attended,” Davis said. “This illustrates that there is a general enthusiasm within the Springfield public for learning about history in a format that is meaningful or interesting to them. It was also rewarding to pair with local community partners!”

Troche “loved doing the event. It was a lot of work and a bit stressful at times (just because I wanted it to be perfect), but well worth it and a lot of fun. I’d be quick to do it again.”

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