A series about the women who have made craft beer

The First Lady of Beer (Literally)

In the Beginning

As I begin this exploration of women in beer, I figured it made sense to start with the very first woman in beer: Ninkasi, the ancient Sumerian goddess of beer. The Sumerian people lived in southern Mesopotamia in what is now southern Iraq from approximately 4500 BC to 1900 BC. They practiced anthropomorphic polytheism (worshipping many human-like gods) and one of those gods was Ninkasi, who has one of the best origin stories I’ve ever heard.

Enki, the god of wisdom, seduces his great-granddaughter, Uttu (the weaver or spider). Understandably upset about this, Uttu visits her great-grandmother Ninhursag, an Earth goddess, who, also annoyed at these proceedings pulls Enki’s semen from Uttu’s womb and uses it to grow fruit plants in eight different spots. Enki loves fruit so he eats the semen-fruit and finds himself pregnant in eight places because of course. Ninhursag lets her husband suffer for a bit before going to him and pulling his semen out of his body and into hers. She then gives birth to eight gods who each represent the healing of one of Enki’s wounds. The god representing the mouth is Ninkasi whose name translates as “the lady who fills the mouth,” which sounds dirty but isn’t in this case. Crazy story, right?