Repeat after me: the source of the primary fermentable sugar in beer is barley malt
National Geographic got me all excited. And yes, all of the women of the village were fully clothed.
9,000-Year-Old Beer Re-Created From Chinese Recipe
Ugh. Here I went and got all excited to think that there might be some new (well, new to me at least) style of beer to try. And, after all, I do like me some Alt Bier. And you'd be hard pressed to find a beer style more "Alt" than 9,000 years old any place. But alas, nothing to see here.
Repeat after me: the source of the primary fermentable sugar in beer is Barley malt, AKA Maltose.
Yes, I know: I'm sounding all Reinheitsgebot-ish about that. Yes, you can make a fine beer from Wheat malt too. I'm not going to argue that. Same for Rye and to a lesser extent, many other cereal grains. Some exceptions, however, exist. A malt liquor with a primary fermentable sugar of Rice isn't beer, it's Sake. Not that there's a thing wrong with Sake, I love that too.
And if the source of primary fermentable sugar is Honey, that's not been either, that's Mead. Mead is also great, but its not beer. Grapes? Wine. Fruit? Whatever. Corn? Down that path lies Whiskey and other hard spirits. But not Beer.
And neither is this.