Beer & Ale

A short annotated bibliography of books and other materials useful for historical brewing. Some of these materials range up into the 1800s.

Documentation by Tofi Kerthjalfadsson, Debatable Brewers' guildmaster; Ale (recipe and entry) by Tofi, Anwen ferch Morgaunt, Ellisif Flakkari, Leif Hjalmsson, and Barak Ben David (called "Red").

17th Century.

In the century from 1524 to 1625, beer replaced the more traditional ale as the constitutive national drink of the English, a fact enabled by the introduction of cultivated hops. Concurrently, this period, especially the latter half, saw an enormous growth in the sense of English self-identification, due in no small part to constant fears of and then the ultimate defeat of the Armada.

This recipe for beer is very similar to beer brewed by the ancient Egyptians and is probably a direct descendent of it.

A case study of beer-brewi ng, retailing and regulation within a single provincial community: Southampto n, a port town and incorporat ed borough on the English south coast.

By Lord Corwin of Darkwater.

A recreation of an early 14th c. unhopped English ale designed and brewed by Tofi Kerthjalfadsson.

A recipe based on the records of the household of Elizabeth de Burgh.

Class by Master Terafan Greydragon.

The illustrati ons from the Mendel and Landauer Housebooks , indexed by profession and with lists of items found in each illustrati on.

In general, beers from Elizabethan England would be somewhat heavier, somewhat sweeter, and less bitter than what is available in England today. They would range in color from light to dark brown, due to the malts used. They would have considerably less carbonation than today. And they would be pretty fresh, possibly even green by today's standards.

The Brewery's Recipe Exchange.

An annotated recipe for a fool-proof ale beer.

On alcoholic beverages in the Middle Ages.

An ongoing site with articles and links on Brewing as it applies to the Middle Ages and the SCA.

An attempt to brew beer based on an ancient Sumerian recipe.

Recipes from The Closet of the Eminently Learned Sir Kenelme Digbie Kt Opened: Whereby is Discovered Several ways for making of Metheglin, Sider, Cherry-Wine, &c. together with Excellent Directions for Cookery: As also for Preserving, Conserving, Candying, &c. First edition, London, 1669.

In medieval England, ale was an alcoholic drink made from grain, water, and fermented with yeast. The difference between medieval ale and beer was that beer also used hops as an ingredient. Virtually everyone drank ale. It provided significant nutrition as well as hydration (and inebriation). The aristocracy could afford to drink wine some of the time as well, and some times the poor could not even afford ale, but in general ale was the drink of choice in England throughout the medieval period.

These recipes are a modest attempt to recreate ales that are not only "period", i.e. pre-17th century, but is actually medieval. These ales are based on newly available evidence from the late 13th and early 14th centuries.

Discusses the ingredients in early medieval ales, and how to homebrew ale.

Recipe and Documentation by Tofi Kerthjalfadsson, Debatable Brewers' guildmaster; Ale made by Tofi, Anwen ferch Morgaunt, Ellisif Flakkari, Leif Hjalmsson, and Barak Ben David (called "Red").

Making beer, period beer and ale. Use of hops in medieval beverages.

The Assize of Bread and Beer (including the Lucrum Pistoris), only takes the form found in the printed Statutes of the Realm in 6% of all Common Law English statute books written up to 1350. More often the three component parts, the Assize of Bread, the Assize of Beer, and the Lucrum Pistoris, appear alone in the statute books as separate instruments.

The basic concept of brewing is a simple one: if you can boil water, you can brew beer.

The full text published on Project Gutenberg.

By Lord Corwin of Darkwater.

This Ale recipe was first published in 1577 in William Harrison's "A Description of England", and was found in Lost Country Life, by Dorothy Hartley, on page 192. It is the recipe that William's wife used to brew for the two of them.