Brewing Beer in Early Modern England

A cooper and his assistants making waterbutts and barrels for wine and beer. Woodcut from 1568 by Jost Amman (1539–1591). Courtesy of the Wellcome Collection. Public Domain.

Significance of Ale and Beer in Early Modern England

Fermented beverages, ale, and beer played a significant role in early modern England as a staple in most people’s daily diet, as well as being intoxicants. Historians such as Judith Bennet note that ale (a milder tasting drink without the slightly bitter botantical ingredient of hops) was consumed throughout the day, including at breakfast. Ale and small beer were considered a safer alternative to milk or water; we now know that they were safer due to mild amounts of alcohol, estimated by experts at between 1%–3%, that suppressed microbial growth. People of all social classes, from the nobility to peasants and laborers, consumed both beer and ale regularly. Food historians like Mary-Anne Caton have estimated that each English household would consume approximately one gallon of ale or beer per person, per day to quench their thirst.

Beer Basics

To create these important brews, the English traditionally used a cauldron or kettle, some malted grain, hops, yeast, a water supply, and fire. Food historian Frank Clark from Colonial Williamsburg notes that malting is the process of soaking grain, typically barley, until it just begins to release sugars and sprout, then gently heating it to stop the growth. Once the water, malted grain, and sometimes hops were added, brewers would boil the mixture, then add yeast before fermenting it in casks. The fermentation converts the sugars from the malted grain into ethanol and carbon dioxide, giving beer or ale its alcohol content and slight fizz.

Different grains were used in different parts of the world for beer brewing, according to A History of Beer and Brewing by I. S. Hornsey. However, in early modern England, barley was the primary crop used in the production of ale and beer because it was more receptive to malting. Other grains that were used were wheat, oats, rye, millet, and maize.

Ale refers to the mixture of malt, water, and yeast and has now become synonymous with beer. However, before the end of the sixteenth century and the introduction of hops into the brewing process mainly by Dutch immigrants to England, ale was an unhopped beverage, according to historian Richard Unger. Hops add a slight bitterness but also makes beer less likely to spoil than ale. Some early modern brewers used gruit, a mixture of herbs and spices to flavour their traditional ale.

Women as Brewers

Brewing ale was a common practice in many English households and was typically the responsibility of single, married, or widowed women, as noted by Judith Bennett. Many things could go wrong in the brewing process; for example, a household could have a shortage of ingredients due to drought or floods, the yeast cultures could die, or the brew would simply not taste right. According to experts at the Folger Shakespeare Library’s Folgerpedia, women brewers faced significant amounts of pressure from their husbands or masters to ensure that their household ale was adequate for consumption. Women, including Shakespeare’s wife Anne Hathaway, played a significant role in brewing ale up until the introduction of hops and the inception of commercial brewing in the 18th century. Judith Bennet claims that it was at this time that England saw the masculinization of the beer brewing industry, which was historically known as women’s work. A search of the Folger’s Digital Collection reveals dozens of handwritten recipe books by women that feature advice about how to brew beer and ale.

Ale vs. Beer

Before hops, ale brewers struggled to store their brew as it spoiled quickly and only lasted roughly a week, making it insufficient for export and thus not able to keep up with consumer demands. Historian Kirsten Burton notes this and other facts about how the introduction of hops changed the brewing industry: The introduction of hops in the 1500s was not well received in England as most citizens preferred traditional ale. Beer brewing flourished and quickly replaced ale as the primary brew throughout 17th-century urban England. Brewing beer required more equipment, a greater knowledge and skill set, and it was more labour intensive than ale. Therefore, many ale brewers hesitated to switch to beer brewing due to the added cost of hops, labour, and equipment.

Towards the end of the 17th century, entire books were published that assisted both commercial brewers and home brewers, such as Cerevisiarii Comes: or, the New and True Art of Brewing: Illustrated by Various Examples in Making Beer, Ale and Other Liquors, published in London in 1692.

Beer in Shakespeare’s Plays

Many early modern plays feature references to beer or ale. Shakespeare’s plays offer a commentary on beer and ale in the changing environment of the early modern period. He mocks drunkards like Falstaff in The First and the Second Parts of Henry IV and Christopher Sly in The Taming of the Shrew by having them call frequently for ale while appearing already intoxicated onstage. He also shows the gendered aspects of brewing in Othello when Iago scornfully references women making an accounting of beer in their household. Moreover, by referencing small and double beer, Shakespeare evidently understood its significance and popularity in English households and amongst English drinkers. Mentioning beer throughout his plays serves to connect his audience who doubtless consumed beer to the characters who enjoy it as well. Scholar Christina Romanelli suggests that Shakespeare’s character Mistress Nell Quickly, alewife and owner of the Boar Head Tavern in the play The First and Second Parts of Henry IV, serves as a representation of the early modern English countrywoman belonging to the working class, and that Shakespeare would have been familiar with women as brewers, since the historical record notes his own wife brewed beer.

Key Print Sources Bennett, Judith M. Ale, Beer, and Brewsters in England: Women’s Work in a Changing World, 1300–1600. Oxford University Press, 1996. Burton, Kirsten D. The Citie Calls for Beere: The Introduction of Hops and the Foundation of Industrial Brewing in Early Modern London. Journal of the Brewery History Society, 2013, pp. 6–15. Hornsey, I. S. A History of Beer and Brewing. The Royal Society of Chemistry, 2003. Romanelli, Christina. Sour Beer at the Boar’s Head: Salvaging Shakespeare’s Alewife, Mistress Quickly. Humanities vol. 81, 2019, pp.1–15. Unger, Richard W. Beer in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004.

Key Online Sources Best, Michael. Brewing Beer. Shakespeare’s Life and Times. Internet Shakespeare Editions. University of Victoria, 18 Oct. 2022. https://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/society/city%20life/trades/brewer.html. Caton, Mary-Anne. Fooles and Fricassees: Food in Shakespeare’s England. Folgerpedia. 2018. https://folgerpedia.folger.edu/Fooles_and_Fricassees:_Food_in_Shakespeare%27s_England. Herbert, Amanda E. et al. First Chefs: Fame and Foodways from Britain to the Americas. Folgerpedia. 2021. https://folgerpedia.folger.edu/First_Chefs:_Fame_and_Foodways_from_Britain_to_the_Americas.

Image Sources Amman, Jost. A Cooper and his Assistants Making Waterbutts and Barrels for Wine and Beer. 1568. Woodcut. Wellcome Collection. https://wellcomecollection.org/works/utq3uycu/images?id=f22k3pbt.