O O Ø O O O O
The Curiosities of Ale & Beer
An Entertaining History
Transcription Notes
I’ve only transcribed and proofed the preface and the first two chapters of this text. I will add additional chapters, in order, as my time permits. I apologize for this incompleteness, but I can assure you that it will get done, as I absolutely adore this book.
I am transcribing from the 1965 Spring Books edition of Bickerdyke’s 1889 work. It is my understanding that this is simply a newly set version of the first edition, and the text is nearly identical in every regard. As further proof of this, I have compared chapters between the Spring Books and a transcription from an original printing, and have found only one minor edit to the text. Accordingly, Spring Books makes no claim to copyright the 1965 printing.
Your patience is appreciated, and will be rewarded.
Evan Spence
Thursday, June 12, 2003
Contents
Preface.
Chapter I.
Suppression of Beer-shops in Egypt 2,000 B.C.—Brewing in a Teapot.—Ale Songs.—Distinctions between Ale and Beer.—Ale.—Knights’ objection to Sack.—Hogarth and Temperance.—Importance of Ale to the Agricultural Labourer.—Sir John Barleycorne introduced to the Reader.
Chapter II.
Origin and Antiquity of Ale and Beer.
Chapter III.
Home-brewed Ales.—Old Receipts.—Historical Facts.—Dean Swift on Home-brew.—Christopher North’s Brew-house.
Chapter IV.
Use and Importance of Hops in Beer: Their Introduction and History.—Hop-growers’ Troubles—Medicinal Qualities.—Economical Uses.—Hop-pickers.
Chapter V.
Ancient and Curious Laws relating to the manufacture and sale of Ale and Beer.
Chapter VI.
Brewing and Malting in Early Times.—The Ale-wives.—The Brewers of Old London and the Brewers’ Company.—Anecdotes.—Quaint Epitaphs.
Chapter VII.
Various Kinds of Ales and Beers.—Some Foreign Beers.—Receipts.—Songs.—Anecdotes.
Chapter VIII.
Ale houses: Their Origin.—Hospitality in Mediæval Times.—Old London Inns and Taverns.—Anecdotes of Inns and Inn-keepers.—Curious Signs.—Signboard and Ale-house Verses.—Signboard Artists.—Ale-house Songs and Catches.
Chapter IX.
Ancient Merry-makings, Feasts and Ceremonies peculiar to certain Seasons, at which Ale was the principal Drink.—Harvest Home, Sheep-shearing, and other songs.
Chapter X.
The Ales.—Ale at Breakfast.—Bequests of Ale.—Drinking Customs.—A Sermon on Malt.—Excesses of the Clergy.—Anecdotes.
Chapter XI.
Old Ballads, Songs and Verses relating to Ale and Beer.
Chapter XII.
Brewing in the Present Day.—Anecdotal and Biographical Account of some representative London, Dublin, Burton and Country Brewing Firms.—Edinburgh Ales.
Chapter XIII.
Porter and Stout.—Circumstances which led to their Introduction.—Value to the Working Classes.—Anecdotes.—“A Pot of Porter Oh!”
Chapter XIV.
Beverages compounded of Ale or Beer, with a number of Receipts.—Ancient Drinking Vessels.—Various Uses of Ale other than as a Drink.
Chapter XV.
Old Medical Writers on Ale.—Adulteration of Ale.—Advantages of Malt Liquors to Labouring Classes.—Temperance versus Total Abstinence.—Anecdotes.—Gay’s Ballad.
Appendix.
Pasteur’s Discoveries
Additional Notes
- John Bickerdyke
The author of The Curiosities of Ale and Beer, one of the two most significant anthologies of beer lore ever written. This bench mark work was first published in 1889.
Bickerdyke was, in fact, the pen name of three individuals who assembled a staggering collections of songs, poems, literature and lore of beer. Charles Cook, J.G. Fennel, and an unknown English cleric collaborated to produce this work, last reprinted in 1965. “John Bickerdyke” has become known today as a 19th-century historian, despite being the creation of these three separate writers.
(The Encyclopedia of Beer. Christine P. Rhodes, editor)