By Ruth Tan
What is mead? While most people may know that beer is an age-old beverage brewed by fermenting grains, and wine is an alcoholic drink made of fermented grapes, but not many may have heard of mead made from honey. In Europe, honey is fermented to produce this beverage. Simply put, it is honey wine, also called "Nectar of the gods," or "Drink of Love".
Honey wine is the first alcoholic drink brewed by men, earlier than wine or beer, with alcohol level varying between 7% to 15%. It was told that honey wine could have been produced by chance during the Stone Age when honey became wet from rain and wild yeast in the air settled into the mixture. For centuries, honey wine has been renowned as an 'aphrodisiac' (agent which heightens sexual drive) and the word "honeymoon" is believed to be derived from the ancient European custom of having newly-weds drink honey wine for a whole moon (month) in order to increase their fertility and therefore their chances of a happy and fulfilled marriage. Honey wine is also taken as a health tonic drink as it has a good level of antioxidants from honey. Honey wine-making is as easy as brewing beer, however, the fermentation of honey wine takes much longer than the fermentation of beer. Honey wine can take up to two or three years to reach full maturity.
The popularity of honey wine has waxed and waned in the last centuries, especially during the times when honey became scarce and expensive, it fell into even greater obscurity. This ancient brew was seen by most people as an old-fashioned beverage. However, interestingly it has been reported that this sweet exotic wine is making a comeback and is currently on the rise throughout the world. Making their own mead at home has become a new buzz amongst beverage hobbyists and many others are beginning to pay attention and becoming enticed to it.
Traditional honey wine whether sweet, dry, sparkling or still is simply made of honey, water, and yeast. Today, it comes in a dazzling array of flavors, depending the type of honey, the brewing process you use, and the additions like fruit (e.g blue berry and cherry), herbs, spices, malt, and even peppers you use! When fruits, spices, or herbs are added, honey wine takes on a totally different character and a new name, which could be Melomel (made with fruit juices), Pyment (made with grape juice), Cyser (made with apple juice), Metheglin (made with herbs or spices or both), Hippocras (pyment made with herbs and/or spices), or Braggot (honey-ale made with fermented honey and grains). Choosing which floral varieties of honey to use is a decision of taste and the type of honey wine desired. Stronger honeys like buckwheat go well with sweeter, heavy or spiced honey wines and milder honeys like acacia with delicate flavours work well for traditional or fruit honey wines.
http://ezinearticles.com/?Discovering-Mead&id=460929
Saturday, 28 January 2017
Thursday, 22 December 2016
ThirstyBear Organic Brewery Releases 2 Christmas Casks
From brewbound.com
San Francisco, CA — It might not be a white Christmas in San Francisco this year, but there’s still plenty to celebrate with the holidays right around the corner. ThirstyBear Organic Brewery is 20 years deep into the annual tradition of brewing festive spiced ales to lift the winter spirits. Throughout the holiday season and well into January 2017, ThirstyBear releases two specialty Christmas casks of their TOLSTOY’S INKWELL (Russian Imperial Stout, 9.3% ABV) and GRIZZLY BEAR (Red Ale, 6.3% ABV).
The earliest versions of spiced ales were called “wassail,” a warmed mead (ale brewed with honey) that evolved to become a mulled cider made with cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. It was used for “wassailing,” a Medieval English drinking ritual. With the American Craft Brewing renaissance, the rebirth of spiced ales came in 1975 with Anchor Brewing Company’s release of “Christmas Ale.”
Every year since opening in 1996, ThirstyBear has produced a spiced ale. For 2016, Head Brewmaster Brenden Dobel cask conditions two ales with a rich malty sweetness with hints of caramel and chocolate, along with some alcoholic warmth. Cask conditioning allows ales to undergo a secondary fermentation inside the cask (i.e. the firkin) from which it is dispensed along with dry-hopping. For these specialty casks, Dobel “dry-hopped” the brews with ground whole cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and clove.
TOLSTOY’S INKWELL has massive amounts of Dark Crystal, Chocolate and Black malts along with Roasted Barley for a robust bittersweet chocolate/ molasses/espresso character. It’s dry-hopped with English Fuggle hops to balance the malt character with an earthy and cedar like quality.
GRIZZLY BEAR is brewed with Munich, Wheat and Special B malts, the latter of which provides a dried fruit/raisin character that interacts well with the Christmas spices. It is hopped with the great American hops of Cascade, Centennial and Chinook offering notes of citrus and pine.
https://www.brewbound.com/news/thirstybear-organic-brewery-releases-2-christmas-casks
San Francisco, CA — It might not be a white Christmas in San Francisco this year, but there’s still plenty to celebrate with the holidays right around the corner. ThirstyBear Organic Brewery is 20 years deep into the annual tradition of brewing festive spiced ales to lift the winter spirits. Throughout the holiday season and well into January 2017, ThirstyBear releases two specialty Christmas casks of their TOLSTOY’S INKWELL (Russian Imperial Stout, 9.3% ABV) and GRIZZLY BEAR (Red Ale, 6.3% ABV).
Every year since opening in 1996, ThirstyBear has produced a spiced ale. For 2016, Head Brewmaster Brenden Dobel cask conditions two ales with a rich malty sweetness with hints of caramel and chocolate, along with some alcoholic warmth. Cask conditioning allows ales to undergo a secondary fermentation inside the cask (i.e. the firkin) from which it is dispensed along with dry-hopping. For these specialty casks, Dobel “dry-hopped” the brews with ground whole cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and clove.
TOLSTOY’S INKWELL has massive amounts of Dark Crystal, Chocolate and Black malts along with Roasted Barley for a robust bittersweet chocolate/ molasses/espresso character. It’s dry-hopped with English Fuggle hops to balance the malt character with an earthy and cedar like quality.
GRIZZLY BEAR is brewed with Munich, Wheat and Special B malts, the latter of which provides a dried fruit/raisin character that interacts well with the Christmas spices. It is hopped with the great American hops of Cascade, Centennial and Chinook offering notes of citrus and pine.
https://www.brewbound.com/news/thirstybear-organic-brewery-releases-2-christmas-casks
Wednesday, 23 November 2016
Beer Me: Fermented Honey
From dirtragmag.com
Mead is brewed from honey, which was probably the first sweetener used by humans and was almost certainly fermenting spontaneously in caves and trees long before hominids had even gained a taste for alcohol.
Our favourite bubbly beverage just may be beer. For other occasions—like when we’re feeling a bit more culinary or just want a faster kick—we often reach for wine, and together these forces of alcohol make our world go happily ‘round.
But there is another. It has been antiquated, almost forgotten entirely, but in the Middle Ages it ruled Europe almost as surely as gravity itself, and its name still sounds mysteriously among small circles of educated drinkers and historians: mead. It is brewed from honey, which was probably the first sweetener used by humans and was almost certainly fermenting spontaneously in caves and trees long before hominids had even gained a taste for alcohol. Bears and primates, perhaps, got drunk on such finds before mankind made a habit of happy hours and hangovers. Eventually, such elements became components of the human condition as we brewed and fermented to satiate our desires, and in northern Europe honey became the leading alcohol base in a region too cold to produce grape wine.
Mead was the foremost product of these far-north brewers, but as barley-based beer brewing took hold, malt, honey and hops sometimes landed in the same kettle. The results of such recipes were called braggots, or beers made in combination with honey. `with marmalade. The Special Reserve mead is the strongest in the bunch, and at 16 percent ABV has a warming effect in the mouth. Its flavours are flowery and even a bit starchy on account of the buckwheat honey in the blend. Russ also ages the Special Reserve two years in oak barrels before bottling the mead, a process that leaves its mark in flavours of faint whiskey and rich butter. The Ginger-Apricot Honey Wine tastes crisp as freshly chewed ginger root, the spiciness lingering long and hot after just a sip. Like all the rest we tasted, the flavours of honey underscore the other elements.
Many if not most mead-makers began their careers as beer brewers, merging into mead-making by dabbling and experimentation. Russ began making mead by this progression. So did Mike Faul. So did Brad Dahlhofer, founder of B. Nektar Meadery, another major mead producer in Detroit, whose brews include an apple cyser aged in bourbon barrels and a vanilla-cinnamon mead. Other brewers are sure to join the game, which now includes over 100 commercial mead-makers nationwide.
On the West Coast at Bison Brewing Company in Berkeley, for example, brewer Dan Del Grande has just entered the braggot ballgame by adding a dollop of honey to a light pale ale, plus fresh basil. The bottled brew—as savoury as pesto—is marketed as a honey-basil “beer,” since it contains not enough honey to qualify as a braggot.
Not that the word would sell the product, anyway. Faul at Rabbit’s Foot once tried marketing his braggots to several Bay Area beer bars as “braggots.” They wouldn’t take them, claiming that beer drinkers wouldn’t understand. Faul, today, agrees.
“Because no one has a clue what a braggot is, and it’s the same with cysers,” he says. “If you call these anything but a ‘cider’ or ‘beer with honey,’ it won’t sell.”
He has, in fact, given up on using the words melomel, cyser and braggot, relegating them to the recycling bin and the annals of history. In the craft brew aisle, however, honey beers and honey wines still live on.
http://dirtragmag.com/beer-me-fermented-honey/
Mead is brewed from honey, which was probably the first sweetener used by humans and was almost certainly fermenting spontaneously in caves and trees long before hominids had even gained a taste for alcohol.
Our favourite bubbly beverage just may be beer. For other occasions—like when we’re feeling a bit more culinary or just want a faster kick—we often reach for wine, and together these forces of alcohol make our world go happily ‘round.
But there is another. It has been antiquated, almost forgotten entirely, but in the Middle Ages it ruled Europe almost as surely as gravity itself, and its name still sounds mysteriously among small circles of educated drinkers and historians: mead. It is brewed from honey, which was probably the first sweetener used by humans and was almost certainly fermenting spontaneously in caves and trees long before hominids had even gained a taste for alcohol. Bears and primates, perhaps, got drunk on such finds before mankind made a habit of happy hours and hangovers. Eventually, such elements became components of the human condition as we brewed and fermented to satiate our desires, and in northern Europe honey became the leading alcohol base in a region too cold to produce grape wine.
Mead was the foremost product of these far-north brewers, but as barley-based beer brewing took hold, malt, honey and hops sometimes landed in the same kettle. The results of such recipes were called braggots, or beers made in combination with honey. `with marmalade. The Special Reserve mead is the strongest in the bunch, and at 16 percent ABV has a warming effect in the mouth. Its flavours are flowery and even a bit starchy on account of the buckwheat honey in the blend. Russ also ages the Special Reserve two years in oak barrels before bottling the mead, a process that leaves its mark in flavours of faint whiskey and rich butter. The Ginger-Apricot Honey Wine tastes crisp as freshly chewed ginger root, the spiciness lingering long and hot after just a sip. Like all the rest we tasted, the flavours of honey underscore the other elements.
Many if not most mead-makers began their careers as beer brewers, merging into mead-making by dabbling and experimentation. Russ began making mead by this progression. So did Mike Faul. So did Brad Dahlhofer, founder of B. Nektar Meadery, another major mead producer in Detroit, whose brews include an apple cyser aged in bourbon barrels and a vanilla-cinnamon mead. Other brewers are sure to join the game, which now includes over 100 commercial mead-makers nationwide.
On the West Coast at Bison Brewing Company in Berkeley, for example, brewer Dan Del Grande has just entered the braggot ballgame by adding a dollop of honey to a light pale ale, plus fresh basil. The bottled brew—as savoury as pesto—is marketed as a honey-basil “beer,” since it contains not enough honey to qualify as a braggot.
Not that the word would sell the product, anyway. Faul at Rabbit’s Foot once tried marketing his braggots to several Bay Area beer bars as “braggots.” They wouldn’t take them, claiming that beer drinkers wouldn’t understand. Faul, today, agrees.
“Because no one has a clue what a braggot is, and it’s the same with cysers,” he says. “If you call these anything but a ‘cider’ or ‘beer with honey,’ it won’t sell.”
He has, in fact, given up on using the words melomel, cyser and braggot, relegating them to the recycling bin and the annals of history. In the craft brew aisle, however, honey beers and honey wines still live on.
http://dirtragmag.com/beer-me-fermented-honey/
Sunday, 20 November 2016
Grantham beer festival at St Wulfram’s Church to feature 50 ales, ciders and mead
From granthamjournal.co.uk
The first-ever beer festival to be held at Grantham’s St Wulfram’s Church takes place next week. The festival, called Land of Hops and Glory, will offer visitors a selection of 50 beers, ciders and mead.
The festival starts on Thursday and continues daily until Saturday, November 26. Among the beers are two specifically brewed for the festival called ‘St Wulfram’s’ and ‘Fr Stuart’. Rector Father Stuart Cradduck said: “We are delighted to inform everyone that plans are going very well indeed and we are so grateful to our friends at Grantham CAMRA who have worked so hard in producing a fabulous selection of 50 beers, ciders, mead.
“Some of the amazing guest ales will feature Devils Elbow, Fallen Angel, Better the Devil you Know, Heavenly Blonde, and two new commissioned beers, a St Wulfram’s ale and a Fr Stuart – which we are told is quite dark and bitter – and many, many more! To accompany the ales there will be music. Fr Stuart added: “We have a fabulous line-up on Thursday night which will be all folk music, with a wonderful eclectic mix of dance and music. Friday night we have ‘Gladness’, a party band, performing many well-known covers. And on Saturday we have a jazz ensemble from King’s School, and the much acclaimed Dennis Hannant.
“It’s quite simply going to be the event of the year, St Wulfram’s showcasing itself in a way unknown of before, celebrating the skills of local brewers. Entry is paid on the door. Admission between noon and 7pm is £3 (£1 for CAMRA members) and between 7pm and 11pm is £5.
http://www.granthamjournal.co.uk/news/grantham-beer-festival-at-st-wulfram-s-church-to-feature-50-ales-1-7687373
The first-ever beer festival to be held at Grantham’s St Wulfram’s Church takes place next week. The festival, called Land of Hops and Glory, will offer visitors a selection of 50 beers, ciders and mead.
The festival starts on Thursday and continues daily until Saturday, November 26. Among the beers are two specifically brewed for the festival called ‘St Wulfram’s’ and ‘Fr Stuart’. Rector Father Stuart Cradduck said: “We are delighted to inform everyone that plans are going very well indeed and we are so grateful to our friends at Grantham CAMRA who have worked so hard in producing a fabulous selection of 50 beers, ciders, mead.
“Some of the amazing guest ales will feature Devils Elbow, Fallen Angel, Better the Devil you Know, Heavenly Blonde, and two new commissioned beers, a St Wulfram’s ale and a Fr Stuart – which we are told is quite dark and bitter – and many, many more! To accompany the ales there will be music. Fr Stuart added: “We have a fabulous line-up on Thursday night which will be all folk music, with a wonderful eclectic mix of dance and music. Friday night we have ‘Gladness’, a party band, performing many well-known covers. And on Saturday we have a jazz ensemble from King’s School, and the much acclaimed Dennis Hannant.
“It’s quite simply going to be the event of the year, St Wulfram’s showcasing itself in a way unknown of before, celebrating the skills of local brewers. Entry is paid on the door. Admission between noon and 7pm is £3 (£1 for CAMRA members) and between 7pm and 11pm is £5.
http://www.granthamjournal.co.uk/news/grantham-beer-festival-at-st-wulfram-s-church-to-feature-50-ales-1-7687373
Friday, 21 October 2016
First Coast Brews: Mead all about it!
Brad is VP of the American Mead Maker Association. He said there are very strong restrictions regarding Mead. Currently there is a bill in Congress called The Mead Act, that would do a multitude of things including changing the definition of what makes a Mead and making it easier for Mead to be produced.
Mead is possibly the oldest alcohol in existence. It is thought that ancient man transported honey home and in whatever container it was carried, water leaked in, wild yeast from the air took over and Mead was created. Archeologists have found traces of honey in ancient alcohol, lending some credibility to this.
Meads can be still or sparkling, which would make you think of them more as wines. But today's brewers are far more adventurous and the fit is better with craft beer. After having sampled five of B. Nektar's products I have to agree, it was very easy to think of Meads as craft beer.
Our first sample of the evening was Zombie Killer, technically not a mead, but a cider with honey and cherry juice. Kerri, Brad's wife, is a graphic designer and explained how this first flagship brew created their entire brand. They are very pop culture based, Zombie Killer came from one of the employees, who was into a little graphic novel called The Walking Dead. Kerri designed the zombie (apple) being killed by the cherry. Each label is a work of art and I'd encourage you to read the descriptions.
I enjoyed the tart apple notes of Zombie Killer, the cherry added tartness, but the honey was very present. It is a smooth sweet drink, slightly pink and would be perfect to toast the return of a certain show.
Grinding all the peppercorns needed for Necromangocon, turned into a problem for them. They were destroying spice grinders and food processors. Eventually they found a commercial coffee grinder (like the ones you see in grocery stores) to grind the pepper.
I personally loved this Mead. The Mango flavour was present, but that kick of black pepper tempered the sweetness. I found myself sipping it over and over again, actually swirling it like it was wine. I will definitely be keeping this around!Next we moved on to Vampires and Black Fang. Kerri is very fond of Vampire lore, this is a favourite of hers. Originally she wanted to call it Fang Bangers, after the humans who love vampires from True Blood/Sookie Stackhouse novels. HBO has that copy written, so Black Fang comes from the colour of this mead. It contains Blackberry, clove, orange zest and the honey is wildflower.
Cloves are very forward in this dark red brew. If you like mulled wine or other warm winter concoctions, you will love Black Fang. And make sure you check out Kerri on the label, she merged a Nosferatu with a photo of herself to create this label.
Dwarf Invasion, is partially inspired by a Michigan folk tale of Nain Rouge, a red dwarf of mischief. There is also a metal song, Dwarf Invasion, YouTube it if you like. Such a great evening, with entertaining people.
Dwarf Invasion outside of the Nain Rouge and metal music, is a wildflower honey, Balaton cherry and Styrian Golding hops brew. They were influenced by Belgian beer for this mead. The hops are perfect in here and truly gives the essence of Belgium. I could drink a lot of this.
We finished with a Special Release Mead called Devil's Juice. This is a powerful drink, both in ABV (15.5%) and flavor. They smoked pineapple (originally 665 pounds, but the crew made it 666 in honor of the name) and added Serrano, jalapeno and ghost peppers to the mix.
I'd suggest only trying this is you love spicy food. A lot. I could taste the pineapple and some smoky notes, but the pepper is in your face. Brad said they also have a very limited run of basically Devil's Juice brewed with Carolina Reaper peppers, which are the hottest pepper.
They have fun with their brews and sometimes happy accidents happen. They took Zombie Killer and aged it in Rye barrels, calling it Zombie takes Manhattan. They had a funky batch of Killer Zombie that they intended to mix otherwise and it ended up being mixed with the Manhattan...so instead of tossing it, they tasted it and it was good, creating the Mutant Killer Zombie Manhattan Project Thingy. In an ode to South Park they have Zombie Killer mixed with spices and they call it Oh My God They Killed Zombie!
Total Wine has a display of B. Nektar's meads available and Beer :30 Riverside and Kickbacks did have some on tap as well. Until our locals get mead out, I'd encourage you to try B. Nektar. At least read the labels.
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/life/food/first-coast-brews/first-coast-brews-mead-all-about-it/336071123
Sunday, 16 October 2016
1066 and all that: a fateful taste for ale
By Rupert Millar
In one long, bloody but decisive day the era of a purely Anglo-Saxon England was brought to an end and the rule of the Normans began.
The invasion of 1066 was the last great invasion of England and shifted the focus of subsequent English history away from Scandinavia and towards the much closer continent across the Channel.
The coming of the Normans changed the English language, introduced new names (William, Henry, Robert, Alice and Margaret) and their aggressive policy of expansion (which was not consigned solely to Britain) began the process of closer union between the nations of these isles.
But did the Anglo-Saxons lose the battle because they over-indulged in ale the night before the battle?
Even before the coming of the Normans the Anglo-Saxons were renowned for their taste for booze. Beer and mead would have been the principal drinks for most people both before and after the conquest. Wine would not have been unknown in Anglo-Saxon England but would have been principally drunk by the nobility and high-ranking clergy and not in great quantities. Imported from the continent it would have been an expensive luxury.
Beer was not and the English already had a reputation for their brewing skill which continued after the conquest. Low in alcohol, clean and refreshing, English ale was in the wagon train of gifts Thomas Becket took to the king of France on a diplomatic mission in 1158. The French courtiers are said to have wondered at “such an invention, a drink most wholesome, clear of dregs, rivaling wine in colour and surpassing it in flavour,” as a contemporary chronicler related.
It was plentiful too; the average monk had a daily allowance of around three gallons a day and the numerous festivals held throughout the year provided ample opportunity for drinking copious amounts.
The Anglo-Norman bishop John of Salisbury noted in the 1170s: “The English are noted among foreigners for their persistent drinking.”
This taste for booze was perhaps the Saxon’s undoing on the fateful night before the Battle of Hastings. As is well known, King Harold and his men had fought and won a crucial engagement against an invading Danish army led by Harald Hardrada at Stamford Bridge on 25 September.
Three days later, Duke William of Normandy landed at Pevensey and Harold had turned his army south, marching the 200 miles from Yorkshire to Kent in under three weeks, a fast pace for the time.
On 13 October the English army took up a strong position on Senlac Hill. the Normans and their Breton and Flemish allies camped below them. Foot sore and weary the English army apparently geared itself up for battle by staying up late into the night drinking ale and singing songs.
The chronicler William of Malmesbury, writing some 50 years after the battle, says: “The courageous leaders mutually prepared for battle, each according to his national custom. The English, as we have heard, passed the night without sleep, in drinking and singing, and in the morning proceeded without delay against the enemy.…On the other hand, the Normans passed the whole night in confessing their sins, and received the communion of the Lord‘s body in the morning.”
Malmesbury was half Norman and while we need not dismiss his claim the English spent part of the night drinking as an outright slur (he clearly refers to both Harold and William as “courageous”), as a Norman and a churchman it is likely he considers the English taste for alcohol and their neglect of prayers as vital to their defeat. The pious Normans meanwhile who honoured God and confessed their sins were thus given victory.
He continues that the English prior to the conquest had wandered far from the path of righteous Christianity and the lords fallen into the lap of luxury and wantonness. He writes: “Drinking in parties was a universal practice, in which occupation they passed entire nights as well as days. They consumed their whole substance in mean and despicable houses, unlike the Normans and French, who live frugally in noble and splendid mansions. The vices attendant on drunkenness, which enervate the human mind, followed; hence it came about that when they engaged William, with more rashness and precipitate fury than military skill, they doomed themselves and their country to slavery by a single, and that an easy, victory. For nothing is less effective than rashness; and what begins with violence quickly ceases or is repelled.”
It is a motif one sees throughout medieval history. Almost 400 years later at Agincourt, chroniclers make great pains to point out that the English army spent the night at prayer and confession and were thus victorious against the French who, in their hubris, passed the night drinking and toasting the battle they believed was as good as won.
Divine will or not, lack of sleep and alcohol could very well have contributed to the Saxon defeat as Malmesbury says it did. Although the exact weather conditions for the 14 October 1066 are not recorded, it was apparently “unusually bright”. This is the time of the ‘Medieval Warm Period’ and it is possible the day was quite hot. The battle raged from 9am to dusk we are told and although there were pauses in the fighting as both sides drew breath, standing all day under the bright Sun and seeing off Norman assaults; exhaustion and dehydration must have taken their toll on the Saxons.
Towards evening, with the Normans having lured groups of Saxons down from the hill with their famous ‘retreats’, the English shield wall began to weaken. The Norman cavalry began probing for the weakest points, found them, exploited them and the Saxon line evaporated. Harold and his bodyguard, his huscarls, were isolated and cut down in a bloody heap. Perhaps already wounded by an arrow in the eye, Harold was likely singled out by several Norman knights who surrounded him and hacked him to death. His two brothers, Leofwine and Gyrth, also perished and with them the royal house of England.
The start of Norman rule was brutal. William, now king and ‘Conqueror’, laid waste to the north of England so terribly he later confessed it on his deathbed with shame. Anglo-Saxon lords were disinherited and their lands given to Norman barons. Feudalism and serfdom were introduced and Anglo-Saxons became second-class citizens. In the end, arguably, Englishness won out. The Norman and then Anglo-Norman aristocracy retained French as their first language for several hundred years but, gradually, they adopted English and proudly, albeit a tongue by then much altered by the injection of Latin French. Old Anglo-Saxon law also reappeared. Magna Carta, although initially designed to protect the rights of the barons not the common people, was largely based on the old English laws with respect to the protection of private property, individual liberty and the right to justice.
Some of our most celebrated folk heroes are also Saxons taking on the Norman invader, Ivanhoe and Robin Hood have both become champions of English liberty against an oppressive regime.
The drinks landscape of England also changed. Although it is a subject much debated it seems the Normans were largely responsible for bringing cider apples to England. There were Bretons in William’s army too and of course Normandy and Brittany are the home of French cider making so it’s possible the invader’s influence encouraged and enhanced a native English cider industry even if it did not completely introduce it.
The Normans did though have an important impact on wine in England. The Romans are said to have tried to introduce vines to England but without much success. In 282 AD the Emperor Probus, in overturning Domitian’s decree of AD 92, is said to have authorised the planting of vines in England but viticulture clearly did not take off. There may have been some vineyards in England in 1066, perhaps attached to monasteries but plantings certainly grew post-1066. In the Domesday Book of 1086 some 40 vineyards are chronicled, the furthest north being those at Ely. Yet the wine produced in England seems to have been considered inferior to that of France. In 1152 with Henry I’s marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine huge vineyards in the Loire and Gascony provided England with cheaper, higher quality wine and local production withered.
Until now of course, English (and Welsh) wine is enjoying a renaissance and the number of wineries now reaches over 500, with 4,500 acres under vine.
So if you feel like raising a glass to the Conqueror’s victory or perhaps mourn the death of Godwinson here are some ideas:
Beer:
The natural drink of the Englishman. Battlefield Brewery in Shropshire has two beers that are right for the occasion, ‘Saxon Gold’ (named after a Saxon mint located in Shrewsbury) and ‘1066’. Ridgeway Brewing meanwhile has a beer called ‘Ivanhoe’ for those that want to celebrate some English pluck and one is rather spoilt for choice when it comes to the sheer array of Robin Hood-themed ales.
Hastings itself has many breweries and Kent and Sussex are the home of English hops so in a pinch just about anything from these southern counties will more than suffice.
Mead:
A special drink in Anglo-Saxon times and one in the middle of a comeback as those terrible ‘hipsters’ continue their quest for authenticity and cool retro things. Chefs René Redzepi and Simon Rogan are among mead’s high-profile fans. The Cornish Mead Company has been flying the flag for the drink since the 1960s, Gosnells London Mead was founded in late 2013 and Lurgashall Winery in West Sussex is also a top mead brewer. So make today a chance to try some mead, wassail heartily and discover the honeyed delights of this ancient northern European brew.
Cider:
Where to begin with cider, yet another drink that has surged in popularity in recent years and offers the discerning drinker a wealth of choice. Kent and Sussex ciders are often sweeter and more like their Norman and Breton cousins than the cloudier, perils of West Country brew. Pick wisely.
Wine:
Normandy no longer has much of a wine producing industry, although one winery, Arpents du Soleil, does exist. So choose something English. Most English wineries are based in Sussex and Kent which makes them conveniently close to the site of the battle. Still or sparkling it doesn’t matter, English wine has never been better and with many producers saying 2016 could prove an exceptional vintage there’s every reason to hope there’s more to come.
https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2016/10/1066-and-all-that-a-fateful-taste-for-ale/
In one long, bloody but decisive day the era of a purely Anglo-Saxon England was brought to an end and the rule of the Normans began.
The invasion of 1066 was the last great invasion of England and shifted the focus of subsequent English history away from Scandinavia and towards the much closer continent across the Channel.
The coming of the Normans changed the English language, introduced new names (William, Henry, Robert, Alice and Margaret) and their aggressive policy of expansion (which was not consigned solely to Britain) began the process of closer union between the nations of these isles.
But did the Anglo-Saxons lose the battle because they over-indulged in ale the night before the battle?
A clever Guinness campaign for the 900th anniversary of the battle in 1966. Bishop Odo hands William the Conqueror a reviving glass of stout. As William of Malmesbury tells us of course, the Normans were very abstemious.
Even before the coming of the Normans the Anglo-Saxons were renowned for their taste for booze. Beer and mead would have been the principal drinks for most people both before and after the conquest. Wine would not have been unknown in Anglo-Saxon England but would have been principally drunk by the nobility and high-ranking clergy and not in great quantities. Imported from the continent it would have been an expensive luxury.
Beer was not and the English already had a reputation for their brewing skill which continued after the conquest. Low in alcohol, clean and refreshing, English ale was in the wagon train of gifts Thomas Becket took to the king of France on a diplomatic mission in 1158. The French courtiers are said to have wondered at “such an invention, a drink most wholesome, clear of dregs, rivaling wine in colour and surpassing it in flavour,” as a contemporary chronicler related.
It was plentiful too; the average monk had a daily allowance of around three gallons a day and the numerous festivals held throughout the year provided ample opportunity for drinking copious amounts.
The Anglo-Norman bishop John of Salisbury noted in the 1170s: “The English are noted among foreigners for their persistent drinking.”
This taste for booze was perhaps the Saxon’s undoing on the fateful night before the Battle of Hastings. As is well known, King Harold and his men had fought and won a crucial engagement against an invading Danish army led by Harald Hardrada at Stamford Bridge on 25 September.
Three days later, Duke William of Normandy landed at Pevensey and Harold had turned his army south, marching the 200 miles from Yorkshire to Kent in under three weeks, a fast pace for the time.
On 13 October the English army took up a strong position on Senlac Hill. the Normans and their Breton and Flemish allies camped below them. Foot sore and weary the English army apparently geared itself up for battle by staying up late into the night drinking ale and singing songs.
The chronicler William of Malmesbury, writing some 50 years after the battle, says: “The courageous leaders mutually prepared for battle, each according to his national custom. The English, as we have heard, passed the night without sleep, in drinking and singing, and in the morning proceeded without delay against the enemy.…On the other hand, the Normans passed the whole night in confessing their sins, and received the communion of the Lord‘s body in the morning.”
Malmesbury was half Norman and while we need not dismiss his claim the English spent part of the night drinking as an outright slur (he clearly refers to both Harold and William as “courageous”), as a Norman and a churchman it is likely he considers the English taste for alcohol and their neglect of prayers as vital to their defeat. The pious Normans meanwhile who honoured God and confessed their sins were thus given victory.
He continues that the English prior to the conquest had wandered far from the path of righteous Christianity and the lords fallen into the lap of luxury and wantonness. He writes: “Drinking in parties was a universal practice, in which occupation they passed entire nights as well as days. They consumed their whole substance in mean and despicable houses, unlike the Normans and French, who live frugally in noble and splendid mansions. The vices attendant on drunkenness, which enervate the human mind, followed; hence it came about that when they engaged William, with more rashness and precipitate fury than military skill, they doomed themselves and their country to slavery by a single, and that an easy, victory. For nothing is less effective than rashness; and what begins with violence quickly ceases or is repelled.”
It is a motif one sees throughout medieval history. Almost 400 years later at Agincourt, chroniclers make great pains to point out that the English army spent the night at prayer and confession and were thus victorious against the French who, in their hubris, passed the night drinking and toasting the battle they believed was as good as won.
Divine will or not, lack of sleep and alcohol could very well have contributed to the Saxon defeat as Malmesbury says it did. Although the exact weather conditions for the 14 October 1066 are not recorded, it was apparently “unusually bright”. This is the time of the ‘Medieval Warm Period’ and it is possible the day was quite hot. The battle raged from 9am to dusk we are told and although there were pauses in the fighting as both sides drew breath, standing all day under the bright Sun and seeing off Norman assaults; exhaustion and dehydration must have taken their toll on the Saxons.
Towards evening, with the Normans having lured groups of Saxons down from the hill with their famous ‘retreats’, the English shield wall began to weaken. The Norman cavalry began probing for the weakest points, found them, exploited them and the Saxon line evaporated. Harold and his bodyguard, his huscarls, were isolated and cut down in a bloody heap. Perhaps already wounded by an arrow in the eye, Harold was likely singled out by several Norman knights who surrounded him and hacked him to death. His two brothers, Leofwine and Gyrth, also perished and with them the royal house of England.
The start of Norman rule was brutal. William, now king and ‘Conqueror’, laid waste to the north of England so terribly he later confessed it on his deathbed with shame. Anglo-Saxon lords were disinherited and their lands given to Norman barons. Feudalism and serfdom were introduced and Anglo-Saxons became second-class citizens. In the end, arguably, Englishness won out. The Norman and then Anglo-Norman aristocracy retained French as their first language for several hundred years but, gradually, they adopted English and proudly, albeit a tongue by then much altered by the injection of Latin French. Old Anglo-Saxon law also reappeared. Magna Carta, although initially designed to protect the rights of the barons not the common people, was largely based on the old English laws with respect to the protection of private property, individual liberty and the right to justice.
Some of our most celebrated folk heroes are also Saxons taking on the Norman invader, Ivanhoe and Robin Hood have both become champions of English liberty against an oppressive regime.
The drinks landscape of England also changed. Although it is a subject much debated it seems the Normans were largely responsible for bringing cider apples to England. There were Bretons in William’s army too and of course Normandy and Brittany are the home of French cider making so it’s possible the invader’s influence encouraged and enhanced a native English cider industry even if it did not completely introduce it.
The Normans did though have an important impact on wine in England. The Romans are said to have tried to introduce vines to England but without much success. In 282 AD the Emperor Probus, in overturning Domitian’s decree of AD 92, is said to have authorised the planting of vines in England but viticulture clearly did not take off. There may have been some vineyards in England in 1066, perhaps attached to monasteries but plantings certainly grew post-1066. In the Domesday Book of 1086 some 40 vineyards are chronicled, the furthest north being those at Ely. Yet the wine produced in England seems to have been considered inferior to that of France. In 1152 with Henry I’s marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine huge vineyards in the Loire and Gascony provided England with cheaper, higher quality wine and local production withered.
Until now of course, English (and Welsh) wine is enjoying a renaissance and the number of wineries now reaches over 500, with 4,500 acres under vine.
So if you feel like raising a glass to the Conqueror’s victory or perhaps mourn the death of Godwinson here are some ideas:
Beer:
The natural drink of the Englishman. Battlefield Brewery in Shropshire has two beers that are right for the occasion, ‘Saxon Gold’ (named after a Saxon mint located in Shrewsbury) and ‘1066’. Ridgeway Brewing meanwhile has a beer called ‘Ivanhoe’ for those that want to celebrate some English pluck and one is rather spoilt for choice when it comes to the sheer array of Robin Hood-themed ales.
Hastings itself has many breweries and Kent and Sussex are the home of English hops so in a pinch just about anything from these southern counties will more than suffice.
A special drink in Anglo-Saxon times and one in the middle of a comeback as those terrible ‘hipsters’ continue their quest for authenticity and cool retro things. Chefs René Redzepi and Simon Rogan are among mead’s high-profile fans. The Cornish Mead Company has been flying the flag for the drink since the 1960s, Gosnells London Mead was founded in late 2013 and Lurgashall Winery in West Sussex is also a top mead brewer. So make today a chance to try some mead, wassail heartily and discover the honeyed delights of this ancient northern European brew.
Cider:
Where to begin with cider, yet another drink that has surged in popularity in recent years and offers the discerning drinker a wealth of choice. Kent and Sussex ciders are often sweeter and more like their Norman and Breton cousins than the cloudier, perils of West Country brew. Pick wisely.
Wine:
Normandy no longer has much of a wine producing industry, although one winery, Arpents du Soleil, does exist. So choose something English. Most English wineries are based in Sussex and Kent which makes them conveniently close to the site of the battle. Still or sparkling it doesn’t matter, English wine has never been better and with many producers saying 2016 could prove an exceptional vintage there’s every reason to hope there’s more to come.
https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2016/10/1066-and-all-that-a-fateful-taste-for-ale/
Saturday, 18 June 2016
Beer Brewing Vocabulary and Abbreviations
By Pat McLoughlin
There are several words that you will be introduced to when brewing beer. Some of them are probably things that you have heard before such as pH, Ale, and Lager. This article will give a more in depth description of these terms as well as give you a variety of new homebrewing vocabulary that you may not have heard yet.
ABV - Alcohol by volume
ABW - Alcohol by weight
Airlock - a plastic top that lets carbon dioxide be released during fermentation without contaminating your brew.
Ale - top fermented beer
Carboy - glass fermenter
Conditioning - Adding sugar to your beer before bottling. This makes the left over yeast react with the sugar to create carbonation.
DME - dry malt extract
Dry hopping - adding hops during the fermentation stage
Fermentation - the time in the brewing process where your beer is sitting in a container and reacting with the yeast. This usually takes a couple weeks and is done before bottling your beer.
FG - Final gravity (the gravity of the beer taken at the end of fermentation)
Gravity - denseness of a liquid (used to determine the amount of alcohol)
Hydrometer - tool used to determine gravity
IPA - India Pale Ale
Lager - bottom fermented beer
Lautering - mash separated into the wort and leftover grain
Malt - Grain (either barley or wheat) sometimes in a malt extract form which is a syrup
Mead - fermented honey
OG - Original gravity (the gravity of the beer taken at the beginning of fermentation)
pH - percent Hydrion
Pitching - pouring yeast into your beer
Sparging - filtering water through grain to get the sugar out of the grain
Wort - What you call your brew when you have finished boiling before adding it to the fermenter.
http://ezinearticles.com/?Beer-Brewing-Vocabulary-and-Abbreviations&id=3597420
There are several words that you will be introduced to when brewing beer. Some of them are probably things that you have heard before such as pH, Ale, and Lager. This article will give a more in depth description of these terms as well as give you a variety of new homebrewing vocabulary that you may not have heard yet.
ABV - Alcohol by volume
ABW - Alcohol by weight
Airlock - a plastic top that lets carbon dioxide be released during fermentation without contaminating your brew.
Ale - top fermented beer
Carboy - glass fermenter
Conditioning - Adding sugar to your beer before bottling. This makes the left over yeast react with the sugar to create carbonation.
DME - dry malt extract
Dry hopping - adding hops during the fermentation stage
Fermentation - the time in the brewing process where your beer is sitting in a container and reacting with the yeast. This usually takes a couple weeks and is done before bottling your beer.
FG - Final gravity (the gravity of the beer taken at the end of fermentation)
Gravity - denseness of a liquid (used to determine the amount of alcohol)
Hydrometer - tool used to determine gravity
IPA - India Pale Ale
Lager - bottom fermented beer
Lautering - mash separated into the wort and leftover grain
Malt - Grain (either barley or wheat) sometimes in a malt extract form which is a syrup
Mead - fermented honey
OG - Original gravity (the gravity of the beer taken at the beginning of fermentation)
pH - percent Hydrion
Pitching - pouring yeast into your beer
Sparging - filtering water through grain to get the sugar out of the grain
Wort - What you call your brew when you have finished boiling before adding it to the fermenter.
http://ezinearticles.com/?Beer-Brewing-Vocabulary-and-Abbreviations&id=3597420
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