Beer & Ale
Beer had its origins at least 10,000 years ago, probably in the Middle East. In many parts of northern Europe beer and ale were the most common beverages--for children and adults alike--until well into the eighteenth century and were consumed in quantities that seem astounding to us today. Even as recently as eighty years ago, England's annual rate of consumption was nearly twenty-eight gallons per capita. While beer can be made from any grain, in Europe it has usually been based on water and barley malt, and flavored with the flowers of the hop vine. Strengths and grades varied considerably.
Beer and ale were more than thirst-quenchers. High in carbohydrates and containing some protein, these beverages formed an important part of the diet of people of all classes. It is not surprising, then, that laws regarding beer and ale production appeared with regular frequency. This case displays German and English materials pertaining to various aspects of brewing, from the purity of raw ingredients and the production process to the standardization and enforcement of weights and measures.
Bairische Lanndtzordnung. [s.l. : s.n.], 1553
This 1553 collection of Bavarian ordinances includes an article stating that all beers are to be made from barley, hops and water only and that beer should be properly heated and cooled, according to the season. This regulation echoes Munich's well-known purity decree of 1516 which determined the minimum standards for beer production and is considered the oldest extant quality control regulation. The Bavarian decree also stipulated that breweries be inspected twice a week in the winter and three times a week during the summer. Long thought to be the oldest law of its kind, research has shown that a Bavarian law of 1447 also set standards for beer-making, including a provision that the water used in making beer come from wells, not streams.
England, statutes. Anno XXIII. H. VIII. London : Thomas Berthelet, [ca. 1536]
27 Henry 8, chapter 4:
An acte that no brewers of bere or ale shall make theyr barrels kylderkyns nor fyrkyns within them, and howe moche the same barrels kylderkyns and fyrkyns shall conteyne.
In an effort to standardize the size of vessels for beer put up for sale, and to protect the "mistery or crafte of coupers," this statute forbids brewers from making their own barrels. (Kilderkins were casks of 18 gallons, and firkins, 9 gallons.) The statute further states that the cooper should make all the vessels "of good and seasonable woode, and putte his propre marke upon everye of them," and that brewers were allowed to keep in their house one or two servants of the coopers' trade to repair casks, but not to make them.
England, statutes. Anno secundo et tertio Edouardi sexti. London : Richard Grafton, 1549.
2 & 3 Edward VI, chapter 16:
An acte for the true makyng of malte.
This act begins with a sharp commentary on people who had taken up malt-making "for their owne private lucre, gaine, and profit" rather than the good of the kingdom. They had "of late by theyr insaciable, covetous, and greadye mindes, accustomably, and commonly made much malte, unpure and unseasonable." This law specifically condemns the practice of making malt in eight or nine days--rather than the standard twenty-two days--not allowing it to dry sufficiently, and mixing good malt with bad. Bailiffs and constables were given the power to inspect any malt made for sale, though anyone who was a witness to improper malt-making could report it to the authorities. Fines for this offense were based on the quantity of malt improperly made, at a rate of twenty pence for every quarter (about eight bushels).
Georg Christoph Wagner. De Jure cere-visiario. Strassbourg : Josias Staedel, 1656.
The first chapter of this legal dissertation on the law of beer begins, "It should not be beneath the dignity of a lawyer to investigate diligently the nature of beer " Wagner goes on to describe the history of beer-making, pointing out that
... beer is now prepared in the different parts of Germany in different ways ... Barley beer is the more common. However, the barley used in beer is today better prepared than [that prepared] by the Romans.
The recipe for beer that follows is so detailed and specific that one could easily use it today. The Library's copy of this dissertation is also interesting for its seventeenth century annotations, most of them in Latin. On page four is a recipe for barley malt, duly noted by the reader; on page five, there is a Latin translation of a Greek poem to Bacchus and an intriguing--and so far undeciphered--annotation in German.
England, statutes. Anno XXXIX. Reginae Elizabethae. London : Christopher Barker, [ca. 1597]
39 Elizabeth I, chapter 8:
An acte for the true gawging of vessels brought from beyond the seas, converted by brewers for the utterance and sale of ale and beere.
This act required that "buts, pipes, puncheons, hogsheds, tierces and such other vessels" were to be gauged and marked by coopers at a specified rate per container. Brewers could request that coopers come to their shops to do this, and coopers had to respond within forty-eight hours. Coopers could hold the vessels they had gauged until the brewer had paid for the work. This law only applied to vessels for beer sold in London and its suburbs; foreign casks of English beer destined for sale abroad were exempt.
England, statutes. An. Reg. Jacobi. London : Robert Barker, 1604.
1 James I, chapter 18:
An acte for avoyding of deceit in selling, buying, or spending corrupt and unwholesome hoppes.
This statute opens with the observation that
...of late great fraudes and deceits are generally practised and used by foreiners merchants strangers and others in foreine parts beyond the seas, in the false packing of foreine hoppes ... and [the hops are] sold with leaves, stalkes, powder, sand, strawe, and with loggets of wood, drosse, and other soyle ... for the increase of the waight thereof, ... to the inriching of themselves by deceit...
The law estimates that the kingdom was defrauded in this manner of at least 20,000 pounds annually. Under this act, anyone caught bringing unpure hops into England was subject to a fine equal to the value of the hops. Half of the fine was to go to the informer, half into king's coffers.