Urban Brewing Essay
The Rise and Decline of Urban Brewing 1100-1700
Justin R. Crossno
“Whether Scurvy-grass, Daucus, Gill, Butler, or Broom,
Or from London, or Southwark, or Lambeth we come;
We humbly implore since the Wine in the Nation,
Has of late so much lost its once great Reputation;
That such Liquor as ours which is genuine and true,
And which all our Masters so carefully brew,
Which all men approve of, tho’ many drink Wine,
Yet the good Oyl of Barly there’s none will decline:
That we as a body call’d corp’rate may stand,
And a Patent procure from your Seal and your Hand,
That none without Licence, call’d Special, shall fail,
To drink anything else, but Strong Nappy Brown Ale.”[footnoteRef:1] [1: Ames; “Contention of Liquors”]
This section of a poem from The Contention of Liquors by Richard Ames shows various types of alcohols arguing their cases for superiority, with ale/beer presenting its case at the end, and overall proving the superiority it held convincingly. There were …show more content…
It was said earlier that brewing before urbanization was primarily done by women. “Women were so important to making beer that in a number of Holland towns in the middle of the thirteenth century, governments placed a limit on the quantity of beer for which a man could be responsible.”[footnoteRef:18] Judith Bennett describes London in particular; noting that prior to 1300, women were not only responsible for most of the brewing of beer, but also in its sale.[footnoteRef:19] The reasoning for this was because “brewing was still considered a “meager trade” due to the Assize of Ale during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries where the price of ale was controlled by the price of grain. Since the profit margin was relatively small compared to other industries, brewing in London attracted few men.”[footnoteRef:20] [18: Unger pp. 225] [19: Bennett pp. 10] [20: Bennett pp.
Justin R. Crossno
“Whether Scurvy-grass, Daucus, Gill, Butler, or Broom,
Or from London, or Southwark, or Lambeth we come;
We humbly implore since the Wine in the Nation,
Has of late so much lost its once great Reputation;
That such Liquor as ours which is genuine and true,
And which all our Masters so carefully brew,
Which all men approve of, tho’ many drink Wine,
Yet the good Oyl of Barly there’s none will decline:
That we as a body call’d corp’rate may stand,
And a Patent procure from your Seal and your Hand,
That none without Licence, call’d Special, shall fail,
To drink anything else, but Strong Nappy Brown Ale.”[footnoteRef:1] [1: Ames; “Contention of Liquors”]
This section of a poem from The Contention of Liquors by Richard Ames shows various types of alcohols arguing their cases for superiority, with ale/beer presenting its case at the end, and overall proving the superiority it held convincingly. There were …show more content…
It was said earlier that brewing before urbanization was primarily done by women. “Women were so important to making beer that in a number of Holland towns in the middle of the thirteenth century, governments placed a limit on the quantity of beer for which a man could be responsible.”[footnoteRef:18] Judith Bennett describes London in particular; noting that prior to 1300, women were not only responsible for most of the brewing of beer, but also in its sale.[footnoteRef:19] The reasoning for this was because “brewing was still considered a “meager trade” due to the Assize of Ale during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries where the price of ale was controlled by the price of grain. Since the profit margin was relatively small compared to other industries, brewing in London attracted few men.”[footnoteRef:20] [18: Unger pp. 225] [19: Bennett pp. 10] [20: Bennett pp.