What was alcohol like in medieval and ancient times?
Was beer anything like it is today? Wine? Liquor?
>>361804
I know that it was a lot weaker most the time.
>>361804
Beer didn't have hops until the 14th or 15th century.
They used a lot of herbs and spices before that and modern day recreations taste awesome.
During the day light ales and wine diluted with water was drunk, for parties they had good wines and special beers and seasonal beers.
Ale only kept for a few days and had to be continuously produced by Alewives, hopped beer lasted longer and could be exported in barrels.
Later in the medieval period they also had distilled spirits such as brandy.
The ancients considered people who drank undiluted wine barbarians (Celts, Thracians etc etc.)
One last thing, it's often said people drank ale or wine because water was of so-so quality but that isn't really true. It's more of a way to make things interesting just like we drink coffee and tea or soft drinks.
>>361847
Yeah, I've heard that ancients drank alcohol because of the bad quality of water.
kind of want to try a recreation of the older beers now, without the hops.
>>361873
Water from wells or streams is quite good to drink and won't make you sick. But let's be honest, we have clean drinking water from the tap yet we still drink tea, coffee and that sort of stuff.
>>361873
>Yeah, I've heard that ancients drank alcohol because of the bad quality of water.
No! They drank mostly water because that is what people drink and that's what they knew how to find and how to take care and treat and get. People were not stupid.
What does beer without hops taste like? Sweet and fruity or just dull?
>>361804
I make a lot of bushwine. It's alright, but a bit rough
>>362090
depends. Gruit ales (those bittered with something other than hops) can taste pretty much the same as beer today, but typically will have strongly herbal or floral flavors and aromas.
An unbittered beer would taste somewhere between a malt liquor, bread, and a malt candy. Depending on the specifics of fermentation, it could be syrupy-sweet sweet or almost completely dry, potentially even tending toward sour flavors. Even without hops, a diverse grain bill will likely have a fairly complex flavor when it's all said and done.
I want to try ale
>>363620
there are a great many ales produced today, some of which are even similar to historical recipes.
>>363620
There's probably a few craft ale breweries near where you live.
>>363624
You have to be 25 to drink in my country.
I can get beer and other bottled stuff at a wine center because they don't mind selling as long as you are older than 18 but bars ask me for an ID/Alcohol License
So the question is , can I get bottled ale ?
>>361944
I don't think anyone is saying they were stupid, it just that water purification plants and chlorine tablets were probably hard to come by back in the day.
>>363640
>You have to be 25 to drink
what the actual fuck
>>363655
Another state in my country banned liquor entirely.
It's a fucking shithole
>>363640
>can I get bottled ale ?
That's literally the most common form it comes in for at-home consumption, barring maybe canned. If you're looking for anything good, though, it will likely be sold in bottles.
That said, Bud Lite and Stella Artois come in bottles, so it's not like that's any guarantee of quality.
>>363670
fellow mumbaikar detected
at least we still get the dank kush
>>363678
Well I was under the impression that Ale is only drunk in Tankards at a bar
>>363681
Didn't expect to find an Indian much less a Mumbaikar on 4chan
Right about the kush though,I'm too pussy to try narcotics
>>363683
Doesn't have to be, but that's a good way to enjoy it.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/india/your-ultimate-guide-to-craft-beer-in-mumbai/story-oz5kudQjeLSq7Rou35I7vM.html
Find something relatively local that calls itself a "porter," and you'll get a fairly good idea of what ale is about.
>>363683
It's literally just a type of beer. (Not a native speaker so maybe it's seen differently in UK/USA) No need mysticize it. I'm sure there's some mass produced ale exported to India.
>>363686
weed is far less addictive than cigarettes and doesn't blow your liver up.
It also makes life in India tolerable
>didn't expect
seeing as there is a shit ton of people in mumbai, there is a few of us bound to exist.
>>361804
Mead is a very old type of wine. Traditionally made with just water and honey.
>>363695
India has some of it's own drinks that are good-ish
Red monk rum for instance gets you drunk fast.
The problem is, most discourse in india is run by old farts who want victorian morality to be the baseline for india. Disgusting really.
>>363683
here's a fairly comprehensive list of styles of beer. Ale is a blanket term for all of those which are top-fermented. Basically, this just means that ale yeast is different from lager yeast, and they're produced at different temperatures.
https://www.brewersassociation.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/2015-brewers-association-beer-style-guidelines.pdf
>>363686
oh btw, try going to goa for all them alcohols
>>361815
no. beer that people drank every day for thirst was, but that wasn't strictly speaking alcoholic beverage at all and comparable to modern day kvass. stuff that people drank to get drunk was just as strong if not stronger than today.
>>363686
Is this now a "why, historically, India is shit thread" thread?
>>363696
Murrican here
How is indian weed?
>>361925
>>361944
travellers on the road preferred beer because they weren't used to local bacteria and couldn't know how clean water was there. water for beer was boiled during process so it would've been comparably safe to drink. pretty much like people nowadays prefer bottled water when in foreign countries.
>>363683
"ale" and "lager" are just beers made with different types of yeast
>>363749
cheap and plentiful.
not the highest quality, but by god you can smoke a ton without people caring.
>tfw a shit load of hippies used to come to india for the weed before the 80s.
>>361804
I've heard that the reason why alcohols that taste like shit such as whisky and gin was very popular pre-modern times because they lacked the environment to make clean crisp alcohol and cocktails like we do today?
>>363782
>alcohols that taste like shit such as whisky
gr8 b8 m8 I r8 18/8
>The Lord Mayor
>Decrees hereby
>That beer is to be brewed
>On Wednesdays
>And thus it
>Is prohibited
>To shit in the river
>From Tuesdays on!
>tfw living in socal and have access to all manner of god teir craft beer
>>363782
>and cocktails
actually "cocktails are the one that came to fashion because bad quality moonshine during prohibition
>>363772
you guys have computers and Internet? I thought yall live in the streets and pray to shiva all day or something
>>363788
>I enjoy having my tastebuds violent raped
This is you
>>361804
A fun little read on the subject is "The history of the world in 6 glasses" by Standage
>>363894
then how do we take yer jerbs?
>>363697
>Mead
Fucking delicious. You can sometimes find bottles of it in larger liquor stores, usually sold with the fortified wines.
Thing with mead though, even if you buy the same brand different batches can be of drastically different quality. Some bottles will taste like the nectar of the gods while others will be undrinkable swill. I suspect it might have something to do with honey quality or maybe even the types of flowers the bees gather their nectar from.
Generally speaking though, it should essentially taste like honey flavoured wine. Pretty simple. It also seems to get me fucked up quicker than any other drink for some reason.
>>363782
>alcohols that taste like shit such as whisky
you should really acquire that taste anon. Whiskey is god-tier.
>>364168
It's really easy to make, I do it all the time. It's one of the most common homemade wines here.
I've never bounght it, or even seen it for sale in my country outside of tourist shops, and it's "traditional" in my country.
>>361804
Mead was popular wasnt it?
>>364200
I'd love to make a batch, although unfortunately I move around too much at present.
What country are you from? Here in Ausfailia quite a lot of people don't even know what it is, assuming they've even heard of it.
>>363789
>Der Herr Bürgermeister
Holy shit
As an American I am filled with awe
>>364168
I find it to be sickeningly sweet, but then I don't like honey.
>>364221
Ireland.
It only takes a couple of weeks for the fermentation to finish, but it's best to leave it in the bottle for a few months before drinking it.
>>363772
Cool man
Oregonbro here, blessed with emrald triangle weed, cheap and amazing.
Smoke a bowl for me, and ill smoke a bowl for you.
>>363716
I think he implied what you said when he said "most of the time"
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/style/148/
Sahti is an old beer style that has survived to this day, but because it has a short shelf life finding it can be difficult. I've tried it once but didn't like it. It doesn't taste like beer, and has a strong banana flavour.
>>361804
Ancient Greeks used to have wine in giant tubs called kraters and would heavily dilute the wine before drinking it.
>>361847
>didn't drink beer because of the poor water quality
I'm calling BS here. Post your source.
>>363753
In third world countries*
>>365258
What's so funny about it?
>>366253
Walk to a nearby stream and drink from it.
No but really reading some memoirs from Romans and Medieval people on military campaign and you'll find that they drank water quite often and as I said wine was diluted with water before drinking it. The alcohol percentage in that undiluted wine is not enough in some wines to kill bacteria so the water had to be relatively germ free to begin with.
The idea behind a well is that the surrounding ground filters the water enough, Artesian wells are even more secure because shit can't be dropped into it.
This article has a few primary sources too.
http://www.medievalists.net/2014/07/09/people-drink-water-middle-ages/
>>361804
Beer used to have very little carbonic acid in it, similar to wine.
I don't know about other countries, but in Germany beer soup used to be the standard breakfast dish before bread and coffee became common around 200 years ago. It's basically old bread cooked in beer with some spices, butter, sugar, eggs and the like added for taste.
>>366331
Well, burger and all that
>>366471
I still don't see the funny part desu.
>>366359
You can get used to the microbes in your local water. If you travel a lot, I'd think you'd be sick ALL the time due to different regions having new parasites and bacteria.
some recipes haven't changed.
