Beer and Brewing in Medieval Culture and Contemporary Medievalism

Description

Beer and Brewing in Medieval Culture and Contemporary Medievalism is a cross-cultural analysis of the role that alcohol consumption played in literature, social and cultural history, and gender roles in the Middle Ages. The volume also seeks to correct or offer new insights into historical beer production. By drawing on the expertise of scholars of history, archaeology, Old and Middle English, Old Norse, and Medieval and Early Modern literature,  the book shows how historical medieval beer and brewing has influenced nostalgic post-medieval nationalism and romanticized visions of the medieval ale-house seen in beer marketing today. The essays describe alcohol consumption in the Middle Ages across much of Northern Europe, engage with the various myths employed in modern craft beer advertising and beer production, and examine how gender intersects with beer production and consumption. The editors also raise certain critical questions about medievalisms which need to be interrogated, particularly in light of the continued use of the Middle Ages for white supremacist and colonialist ideals. The volume contributes to the study of the popular and historical understandings of the Middle Ages as well the issues of race and gender. Acknowledgments Contents Contributors List of Figures List of Tables Chapter 1: Introduction Beer Culture: Five Theses (A Modus Bibendi) Beer Enchants and Disenchants Beer Builds Communities and Dismantles Communities Beer Includes and Excludes Beer Dismantles Hierarchy and Rebuilds Hierarchy Beer Connects Us to the Past and Also Reminds Us of Our Distance Conclusions Works Cited Part I: Historical Perspectives Chapter 2: Beer and Ale in Early Medieval England: A Survey of Evidence Brewing Beer and Ale Ale and Its Consumption The Place of Drinking: The Economy of the Ale House Works Cited Chapter 3: Reconstructing Medieval Gruit Beer: Separating Facts from Fiction The Importance of Gruit Assumption and Misidentification The Alternate Ingredients Hopped Beer and the Gruit Narcotic Herbs and Adulterated Beer The Elusive Ingredient of Gruit Conclusion Works Cited Chapter 4: Baptized by Beer: Continuity and Change in the Religious Use of Alcoholic Beverages in Medieval Norway and Iceland Works Cited Part II: Nostalgias Chapter 5: Codex Cervisarius: A Pilgrim’s Guide to the Medievalism of Craft Beer in Quebec and Ontario Introduction: Manufactured Brewing Histories Navigating Nostalgias and Inebriate Myth-Making Nostalgic Medievalisms in Ontario and Quebec Medieval-Nostalgic Breweries Brimstone Brewing Company (Ridgeway, ON) Microbrasserie Kruhnen (Blainville, Quebec) Colonist-Nostalgic Myths: Historical Brewing in Ontario and Quebec Colonist-Nostalgic Breweries Unibroue (Chambly, Quebec) Lake of the Woods (Kenora, Ontario) Sincerity and Irony of Nostalgic Magpies Mill Street Brewery (Toronto, Ontario) Bellwoods Brewery (Toronto, Ontario) Beau’s All Natural Brewing Company (Vanleek Hill, Ontario) Brasseurs du Monde (Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec) Conclusion Works Cited Chapter 6: Nostalgic Medievalism in the 1642 and 1646 Versions of the Ex-ale-tation of Ale The Ex-ale-tation of Ale as Traditional Song Early to Late Medievalism in the Ex-ale-tation Gambrivius: A British Beer Icon? Scots and “Heather Ale” Ale, Beer and Prejudice Conclusion Works Cited Chapter 7: Latvia’s Labietis: Modern Craft Brewing Across the Pagan–⁠Christian Threshold Introduction In Paganorum Frontaria: A Brief Historical Background on Faith and Identity in Latvia The Craft of Labietis: Drawing on the Past, Brewing for the Future A Medieval Mouthfeel? Gustatory Lessons in Latvian History Beyond the Beer: Labietis’ Medievalism on Display Works Cited Chapter 8: “God Wotte What Liquor”: Brewing History and Memory in Early Modern England Reforming Ale and Beer in Early Modern England Historical Brewing and Brewing Historicism in Early Modern England Cider, Climate, and Arboreal Transformation in Early Modern England English Brewing, National Character, and International Trade Material Culture and Early Modern Brewing Histories Works Cited Part III: Gender Chapter 9: Playing with Vikings: Ludic Medievalism and Craft Beer’s Transformation of the Norsemen Pop-Culture Vikings The Ugly Side of Viking Medievalism: Misogyny and White Supremacy Craft Beer and Vikings Viking Heritage and History in Craft Breweries: Community and Belonging Works Cited Chapter 10: From Tapsters to Beer Wenches: Women, Alcohol, and Misogyny, Then and Now Misogyny and Drink Work in Late Medieval England and Scotland “The comyn tapster of Bury”: Transgressive Sexuality and Misogynist Hostility “Serve Me, Wench!”: Contemporary Tapsters and Misogynist Medievalism Works Cited Chapter 11: Devil’s Brew: Demons, Alewives, and the Gender of Beer in the Chester Harrowing of Hell and Contemporary Craft Beer Branding The Damned Alewife The Demons of Craft Brewing Conclusion: Toward a More Inclusive Craft Beer Industry Works Cited Part IV: Communities Chapter 12: The Wonders of Ebrietas: Drinking and Drunkenness in Old English and Anglo-Latin Riddles Works Cited Primary Sources Secondary Sources Chapter 13: Alcohol, Community, and Chaucer’s Pardoner: Ale as a Populist Antidote to Alienating Avant-Gardism Simultaneous Love and Rivalry Under the Sign of Ale: Of Ale-Stakes and Tale-Telling When the New Jet Meets the Old: Harry, Populism, and the Pardoner’s Opting for Ale Undone by Temporariness: The Dramatic Failure of the Pardoner’s Ale Outreach Works Cited Chapter 14: “Harsh, Violent, and Muddy,” or Ale, Wine, and Liquor in Adam Thorpe’s Hodd Introduction Medievalism and Neomedievalism of the Novel The Oldest Robin Hood Tradition: Fasting and Praying, Feasting and Drinking Degeneration and Disgust in Hodd: Filth and Sensory Descriptions of Corruption Hodd as Bacchus “So Coarse of Word and Ill-Smelling with Sweat Corrupted by Her Scaled and Glimy Produce”: Social Status and Gender Reversed Pastism Works Cited Chapter 15: Afterword Works Cited Index