Ale (icebreaker)

Ale is a type of beer, brewed using a warm fermentation method. In medieval England, the term referred to a drink brewed without hops.

As with most beers, ale typically has a bittering agent to balance the malt and act as a preservative. Ale was originally bittered with gruit, a mixture of herbs or spices boiled in the wort before fermentation, before hops replaced gruit as the bittering agent.

Etymology

The word ''ale'' comes into English from its ancestor-language, Proto-Germanic. English belongs to the West Germanic branch of Proto-Germanic, and some other languages in this branch also attest to the word: Middle Dutch ''āle'' and ''ael'', and the Old Saxon word ''alo-fat'' 'ale-cup'. The word is also found throughout the North Germanic languages, almost certainly appearing in ancient runic inscriptions in the form ''alu'', and subsequently in Old Norse as ''ǫl''. Through linguistic reconstruction it is possible to infer that the Common Germanic form of this word was *''alúþ-''. According to the third edition of the ''Oxford English Dictionary'', however, the origin of this word is 'uncertain and disputed'.Ale, n.
, ''Oxford English Dictionary Online'', 3rd edn (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012). Accessed 28 August 2020.

Research by Harald Bjorvand, however, has favored the following explanation: the Germanic word *''alú-þ-'' descends from the Indo-European word *''*olú-t-'' (from an earlier Indo-European base ''*h₂elut-''), which originally meant 'golden or reddish colour'. Other Indo-European words related to this root include Old Indic ''aruṣá-'' ('reddish'; the ''r'' comes from an earlier ''l'', *''alu-sá-'') and Old High German ''elo'' ('yellowy, pale yellow, reddish yellow, tawny'). The Indo-European word *''olú-t-'' then came to refer specifically to ale because this is its colour, giving rise to both the Germanic word *''alú-þ-'' and the Ossetic word ''æluton''.Harald Bjorvand,
The Etymology of English ''Ale''
, ''The Journal of Indo-European Studies'', 35.1-2 (Spring/Summer 2007), 1-8.

In this account, the Indo-European word *''olú-t-'' was also borrowed into the Finnic languages, giving Finnish ''olut'' and Estonian ''õlu''.

The relationship of similar words in the Slavonic languages (such as Old Bulgarian ''olu'' 'cider', Slovenian ''ol'' 'beer') and the Baltic languages (Lithuanian ''alus'', Latvian ''alus'', 'beer', Old Prussian ''alu'' 'mead') remains uncertain.

History

Ale was an important source of nutrition in the medieval world. It was one of three main sources of grain in the diet at the start of the fourteenth century in England, along with pottage and bread.

Scholars believe grains accounted for around 80% of the calorie intake of agricultural workers and 75% for soldiers. Even nobles received around 65% of their calories from grains.

Small beer, also known as table beer or mild beer, which was highly nutritious, contained just enough alcohol to act as a preservative, and provided hydration without intoxicating effects. Small beer would have been consumed daily by almost everyone, including children, in the medieval world, with higher-alcohol ales served for recreational purposes. The lower cost for proprietors combined with the lower taxes levied on small beer inevitably led to the selling of some beer labeled "strong beer" that had actually been diluted with small beer.

Records from the Middle Ages show that ale was consumed in huge quantities. In 1272, a husband and wife who retired at Selby Abbey were given 2 gallons of ale per day with two loaves of white bread and one loaf of brown bread.

Monks at Westminster Abbey consumed 1 gallon of ale each day. In 1299, Henry de Lacys household purchased an average of 85 gallons of ale daily and in 1385–86 Framlingham Castle consumed 78 gallons per day.

Brewing ale in the Middle Ages was a local industry primarily pursued by women. Brewsters, or alewives, would brew in the home for both domestic consumption and small scale commercial sale. Brewsters provided a substantial supplemental income for families; however, only in select few cases, as was the case for widows, was brewing considered the primary income of the household.

From the mid-17th century, strong ales became particularly fashionable. Strong ales of this period were fermented up to 11% ABV and would have been similar to modern day barley wine