Does Brewster Sara deserve a good ducking?

Our friend Jane Peyton from the School of Booze came to visit us to talk about a beer competition (more of which later) and while she was here she pointed out to us the remarkable similarities between Brewsters and Witches. There really does seem to be quite a plausible link. We have lifted out the main points from a piece that she has recently written where Jane puts together facts of the time in medieval England and how Brewsters could quite easily be classed as Witches. Would Sara have been classified as a Witch in medieval times?

Until circa 1600 the majority of brewers in England were women.  Brewing was low status, low paid work largely performed primarily by women in the home as part of their household duties. At the time Ale was a staple of the diet providing valuable nutrition, a safe source of drinking water, and fun! Surplus ale was sold by middle-women called ale-wives, hucksters, or tipplers.

So how are the classic witch motifs connected with female brewers?

The famous Witches of Belvoir Castle are local to us. The cat allegedly used to curse the family was called Rutterkin and we named of one of our beers after it.

Cats, malted cereal is an essential ingredient in brewing.  Cats keep hungry vermin at bay and prevent mice and rats from eating the malts.

The Broom, an everyday household implement that also resembles an ale-stake.   An ale-stake was a pole to which twigs or greenery were attached at one end. By law, purveyors of ale had to display an ale-stake above their door as a sign to customers, and the authorities that ale was sold at those premises.

Mother Bunch, a famous Alchemist of ale and good time girl

A pointed hat, no-one left home without wearing a titfer.  And a high crowned hat would permit ale-wives to be easily identified in the street.

Boiling Wort ?

The bubbling cauldron,  ale is made by mashing water and malt together then boiling the resultant wort. Before electricity was used for heat, cooking was done over a fire in a metal container. When the wort cooled, the yeast went to work creating a bubbling froth as it fermented sugars in the brew. In the medieval period people did not understand what yeast was.  To them something supernatural happened as water and cereal was transformed into alcohol.  In other words, it was magic.

So Why Were Women Edged Out of Brewing?

In medieval England there was a revolution in brewing when hops were introduced from Europe.  Hops give aroma, flavour, bitterness, and are a natural preservative. In the medieval period ale contained no hops, but beer did. Ale went sour very quickly but the hops in beer gave it a longer shelf life which meant brewing became a lucrative trade as beer could be transported to new markets without losing its quality as quickly as ale did.

With increased profits men started to enter the brewing profession. Trade guilds were formed as England became progressively urbanized. Society needed a regular source of ale and beer and so the authorities restricted its production to a small group of reliable brewers who were members of the brewing guild.  Women were not permitted to join guilds and were edged out of brewing. Rumours were often spread about the local Brewster – questioning the quality of her ale; suggesting that she cheated customers; that she was dirty; or that she kept a disorderly ale-house. Witch hunting in Medieval England was rife so it was simple to ostracise a woman from society by accusing her of witchcraft. Brewsters were likely to be strong intelligent business women who would have a mind of their own.  How easy would it be to accuse a female brewer of being a witch and conveniently remove the local brewing rival? Does this explain the connection between the brewer’s tools of trade and the popular image of a witch?

If you have any more thoughts or information please do add them on in the comments.

Brewsters, their part in our name.

Brewster has been used as the old English word for a female brewer. Today, it is a word that remains as a relatively common surname and until recently it was the legal name for the Magistrate court meetings in England where pub licences were renewed or granted; these meetings were called Brewster Sessions. It is still used in the brewing trade, since Sara is a female brewer and no one else was trading as Brewster’s Brewing Company it seemed an good name to start selling beer under.

In medieval times women brewed and sold most of the ale drunk in England. With the introduction of hops, their use first demonstrated in Northern Europe, which helped preserve beer, it was found beer lasted longer hence it could bedistributed more widely and find wider markets. As a result beer was produced on a larger scale and as time passed it became a trade that eventually became dominated by male brewers who began to brew beer with hops on an industrial scale.

In addition to the change in ingredients the poor old Brewsters were probably the victims of misogynistic spin against them and they developed a terrible reputation over the years which helped put them out of business. However some of the accusations levelled against them sound remarkably similar to some of today’s drinkers gripes. They were accused of serving short measures, adulterating their products and charging unfairly high prices. They were also supposed to have brewed with substandard products and kept very unruly alehouses with “other women” to help encourage trade.

Apparently there was much written about the Brewsters in old English literature and some of it with bawdy affection. One infamous Brewsters was Mother Bunch. She is described as a Brewsters of great size , great appretite and great age. Probably as a result of very shrewd marketing on her part it became legend that her ale was more potent in more ways than one:

 ”she raised the spirits of her spicket, to such a height, that maids grew proud and many proved with child after it, and being asked who got the child , they answered they knew not , only they thought Mother Bunch’s ale and another thing had done the deed, but whosoever was the father, Mother Bunch’s ale had all the blame”

Mother Bunch herself was  described as

“an excellent companion, and sociable , she was very pleasant and witty , and would tell a tale, let a fart, drink her draught , scratch her arse, pay her groat, as well as any chemist of ale whatsoever”

Go girlfriend !