[Sca-cooks] Reference to 'stale' ale.

[Chris Stanifer]

--- Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com> wrote:
> ruadh wrote:
>
> > just picked up a bag of Vadalia Onions, Try
> letting them do their thing . .
> > . might offset some of the bitters.
>
> In a purely food-related sense, they might. It
> should be noted, though,
> that as a recreation of a period recipe,
> difficulties might include the
> nonexistence of Vidalias in period (although there
> could easily have
> been a similar sweet onion in period, even if we
> don't know what it
> was), and the fact that there's no really strong
> reason to believe that
> the ale used in the recipe was even remotely bitter.

Bitter ales, IIRC, are a fairly modern (post 1600's)
invention.  This is not to say that earlier
concoctions weren't bitter, merely suggesting that an
*intentionally* bitter ale may not have existed in
period.  At the same time, over pitching of yeast can
cause a bitter flavor in beer, as can using, as
Adamantius indicated, other bitter ingredients.
However, most un-hopped and still ales would have been
comparatively sweet, if I'm not mistaken.  Bear seems
to know quite a bit about brewing history, so perhaps
we should illicit his response?

Balthazar of Blackmoor

=====
Let the people hate, as long as they also fear.

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