[Sca-cooks] Binge drinking

[Stefan li Rous]

Doc commented:
> The diet table approved in April 1687 by the Governing Body of St
> Bartholomew's Hospital contains the following references to alcohol
> consumption.
>
> Sunday:  1 pint of Ale Cawdell, 3 pints of 6 shilling Beere
> Monday:  3 pints of Beere
> Tuesday:  3 pints of Beere
> Wednesday:  3 pints of Beere
> Thursday:  The same allowance as Sunday
> Friday:  3 pints of Beere
> Saturday:  The same allowance as Wednesday
>
> (source:  J. Drummond, The Englishman's Food)
>
> Not quite the gallon of ale per day, but it's still more than I
> drink.  I had another source - earlier, from a charity - that will
> take longer for me to dig up.

One thing that I don't think has come up in this thread, is just how  
strong in alcohol or not, these beers and ales were. I've gotten the  
feeling in my reading of medieval info that small beers, beers lower  
in alcohol than what we think of as beer, made up substantial amounts  
of the beer made. Especially that given as boons during harvest and  
such. Afterall, having drunk laborers probably doesn't help get that  
harvest in.

I also suspect that natural selection of yeasts as well as better  
storage has both increased the alcohol precentages as well as the  
storage times through the years, but I have no evidence to prove this.

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas           
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****