[Sca-cooks] Brown Ale - was, Re: newbee cook attempting feast for the first timeindecember

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Jun 5, 2009, at 5:34 PM, Terry Decker wrote:

> So what kind of feast is thoroughly documented good food served at  
> appropriate temperature on time and in good order with 1503 brown  
> ale to wash it down?
>
> Bear

You know, I'm not finding a lot of evidence for toasting of malt  
(although pale malt can give you an amber beer).

Do we have any strong evidence for the existence of dark malts in  
period? I'm pretty sure Digby and Plat never specify what kind of malt  
to use, or how to make it, and Markham tells how to make it, but never  
says anything (that I can recall) about roasting it; as far as I know,  
what he's using is raw, white malt.

So what's making all this alleged late-medieval nut-brown ale brown?  
Or is it another of those "X is period, so anything in the category of  
X must be period" thingies?

Adamantius






"Most men worry about their own bellies, and other people's souls,  
when we all ought to worry about our own souls, and other people's  
bellies."
			-- Rabbi Israel Salanter