[Sca-cooks] Brown Ale -

[Susan Fox]

    The nut-brown ale, the nut-brown ale,
    Puts down all drink when it is stale!
    The toast, the nutmeg, and the ginger
    Will make a sighing man a singer.
    Ale gives a buffet in the head,
    But ginger under-props the brain;
    When ale would strike a strong man dead
    Then nutmeg tempers it again.
    The nut-brown ale, the nut-brown ale,
    Puts down all drink when it is stale!



John Marston (1575?-1634)

My read on the line "puts down all drink when it is stale" means, even 
when it's gone bad, it's still better than anything else around.

Selene