Five things our research uncovered when we recreated 16th century beer (and barrels)

• But why they did so and what their beer was like are questions shrouded in myth.
• Combining craft, microbiology, brewing science, archaeology, as well as history, this was the most comprehensive interdisciplinary study of historical beer ever undertaken.

1. People didn’t drink beer because water was unhealthy

• It’s often assumed that lack of access to clean water led people to drink beer instead.
• We know this isn’t true for many reasons, not least because brewers needed a constant source of fresh water to make the best beer.

2. Beer was a payment for work

• Treatments for conditions such as flux or bed wetting, for example, required ground kid’s hoof or grated stag’s penis to be taken with a drink of beer.
• At Christchurch Cathedral in Dublin, masons received up to 15 pints per day when undertaking heavy work.

3. Beer had some different ingredients then

• The key ingredients were malt (made from barley or oats depending on the region), water, yeast and hops.
• This resulted in a longer lasting drink, accelerating the development of the brewing industry as we know it today.
• But there are differences between pre-modern and modern beers, relating primarily to the nature of the ingredients.

4. Making beer required skills in short supply today

• Brewers were deeply in tune with their working conditions and didn’t have modern devices such as thermometers.
• As the project team learned the hard way, small mistakes could be disastrous, resulting in spoiled beer and accidental porridge.
• Recreating the technology of the past also highlighted the wider craft skills, such as coopering (making barrels), wicker-weaving, woodworking, and coppersmithing, that went into making all the equipment needed to make a pint.

5. Even everyday beer was strong

• Based on little evidence, it is assumed that beer of around 2% alcohol by volume (abv) was the most common drink of the working classes.
• Our experiment showed that a typical beer of middling strength actually had the potential to be around 5% abv, comparable to modern lager.
• Those calls often came, however, from the same people who liberally supplied their workers with beer.

The FoodCult project is funded by the European Research Council (Grant Agreement 803486) Charlie Taverner also works as a policy lead for the food systems NGO, the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission.