In 1299, Henry de Lacy 's household purchased an average of 85 gallons of ale daily and in 1385-6 Framlingham Castle consumed 78 gallons per day. Monks at Westminster Abbey consumed 1 gallon of ale each day. In 1272, a husband and wife who retired at Selby Abbey were given 2 gallons of ale per day with two loaves of white bread and one loaf of brown bread. Records from the Middle Ages show that ale was consumed in huge quantities. The lower cost for proprietors combined with the lower taxes levied on small beer inevitably led to the selling of some beer labeled "strong beer" that had actually been diluted with small beer. Small beer would have been consumed daily by almost everyone, including children, in the medieval world, with higher-alcohol ales served for recreational purposes. Small beer, also known as table beer or mild beer, which was highly nutritious, contained just enough alcohol to act as a preservative, and provided hydration without intoxicating effects. Even nobles received around 65% of their calories from grains. Scholars believe grains accounted for around 80% of the calorie intake of agricultural workers and 75% for soldiers. It was one of three main sources of grain in the diet at the start of the fourteenth century in England, along with pottage and bread. History of ale Īle was an important source of nutrition in the medieval world. The relationship of similar words in the Slavonic languages (such as Old Bulgarian olu 'cider', Slovenian ol 'beer') and the Baltic languages (Lithuanian alus, Latvian alus, 'beer', Old Prussian alu 'mead') remains uncertain. In this account, the Indo-European word * olú-t- was also borrowed into the Finnic languages, giving Finnish olut and Estonian õlu. The Indo-European word * olú-t- then came to refer specifically to ale because this is its colour, giving rise to both the Germanic word * alú-þ- and the Ossetic word æluton. Other Indo-European words related to this root include Old Indic aruṣá- ('reddish' the r comes from an earlier l, * alu-sá-) and Old High German elo ('yellowy, pale yellow, reddish yellow, tawny'). Research by Harald Bjorvand, however, has favoured the following explanation: the Germanic word * alú-þ- descends from the Indo-European word * *olú-t- (from an earlier Indo-European base *h₂elut-), which originally meant 'golden or reddish colour'. According to the third edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, however, the origin of this word is 'uncertain and disputed'. Through linguistic reconstruction it is possible to infer that the Common Germanic form of this word was * alúþ. ![]() ![]() The word is also found throughout the North Germanic languages, almost certainly appearing in ancient runic inscriptions in the form alu, and subsequently in Old Norse as ǫl. ![]() English belongs to the West Germanic branch of Proto-Germanic, and some other languages in this branch also attest to the word: Middle Dutch āle and ael, and the Old Saxon word alo-fat 'ale-cup'. ![]() The word ale comes into English from its ancestor-language, Proto-Germanic. Later, hops replaced gruit as the bittering agent. Ale was originally bittered with gruit, a mixture of herbs or spices boiled in the wort before fermentation. Īs with most beers, ale typically has a bittering agent to balance the malt and act as a preservative. Historically, the term referred to a drink brewed without hops. Ale is a type of beer brewed using a warm fermentation method, resulting in a sweet, full-bodied and fruity taste.
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