The Alewives

The world of beer today is pretty much considered to be a man’s world as men predominantly do both the brewing and drinking of beer.

But this wasn’t always the case.

Back in medieval times, beer was an important source of nutrition, and a so-called ‘small beer’ or ‘table beer’ – a nutritious low alcohol beer – were consumed by all at every meal. In addition to its nutritional value, beer was also considered safer to drink than water mainly because the beverage was boiled during the brewing process.

The original beer recipe was a simple, bread-based one. In Egypt for example, beers were made from bread loaves called bappir. These breads, made from malted barley, were crumbled into water and fermented using wild yeast. Many used honey as a source of fermentable sugar. The beer was flavoured with a combination of herbs called gruit.

It was around this time in England that we first learnt about the alewives. These brewsters were women who brewed and sold ale either from their homes, or from an alehouse. Before the Black Death (1346 to 1353), women brewed the majority of ale for home or commercial use, and moreover, legislation declared brewing as a solely female profession.

One source argues that the female dominance of the ale trade is likely to have evolved because it was not a specialist trade requiring extensive education, nor was it greatly profitable, which meant it could be done by anyone from home to supplement income.

Shortly put: Brewing and selling of ale was not considered important enough for men to do.

For 15th century England, the beer of choice was the ale. It was a gruit-based beverage distinguished from beer which was a Dutch beverage flavoured with hops. Gruit was a combination of herbs and spices that were used to flavour the ales. Because ale did not last long before going off and becoming sour, small batches were brewed at a constant rate. Some degree of quality control was built into the law regulating the ale trade, the Assize of Bread and Ale, which among other things also linked the price of ale to the price of grain.

Until the middle of the 14th century, ale was mostly produced and sold at home or at alehouses. Non-married women operated from home, as they did not have the legal or guild standing or the money to own their own alehouses. They also could not afford to employ apprentices or servants to help with the brewing and as a result they brewed in very small batches and very infrequently. Single brewsters thus faced severe limitations which meant they were at best occasional participants in the industry.

After the Black Plague, brewing was transformed into a commercialised and specialised trade. The reasons for this were numerous: Rising standard of living, cheaper access to grain, greater access to capital and greater demand for safe-to-drink beverages such as ale.

The ale market became ripe for investment and commercialisation.

It was also the time a key ingredient was added to beer – hops. Hops replaced gruit not only to add a bitter flavour to beer, but also because of its preservation qualities. Hops helped to increase the shelf life of beer, which meant production could be increased, beer could be stored longer and transported further. It meant that the prospects for successful and profitable beer brewing became a lot more attractive.

Socially, brewsters were blamed and shamed for most of the vices the world associated with the consumption of alcohol. For example, the city of Chester banned all women between the ages of 14 and 40 from selling ale. Alewives were accused of being disobedient to their husbands, sexually deviant cheats who sell watered down product to their clients. To this effect, Bennett writes: “Perhaps most important, like all women, alewives were deemed prone to disobedience… their work threatened the ideal of a proper patriarchal order. In flirting with customers, alewives undermined the authority of their husbands; in handling money, goods, and debts, they challenged the economic power of men, in bargaining with male customers, they achieved a seemingly unnatural power over men; in avoiding effective regulation of their trade, they insulted the power of male officers and magistrates; and perhaps most important, in simply pursuing their trade, they often worked independently of men”.

Due to these changes, the ale market transformed from an industry dominated by occasional, home-brewing married and non-married women to a commercialised, professionalised, and male-governed mainstream trade.

Like so many other industries, the brewing and selling of beer became a male-dominated and controlled industry. For many it still is the near sole domain of men. For others, the modern craft beer movement provides great and creative opportunities for modern brewsters. Maybe, just maybe, with this one, the world is turning toward completing a near full circle.

If beer was made from bread, then surely bread can be made from beer. This recipe is a southern African classic.

• 500 grams self-raising flour

• 500 mililitres lager beer

• 250 grams mature cheddar cheese

• Fresh herbs such as thyme, to taste

• 1 teaspoon salt

• Preheat oven to 180ºC.

• Mix all the ingredients together in a mixing bowl and shape into a large round loaf or spoon into a pan or mugs which you have

• Bake for 35 to 45 minutes until the bread sounds hollow when you tap its bottom.

• Let it cool completely before cutting.