Introduction

The main source for terms used in brewing is Pamela Sambrook's Country-House Brewing. The main sources for the drinks are Bickerdyke's The Curiosities of Ale and Beer and R. V. French's Nineteen Centuries of Drink. Full References are given at the end of the document. If you can't find what you're looking for there, try Bibliography. I make no claims for comprehensiveness or consistency.

A

Absinthe 'A green liqueur made (at least orig.) from wine and wormwood. M.19.' (ShOED). Beloved of poseurs in the C19 and early C20, especially in France. Makes you go blind, mad, and commit suicide. Strictly for poets.

Ale Made from malt, yeast and water. See also 'hop' and 'beer'. (Variations include Dagger Ale; March Ale; Lamb's Wool; Dr. Butler's Ale).

Alecost Tanacetum balsamita.

Ale draper An ale-house keeper.

Alegar Sour ale; malt vinegar.

Alehoof Ground ivy, nepeta glechoma.

Alesop Wheat bread boiled in beer.

Ale-yard 'a trumpet-shaped glass vessel, exactly a yard in length, the narrow end being closed, and expanded into a large ball. Its internal capacity is little more than a pint, and when filled with ale many a thirsty tyro has been challenged to empty it without taking away his mouth.' (Bickerdyke, p.401, quoting from Notes and Queries.) The difficulty is when the liquor in the bowl suddenly rushes down the tube. The trick (so common wisdom has it) is to keep twisting the glass to get an even flow.

Aligant Wine. 'fat Aligant', (1612 pamphlet); ballad 'Sack for my Money'.

Angostura Angostura bitters, trademark - 'a bitter aromatic tonic, used as a flavouring in alcoholic drinks'.

Antinomial 'A synonym of 'sickening', often used in connexion with a type of wine'. (Old Curiosity Shop, Chapter 5, note 2.)

Aqua vitæ Distilled liquor, associated with the Irish.

Arrack Distilled liquor.

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B

Bacharach A Rhenish wine, popular in C17.

Back 'A holding vessel used at various stages of brewing, the name deriving from 'buck'; hence underback, hopback, liquorback etc.' (Sambrook)

Barley '[OE bærlic adj., f. as BERE n.¹ + -LY¹: cf. ON barr barley, Goth. barizeins of barley.] (The grain of) a hardy awned cereal of the genus Hordeum, used as food an in making malt liquors and spirits.' (ShOED)

Barley-bree See 'barley-broth'.

Barley-broth Strong ale.

Barley-hood '(now rare or obs.) a fit of drunkenness or of bad temper brought on by drinking' (ShOED) 'And as she was drynkynge, / She fell in a wynkynge, / With a barly-hood', The Tunnyng of Elynour Rummyng, ll. 370-2.

Barm The yeast head collected in a liquid state and saved from one brew to the next or used for baking.

Barsac Wine? (Thomas Burke, The Winsome Wench, p.188).

Bastard Wine. 'brown beloved Bastard', (1612 pamphlet).

Bearing staff 'A heavy, notched, wooden stick for carrying two casks' (Sambrook).

Beer Made from malt, yeast, water and hops ( the use of hops distinguishes it from 'ale')

Single beer (also small ale) C16; double beer (also double-double beer) C16; small beer.

Bellarmine Type of jug, originating in Holland when 'the Protestant party gave the name of Bellarmines to the bearded jugs they used. This was done in ridicule of their opponent, Cardinal Bellarmine. The Cardinal's figure was stout and squat, and well suited the form of the stone beer-jug in use. The make the resemblance more complete, the Cardinal's face with his great square-cut beard was placed in front of the jug, which became known in England as the Bellarmine or Greybeard Jug.' (Bickerdyke, p.398).

Berme Old name for yeast.

Bishop 'Mulled and spiced wine (esp. port)', ShOED. M18. [cf 'negus']. Pickwick Papers, landlord and one-eyed gentleman drinking 'a bowl of bishop together', p.773.

'A drink made by pouring heated red wine over bitter oranges and then adding sugar and spices. The resulting liquor is purple, the colour a bishop's cassock, hence the name.' Chapter 37, note 5, Nicholas Nickleby.

Black jack Leather drinking vessel.

Blink 'To make taste more astringent, to sour' (Sambrook).

Bombard A type of leather drinking vessel. 'Baiting of bombard' was slang for heavy-drinking. (Bickerdyke, p.397).

Borage A flower used as a tonic in ale etc, of ancient use. (Bickerdyke, p.390).

Bordeaux Wine.

Bouck, buck 'A wooden coopered open vessel with one stave made long as a handle' (Sambrook).

Bourbon '(A drink of) an American whiskey distilled from maize and rye' (ShOED).

Bracket Late ME. Also 'bragget', 'bragot' and 'bragawd'. 'A drink made of honey, or (latterly) sugar and spices, and ale fermented together' (ShOED). Half way in strength between metheglin (strongest) and mead. (Howell, in French, p.208).

'In its Welsh form of Bragawd, the drink is mentioned in a very ancient poem, The Hirlas or Drinking Horn of Owen.' / Popular in Wales and the West of England according to Halliwell. 'It was customary to drink it in some parts of the country on mothering Sunday.' Recipe in Haven of Health (1584) similar to a C14 recipe. Mentioned in Chaucer's Miller's Tale: 'Hire mouth was sweete as braket or the meth'. (Bickerdyke, pp.379-80).

Bragawd See 'Bracket'.

Bragget See 'Bracket'.

Bragot See 'Bracket'.

Brandewine Associated with the Dutch ('The Butterboxes' Poison'?) in 'Sack for my Money'. (Ballad, Roxburghe Ballads, VI).

Brandy Spirit distilled from wine or fermented fruit-juice.

Brasenose Ale Bickerdyke regards it as famous and old, simply consisting of 'ale sweetened with pounded sugar, and served with roasted apples floating on it'. (Bickerdyke, p.389).

Brig 'A forked stick put across a tub to support a sieve' (Sambrook).

Brown bowls Wooden bowl for drinking ale, used in Saxon times and up until about C17.

Bucellas Wine? (Thomas Burke, The Winsome Wench, p.188)

Burgundy Wine.

Burnt claret Mulled claret.

Bush-House A private house in which beer was brewed and sold. Also 'hush-shop'.

Burton Ale Dating back to C13? Mentioned in Scott's Ivanhoe, and corroborated by Molineux in Burton-on-Trent. (French, 254-5).

Butler's Ale 'Dr. Butler, physician to James I., ... invented a kind of medicated ale, called Dr. Butler's Ale, which used to be sold at houses that had the 'Butler's Head for a sign.' (French, p.171).

Buttered Ale Ale mixed with sugar, cinnamon, and butter and drunk hot. Taken at suppertime [although people not eating supper in this period, 2^nd half of C17 - French, 224] / Pepys, 5/12/1662.

Buttery The room from which drink was dispensed.

Bybyll To drink. '"Soft,' quod one hyght Sybbyll, /"And let me with you bybyll."' ('Tunnyng', ll. 549-50).

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C

Canary Wine. Much in demand in C17.

Candy Wine, 'amber coloured' (1612 pamphlet).

Capping 'Strewing malt over the top of the mash after rowing before leaving it to stand' (Sambrook).

Capstaff 'A long wooden plug fitting into the centre of the mash tun; same as a penstaff' (Sambrook).

Caprike Wine, (Holinshed).

Carlowitz Hungarian wine, C17.

Cask 'The generic name for a closed vessel for liquor' (Sambrook).

Cast Quantity of ale made at one time (O.E.D.), in Jonson's The New Inn, 4.1.

Cate Wine, (Holinshed).

Champaign Wine.

Charneco Wine, (1612 pamphlet).

Chine, chime 'The top edge of a cask' (Sambrook).

Claret Wine. The wine.

Clarcie Wine, (Holinshed).

Cleansing 'Running the beer from the fermentation tun into the casks' (Sambrook).

Cobbler See 'sherry cobbler'.

Cock Ale According to Pete Brown:

They used to get a cock (i.e. a male chicken), stick it in a sack and bash it against the walls until it was completely pulverized. It was important that the bones were shattered and the whole thing was a bloody pulp. They they'd chuck in a load of spices, such as cloves and mace, and drop the bag into a vat of ale while it was fermenting, and age the resulting brew for longer than normal to produce a much richer, heartier beer than normal.

Cold Tankard 'A very favourite summer drink at Oxford...'. Ingredients included perry (or ale or cider), sugar, lemon rind, brandy. (Bickerdyke, p.390).

Collecting 'Running the wort from the boiling copper to the coolers and fermenting tun' (Sambrook).

Comb 'An open tub for brewing or other uses' (Sambrook).

Cooper C19, a mixture of porter and stout in equal measures (Bickerdyke, p.375); a maker of barrels.

Copus Cup Ale, brandy, noyau, sugar, lemon juice, piece of toast, cloves, nutmeg.

Costrel 'A small coopered cask, usually with a chain handle, for carrying beer to the fields' (Sambrook).

Cowl 'Large coopered open tub with two staves made long as handles, often for cooling beer' (Sambrook).

Culm 'Coal dust or slack, especially of anthracite' (Sambrook).

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Daffy 'So called after a seventeenth-century clergyman, daffy was a medicine for children. It was a mixture of senna to which gin was commonly added, and hence became the slang name for gin itself.' [Oliver Twist, Chapter 2, note 1] Also, Daffy's Elixir.

Daffy's Elixir Invented by said clergyman in the Restoration period. 'What it tasted like one can no longer tell, but it was probably pretty good since it contained brandy, canary wine, oranges, lemons, rhubarb and a certain amount of borax, perhaps to convince customers that it really was a medicine and not just a rather expensive sort of gin' (Earle, 304).

Dagger Ale C16. '...sharp and very strong. / [It] took its name from a house in Holborn, mentioned by Ben Jonson in the Alchymist as a place of resort for restive citizens. It competed for the favour of connoisseurs with the Peacock in Gray's Inn Lane, then noted for its Burton ale.'

Dantzic spruce 'The most famous spruce beer, made from essence of the green buds of the black spruce fir dissolved in a strong syrup to which yeast and spices are added', (Pickwick Papers, note 13, p.941).

Darby ale

Dog's Nose 'warm porter, moist sugar, gin, and nutmeg', (Pickwick Papers, p.547); another name for purl ('the compound now known to 'bus conductors as "dogs-nose'' - George III anecdote in Bickerdyke, p.387 - see 'Purl').

Donaldson's Beer Cup Ale, lemon peel, noyau, seltzer water, nutmeg, sugar, ice. See also Copus Cup. (Bickerdyke, p.391).

Dorset Beer A rival to Mum in 2^nd half C17, (French, 225).

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E

East India Type? (Thomas Burke, The Winsome Wench, pp.104-5)

Egg Ale Recipe includes (for twelve gallons of ale) 'the gravy of eight pounds of beef', 'twelve eggs, the gravy beef, a pound of raisins, oranges and spice' and sack. (Bickerdyke, p.387).

Ellfit 'The yeast crest in the fermenting tun' (Sambrook)

English Beer C16 (French, p.130).

Entire Original name for Ralph Harwood's imitation of three-threads/half-and-half, because taken from one butt (entire butt) or vessel rather than three or two vessels respectively, approx. 1730 at the Bell Brewhouse, Shoreditch. Entire later became known as porter.

Eshon 'An open coopered tub' (Sambrook)

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F

Fermenting tun 'A large coopered tun in which yeast was added to the worts, after mashing, boiling and cooling' (Sambrook).

Flagging 'The staves which made up the head of a cask had thin strips of willow pushed tightly in between them, to improve the seal' (Sambrook).

Flap-dragoning 'In Elizabethan times it was customary for hard drinkers to put some inflammable substance on the surface of their liquor, and so to swallow the draught and the blazing fragment at a gulp. This was called flap-dragoning, and the fiery morsel was known as a flap-dragon.' Allusions in Shakespeare include Falstaff's comment on Hal that he 'drinks off candle-ends for flap-dragons' and in Winter's Tale 'but to make an end of the ship; to see how the sea flap-dragoned it.' (Bickerdyke, pp.281-2).

Flip 'A mixture of beer and spirit, sweetened with sugar, and heated with a hot iron.' Def. from OED, Barnaby Rudge, Chapter 11, note 1.

Freemason's Cup Scotch ale, mild beer, brandy, sherry, sugar, nutmeg (Bickerdyke, p.391).

Furmety The drink in The Mayor of Casterbridge.

Also frumety, frummety. Re the St Thomas's Day 'doleing' custom. ''Poor people went from one farmhouse to another, begging corn, professedly to make their Furmitry [sic] at Christmas - I think St. Thomas's Day was the chief day for making their visits.'' [Joseph Hunter]

Note 27 to this: 'Furmity was a kind of porridge prepared in various parts of Britain from cree'd wheat, water, milk, fruit and eggs. It was called by various names: fermity, frummenty, frummitty, and so on. See, for example, Thomas Brushfield, 'Customs and Notions at Ashford-In-The-Water Sixty Years Ago', The Reliquary, p. 12. Furmity was consumed after sheep-shearing was completed. Most commonly, it was prepared at Christmas from grain collected from local farmers on St Thomas's Day (21 December).' [Bushaway, p.41]

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G

Garth 'A hoop round a coopered tub' (Sambrook).

Gascoin Specified in 28 Henry VIII, c.14.

Gathering tun 'A fermenting tun, originally when several worts were mixed together for fermentation' (Sambrook).

Gaun, gawn 'A gallon-sized bouck or bucket' (Sambrook).

Geneva Gin, called 'geneva' after the French for 'juniper'. Gin is flavoured by juniper berries.

Gin The name derives from 'geneva' (see 'geneva').

Gin-twist Gin-twist was 'composed of equal parts of gin and hot water, or of gin and brandy, with sugar and lemon added - a mixture inspiring the aphorism, 'Truth should be like gin-twist, half and half'.' (Kinross).

Goddisgoode Old name for yeast.

Greybeard See 'Bellarmine'.

Grog Spirits mixed with water. The name comes from the 'grogram coat' that Admiral Vernon used to wear, the man who instituted the dilution of spirits for sailors, (French, p.272).

Gruit 'A herbal mixture used to flavour ale' (Sambrook).

Guile 'The fermenting worts; hence a single brew' (Sambrook).

Guile dish 'A tundish' (Sambrook).

Gutter 'A wooden chute' (Sambrook).

Guyen Specified in 28 Henry VIII, c.14.

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Habbe or nabbe Will you have or not have (a drink)? Possibly origin of 'hob-nob'.

Half-and-half Half ale and half twopenny; half ale and half beer; half beer and half twopenny.

'A mixture of two malt liquors, especially ale and porter.' Chapter 27, note 1, Nicholas Nickleby.

Hanap (Saxon) A kind of tankard.

Haut Brion Wine? (Thomas Burke, The Winsome Wench, p.188).

Heather Ale 'Pict heather ale was reputedly the first beer brewed in the British Isles... It was brewed two parts heather to one part malt. heather harbours a naturally occurring fine white mossy powder, known in Scotland as fogg, and recently it has been established that this powder has hallucinogenic properties.' Recipe is now lost but commercial brewing of heather ale was revived in the 1990s without the hallucogenics. (Brown, pp.44-5. He recommends giving Fraoch heather ale a try).

Hock Wine. C17 - 'in high repute', (French, p.171).

Hockamore Mentioned in Hudibras.

Hop 'Humulus lupulus, a herbaceous hardy perennial plant, a member of the nettle family' (Sambrook). Up until the sixteenth century, ale was the staple drink in England, made from yeast, malt and water. The date of the introduction of beer into England, that is, liquor made from yeast, malt, water and hops, cannot be stated with precision, but it was probably known in the fifteenth century at least. 'Beer' was originally greeted with suspicion as a 'foreign' drink, and the addition of hops was seen as an adulteration. 'Beer ' gradually overtook 'ale' as the popular drink, whilst the distinction between the two was lost.

Hot-Pot 'A mixture of warmed ale and spirits is called Hot-Pot in Norfolk and Suffolk, and a similar compound, to which is added sugar and lemon-peel, used to be called Ruddle.' (Bickerdyke, p.388).

Huckmuck 'Sieve fixed to the bottom of the capstaff; also called tapwad or strum' (Sambrook).

Huf-cap C16 favourite drink, 'which was highly intoxicating; thus in Harrison's England we read, 'These men hale at huf-cap till they be as red as cockes, and little wiser than their combs.' (French, 147). Also called 'mad-dog, angels' food, and dragon's milk.' (French, 148).

Hum 'A somewhat remote ancestor of Purl, Dogsnose, Ruddle and other mixtures of ale or beer and spirits, was Hum.' (Bickerdyke, p.388).

Hum-glasses Small glasses for Hum, indicating a very strong drink. (Bickerdyke, p.388).

Hungary Water 'a medicinal liquor named after the Queen of Hungary for whose use it was first prepared. It was made by distilling a mixture of rosemary flowers infused in spirit of wine'. (Joseph Andrews, n.35)

'a rosemary-flavoured brandy' (Earle, 304)

Hungerford Park Apples, lemon juice an peel, nutmeg, ginger-beer, sherry, ale, 'sifted loaf sugar', and cooled. '...especially suitable for shooting parties in hot weather' - '"The addition of half a bottle of champagne makes it awfully good," wrote a certain Colonel B., in the Field, a few years ago.' (Bickerdyke, p.391).

Hush-shop A private house in which beer was brewed and sold. Also 'Bush-house'.

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I

Ipocras Wine. '...nor liquorish Ipocras', (1612 pamphlet).

Ipse he Slang term for drinking in 'The good fellowe's best Beloved...,' Roxburghe Ballads, III, pp. 248ff.

Isinglass 'The swim bladder of fish, especially but not exclusively the sturgeon, which was dried, rolled and made into a jelly and used to clarify or 'fine' beer' (Sambrook).

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J

Jackback 'Large underback into which several underbacks drain; not usually used in private brewhouses' (Sambrook).

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K

Keeler 'A shallow coopered tub used for cooling beer or milk' (Sambrook).

Keeve 'A large coopered tub' (Sambrook).

Kentish Ale C16 [and before?] (French, p.130).

Kimble 'A large coopered tub' (Sambrook).

Kir 1 teaspoon Cassis and 1 wineglass white Burgundy. (Cedric Dickens, p.72).

Kiver 'A shallow coopered tub' (Sambrook).

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L

Lamb's Wool C16 [and before?] Ale mixed with a roasted crab or apple. Ref. in Midsummer's Night Dream, 2.1. (French, p.148).

Lead 'Lead cauldron or boiler' (Sambrook).

Liquor 'Brewer's term for water' (Sambrook).

London Ale C16 and before? (French, p.130).

Long Glass Etonian name for 'yard of ale'. (Bickerdyke, p.401).

Long Pull ‘The so-called "long pull" was prohibited [1915]. This is the practice of drawing rather more beer, generally into a jug, than the quantity ordered by measure, in order to attract custom'. (Shadwell, Drink, p.43)

Loom 'A wide-mouthed coopered vessel, medium sized, used for brewing, dyeing or in the dairy' (Sambrook).

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M

Malligo 'Sack for my Money'. (Ballad, Roxburghe Ballads, VI)

Malyfo Wine, (1612 pamphlet).

Malmsey Also, malmeseie. '...a strangely generic term for sweet wines from almost every vine-growing district.' (French, p.131). Specified in 28 Henry VIII, c.14.

March Ale Brewed by the gentry for their own consumption ('very choice and expensive' - Maskell, p.107).. Brewed in March and not brought to the table until two years old.

Mash tun 'Large coopered vessel in which the mixing of malt and hot water took place. Could use either top-mashing (in which case it usually had a central outlet) - or bottom-mashing (in which case it was fitted with a false bottom and a side outlet' (Sambrook)

Mazer Drinking vessels of some worth, C13-C16. (Monckton, History of Ale and Beer, pp.54ff)

Mead Made from honey and dating from Roman times.

Metheglin Associated with the Welsh. 'A spiced or medicated variety of mead, originally peculiar to Wales'. (ShOED).

Still being drunk in 2^nd half of C17. Pepys mentions it, 1666 (French, p.225).

Mother-in-law '...composed of equal proportions of "old and bitter."' (Bickerdyke, p.392).

Mountain 'A glass of rich old Mountain was served' to George III, not a noted drinker (French, 314-5).

Mulled... Mulled ale and mulled wine. The alcohol was once heated by putting a hot iron into it.

Mum From Brunswick, new in 2^nd half of C17. Sometimes called Brunswick Mum. A strong beer using wheat instead of barley. Possible derivations: from 'mummeln', to mumble, or onomatopoiec for silence, or 'from Christian Mummer by whom it was first brewed.' Mentioned in Hudibras and by Pope.

Muscadel See 'muscatel'.

Muscatel '(A) strong sweet wine made from the muscat or similar grape; a drink of this' (ShOED)

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N

Nantes Or Nantz 'was the name given to brandy made at Nantes on the Loire', Joseph Andrews, n.35.

Navarre A wine of the Basses Pyrénées, comes into fashion in C17. Also Navarr.

Negus 'Wine (esp. port or sherry) mixed with hot water, sweetened, and flavoured; a drink of this.' ShOED. M18. [cf 'bishop'] Pickwick Papers,p.774.

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O

Ofener Hungarian red wine, popular in the Stuart period, replacing Malmsey (French p.170-1).

Oseie Wine (Holinshed).

Overback 'Planked holding vessel fitted above the lip of the copper' (Sambrook).

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P

Penstaff 'Long wooden plug fitting into the centre of the mash tun; same as capstaff' (Sambrook).

Perry Alcoholic drink made with pears; of some ancestry.

Piment (Vin cuit) Wine.

Pitching 'Mixing yeast into the worts in the fermenting tun' (Sambrook).

Port 'In the 17^th and early 18^th centuries, port was a Burgundy type wine, harsh, dry and heady; a wine to satisfy the cold, carnivorous English squire, fortified ever since the head of a noble firm of wine growers in the Douro once poured several gallons of brandy into a cask to stop it refermenting. ... It wasn't until the mid-18th century that an unknown cellarman introduced the brandy at an early stage of the original ferment, and produced port as we know it today - probably by mistake.' (Cedric Dickens, p.50).

Porter '...differs from beer by being made with higher dried malt'; brewing starts around 1722, (French, p.272). Origin of the name is unclear, although supposedly popular with porters. Popular C18 drink: 'Beer, commonly call'd Porter, is almost become the universal Cordial of the Populace' - Henry Jackson, 1758. Derives from 'Entire'. See also 'Stout', 'Entire' and 'Three Threads'.

Possett See Sambrook for recipe.

Potatio The evening draught in a religious house. (Bickerdyke, p.276).

Potheen 'Potheen is an illicit Irish spirit: It is normally rough and fiery and, if given to cattle, cures coughs.' (Cedric Dickens, p.58).

Pottell-pycher A large pitcher, about half-a-gallon ('Tunnyng', l. 402; Kinsman's definition).

Punch Mr Micawber's favourite in David Copperfield. Many recipes exist.

Purl Warm beer with a glass of wine (C18?). French, p.314 and Bickerdyke p.387 tell the anecdote: George III overhears one of the grooms in his stables mention 'purl' and asks what it is. On being told it is hot beer with a dash of gin he replies: 'Yes, yes; I daresay a very good drink; but too strong for the morning; never drink in the morning.' [Also 'dog's nose'].

'Beer warmed nearly to boiling heat, and flavoured with gin, sugar, and ginger.' Chapter 57, note 4, The Old Curiosity Shop.

Puzzle Jug A jug with many spouts, only one of which can be easily drunk out of. Also called 'Wager Jug'. (Bickerdyke, p.401).

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Q

Queen of Hungary Queen of Hungary's water. See Hungary.

Racking 'Separation of beer from the yeast deposits during the process of putting into the cask' (Sambrook).

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R

Raspis Wine (Holinshed).

Ratifia 'a cordial or liqueur flavoured with certain fruit and their kernels, usually almonds or apricot, peach, or cherry kernels.' Joseph Andrews, n.23.

Rhenish Wine.

Richebourgh Wine? (Thomas Burke, The Winsome Wench, p.188)

Romney Specified in 28 Henry VIII, c.14.

Rosa solis Distilled liquor, C16.

Rowing 'Stirring the mash vigorously' (Sambrook).

Ruddle See 'Hot-Pot'.

Rum 'A spirit distilled from various products of the sugar cane, esp. molasses and dunder. M17.' (ShOED) Popular in Charles II and following reign, (French, p.241).

Rum and milk Associated with Palm Sunday drinking. (Mentioned in Francis Place's Autobiography).

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S

Sack A generic term for sweet wine - 'the Act of 1536 which speaks of 'sakkes and other sweete wines'. Falstaff's favourite. Also: sherry-sack, canary-sack, Malaga-sack, rumney-sack, palm-sack. Derivation disputed: the town Xique; Spanish saco (bag) in which Spanish wines were imported; also written seck, which suggests French sec, Latin siccus, for dry. Popular until C18. Tom D'Urfey's ballad 'Virtues of sack' (1719). (French, p.132).

'Give me a cup of sack / An ocean of sweet sack', Beaumont and Fletcher, (French, p.189, no ref.).

'Your best sacks are of Xeres in Spain; your smaller, of Gallicia and Portugall; your strong sacks are of the islands of the Canaries and of Malligo, and your Muskadine and Malmseys are of many parts, of Italy, Greece, and some special islands', Gervase Markham, English Housewife, 1683, (French, p.189).

Specified in 28 Henry VIII, c.14.

Replaces Malmsey in the C16 as the most popular wine (Barr, p.69).

Sack-whey 'a mixture of the watery part of milk with a sherry-like wine', Tom Jones, p.311, note.

Saloop Comes into vogue in the Hanoverian period. Made from 'a powder made of the root of the Orchis mascula, and from the green-winged meadow orchis'. Like porter, 'a favourite drink of porters, coal-heavers, &c.' (French, p.273). Originally from the Levant.

'A hot drink made of powdered salep or sassafras, milk and sugar.'. Note in The Autobiography of Francis Place, p.229.

Scheidam 'Gin, named after the Dutch town near Rotterdam where it was made'. Note 2, Chapter 21, The Old Curiosity Shop. Quilp's 'choice spirit'.

Scole Cup or bowl. The word derives from 'skull', when the Anglo-Saxons used to drink out of the skulls of their vanquished foes. (Bickerdyke, p.394).

Search, searce 'A fine sieve, usually made deep with a removable leather cover' (Sambrook).

Shandy Beer with lemonade.

Shandy-gaff Bitter beer, old-fashioned ginger-beer. It reminded Bickerdyke of 'a shining river, of shady backwaters, of sunny days, of two-handled tankards, and of deep cool draughts well earned.' [Presumably a C19 drink]. (Bickerdyke, p.392).

Sherry cobbler Mark Tapley brings it to Martin Chuzzlewit, with a straw, as refreshment when they are in America. Martin Chuzzlewit, pp. 359-60.

Shrub 'a drink composed of acid fruit juice, sugar, and rum or brandy' Pickwick Papers (p.948, note)

'A drink prepared from the juice of lemons, currants and raspberries mixed with spirits, e.g. rum.' Nicholas Nickleby, Chapter 52, note 1.

Sillery Wine? (Thomas Burke, The Winsome Wench, p.188)

Skommer 'shallow ladle or sieve for removing surface matter from a liquid surface' ('Tunnyng', l. 408, Kinsman's definition).

Sparge 'To spray hot water onto the mash to extract sugars' (Sambrook).

Spending 'Draining the wort onto the mash to extract sugars'.

Spile Tap or spigot; also verb.

Spirits Distilled liquor [as distinguished from malt liquor]. Also called 'strong waters' and 'comfortable waters'.

Sprigit and forcit '(spiggot and faucet) - Primitive form of tap which is made up of a short tube which can be blocked by a separate piece of wood screwed into it from the top' (Sambrook).

Srub See Shrub.

Stalder, stallage Frame for casks in the cellar; same as 'thrall' (Sambrook).

Steuk 'A coopered brewing vessel' (Sambrook).

Stitch A brown ale, 'mentioned in The London and County Brewer of 1744 as having being [sic] of the greatest benefit in incipient consumption'. (Bickerdyke, p.417).

Stillion 'Wooden, stone or brick stand for casks set on their sides, whilst still 'working'; the yeast ran out of the bung hole to collect in the stillion gutter' (Sambrook).

Stingo 'Here's good ole English stingo, mild and stale', Winter's Tale. (See French, p.338).

The Landlord's nickname in She Stoops to Conquer.

Stoppell Stopper, cork, plug ('Tunnyng', l. 404, Kinsman's definition).

Stout A type of beer, 'originally to signify strong or stout beer. This excellent brown beer only differs from Porter in being brewed of greater strength and with a greater proportion of hops.' (Bickerdyke, p.374).

Strickle 'Wooden staff used to clear off the surplus grain or malt from a bushel measure' (Sambrook).

Strike A bushel.

Strom, strun, strum 'A wicker basket used as a strainer in the mash tun' (Sambrook).

Sydenham's... Sydenham's laudanum. Medicinal - '2 oz strained opium, 1 oz saffron, 1 drachm each of cinnamon and cloves in a pint of canary wine'. Very popular late C17, early 18. (Earle, p.304).

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T

Tapwad 'A wicker basket used as a strainer in the mash tun; same as a strum or huckmuck' (Sambrook).

Tavern grate A lattice window signifying an alehouse.

Tewahdiddle 'It consists of a pint of beer, a tablespoonful of brandy, a teaspoonful of brown sugar, a little grated nutmeg or ginger, and a roll of very thinly-cut lemon-peel'. (Bickerdyke, p.389).

Theologicum According to Holinshed, name given to the best wine, because it comes from the clergy (French, p.147).

Thrall 'Frame or stand for casks in the cellar; same as a stallage' (Sambrook).

Three threads Equal mixture of ale, beer, and twopenny. '...a mixture of old-style (unhopped) sweet ale, a lighter (hopped) beer and 'two penny', a strong beer costing two pennies a quart.' Very popular in C18. (Brown, p.92). See 'Entire' and 'Porter'.

Tint Wine, mentioned by Pepys, July 1665.

Tipper 'Real Old Brighton Tipper.' 'An ale owing its name to its original brewer, Thomas Tipper of Brighton.' Martin Chuzzlewit, chapter 19, note 5.

Tire Italian wine.

Toast, toasting Toast was often put on the top of spiced ale. Drinking healths, from C18 onwards, became known as 'toasting'.

Toby Philpot Beer jug.

Toddy 'A drink consisting of whisky or other spirits with hot water and sugar or spices. L18.'

Tokay Hungarian wine, before C17 [?] the only one known.

Tonnell A cask or barrel for ale or wine ('Tunnyng', l. 403, Kinsman's definition).

Trundle 'A large, shallow, coopered tub used for cooling beer' (Sambrook).

Tun 'A large coopered vessel for mashing or fermenting beer; or a closed cask of a specific capacity' (Sambrook).

Tundish 'A coopered funnel' (Sambrook).

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U

Underback 'A coopered or planked or tiled vessel fitting under the mash tun to take the worts as they drain' (Sambrook)

Underbuck See underback.

Underworks 'Brick or stone tower-like support to the copper and firebox' (Sambrook).

Usquebaugh Irish whiskey; from the Gaelic, uisge beatha, water of life.

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V

Vernage A sweet Italian wine.

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W

Wager Jug A jug with many spouts, only one of which can be easily drunk out of. Also called 'Puzzle Jug'. (Bickerdyke, p.401).

Wassail Festival around Christmas time; a drink. Legend has it that it began when Rowena, daughter of Hengist, knelt before Vortigern and offered him a bowl saying "Louerd king ws hil". Vortigern didn't know what it meant, it being explained to him as 'Lord King, your health'. It became custom to reply 'drinc heil'. 'The word wassail, from being used to signify a pledge or greeting, in time came to denote feasting in general, and in the phrase, "wassail-bowl," to con-note the particular liquor, spiced ale, with which the bowl was filled.' (Bickerdyke, p.234).

Weeting 'Used in the process of malting - wetting the barley before germination' (Sambrook).

Whiskey 'Whisky' from countries other than Scotland.

Whisky 'A spirit distilled cheifly in Scotland and Ireland from malted barly, or from barley with maize or rye; a similar spirit distilled chiefly in the US from either rye or maize; a drink of this. E18.' (ShOED)

Working tun 'A fermenting tun' (Sambrook).

Wort 'The liquid run off from the mash tun. After fermentation it is 'beer'. Originally 'wort' was any plant used for herbal purposes, later a herbal infusion' (Sambrook).

Wort ladder 'A frame put over an open vessel to support a sieve' (Sambrook).

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Y

Yard of Ale See 'Ale-Yard'.

Yeast 'Microscopic monocellular plant saccharomyces cerevisiaerelated to fungi. It does not contain chlorophyll, so does not build up energy by photosynthesis, but by absorption of sugar, secreting alcohol and carbon dioxide.' (Sambrook).

Yeste Old name for yeast. Yielding, yelling Also 'yealing'. Fermenting. (Sambrook).

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Sources

Bickerdyke, John. The Curiosities of Ale and Beer. 1889.

Brown, Pete. Man Walks into a Pub. A Sociable History of Beer. London, Macmillan, 2003.

Bushaway, Bob. By Rite: Custom, Ceremony and Community in England 1700-1880. London: Junction Books, 1982.

Dickens, Charles: Barnaby Rudge; A Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty. London: Penguin, 1997. [1841].

--- The Old Curiosity Shop. London: Penguin, 1985. [1841].

--- Oliver Twist [or, the Parish Boy's Progress]. London: Penguin, 1985. [1837-9].

--- The Pickwick Papers.

French, R[ichard] V[alpy]. Nineteen Centuries of Drink in England: A History. Second Edition Enlarged and Revised. London: National Temperance Publication Depot. No date. [1^st edition is 1884].

Goldsmith, Oliver. She Stoops to Conquer.

Kinross, Lord. The Kindred Spirit: A History of Gin and of the House of Booth. L: Newman Neame Ltd, 1959.

Legislation: 28 Henry VIII, c.14 (Statutes at Large).

Sambrook, Pamela. Country House Brewing in England 1500-1900. London: The Hambledon Press, 1996.

Sambrook's own sources are: Randle Holme, The Academy of Armory (London, 1688) Peter McCall, The Brewer's Dictionary (London, 1986) Joseph Wright, English Dialect Dictionary (Oxford, 1961) Oxford English Dictionary.

(The New Shorter) Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993.

The Autobiography of Francis Place (1771-1854). Edited with an introduction and notes by Mary Thrale. London: Cambridge UP, 1972.

Roxburghe Ballads.

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