Medieval European Beer & Brewing

Shortly before the turning of the first millennium in Europe, the province of beer brewing, along with that of baking bread, shifted away from being the "woman's work" that it had always been in Christendom and came to be taken up by the monks in the monasteries.

The monks were highly concerned with making beer due to the fact that they wanted a good-tasting and nutritional drink to serve with their frugal meals, especially during periods when they were "afflicting the soul" (deliberately going without eating any food).

As the consumption of liquids was not considered as food per se, the drinking of beer was permitted. The consumption of beer in the monasteries, in fact, reached astounding levels (each monk was permitted five liters of beer per day!).

There was during this period and immediately after a saying, concerning people who routinely were in their cups, "he drinks like a Templar", a reference to the astounding amount of beer (and wine) that the legendary "warrior monks" could put away.

After paying a fee, the monks received the right to sell beer. Subsequently, many monasteries developed into well-managed commercial enterprises, purveying beer in monastery pubs.

Due to the fact that through practice the monks had become quite expert brewmeisters, their beer was of high quality and popular.

The people of the burgeoning towns also wanted their beer with the result that the art of brewing developed and became a respected trade.

In the 15th Century on Continental Europe, there was developed the standard of the Flavorings License. The flavoring license was similar to a patent, permitting a brewery to produce its own flavoring mixture, and it became the legal basis for every brewery, ensuring a monopoly position for the respective brewmeister.

With the advent of hops as a flavoring, grut, which was a dense herbal mixture used to flavor beer, was no longer necessary.

Consequently, the monopoly hold of the breweries became endangered. For this reason, the use of hops was often ruthlessly forbidden. Juniper berries, sweet gale, blackthorn, oak bark, wormwood, caraway seed, aniseed, bay leaves, yarrow, thorn apple, gentian, rosemary, tansy, Saint-John's-wort, spruce chips, pine roots, and most commonly henbane found their way into these grut mixtures.

Not only were many of these herbs hallucinogens, some of them were actually poisonous. Thus much superstition surrounded the brewing of beer at this time.