Daily entries from the 17th century London diary
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Annotations
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Difference between Ale and Beer:
Officially beer is hopped and ale isn’t, but that distinction isn’t strictly observed. Hops preserve beer, as well as giving it its bitter flavour. Kent is the region of England famed for its hops, but Pepys talks of Margate (in Kent) ale as though it is famous, so the difference seems already to have been lost by 1660. (why brew a hopless ale in a hop growing region?)
Nowadays ale is used to refer to top fermented bitter (British) beers, as compared to bottom fermented lager (American, German, Australian, etc.) beers. That meaning would not have been valid in Pepys’ time as true lagers only appeared in the 19th century -
“Hour for lunch for the working man”
1604-10 ‘Legislation in 1604 specifically permitted labourers and handicraftsmen to stop work for an hour at dinner time “to take their diet in an alehouse. In 1606-7 there were acts against drunkenness and against brewers selling to unlicensed tipplers, with further regulation in 1610.’ Mainly tinkering with the 1552 Act. (Clark, p.172)
1618 James I. Sunday hours 1st legislated - ‘closure of alehouses during the hours of divine services’ (Barr, p.148). from http://www.shu.ac.uk/schools/cs/teaching/sle/Book/dates.htm
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Difference between Ale and Beer:
This is one of those vexing philological questions. There was a period during which a hopped brew would be called ‘beer’, but this was because the idea of hopping came from Germany. ‘Beer’ is German, ‘ale’, English. This was not the definition of the word, however, simply a common referent. The two words are basically synonymous, like ‘garbanzos’ and ‘chickpeas’. -
“Home-made drinks of England are beer and ale, strong and small; those of most note, that are to be sold, are Lambeth ale, Margaret ale, and Derby ale; Herefordshire cider, perry, mede. There are also several sorts of compounded ales, as cock-ale, wormwood-ale, lemon-ale, scurvygrass-ale, college-ale, &c. These are to be had at Hercules Pillars, near the Temple; at the Trumpet, and other houses in Sheer Lane, Bell Alley, and, as I remember, at the English Tavern, near Charing Cross”
From “Life of John Locke”, 1679
see http://www.gutenberg.net/1/1/2/3/11233/11233-h/11233-h.htm
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Epsum ale and Spruce beer.
“At the “Angel and Sun,” in the Strand, near Strand Bridge, is to be sold every day, fresh Epsum-water, Barnet-water, and Tunbridge-water; Epsumale, and Spruce-beer’—1664.”
Curious advertisements, the Book of Days.
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OED:Forms: 1 alu (WS. ealu, ealo), 2- ale (5 aale, aylle, 5-6 alle, Sc. 6-7 ail, aill; in mod. dial. yale, yall, yaäle, yell, yill).
1. An intoxicating liquor made from an infusion of malt by fermentation. Various ingredients have at various times been added to impart flavour; at present hops or other bitters are in use.
Ale and beer seem originally to have been synonymous. The Alvismál says ‘öl heitir me Ásum bjórr,’ it is called ‘ale’ among men, and among the gods ‘beer.’ After the introduction into England of ‘the wicked weed called hops’ (Retn. to Edw. VI’s Parlt.) c 1524, ‘beer’ was commonly hopped; at present ‘beer’ is in the trade the generic name for all malt liquors, ‘ale’ being specifically applied to the paler coloured kinds, the malt for which has not been roasted or burnt; but the popular application of the two words varies in different localities.
first entree.: 940 Sax. Leechd. II. 268 Do healfne bollan ealo ehæte ALT={th}” æt ealu.
ale-barrel, a barrel for ale, a measure of 36 (formerly 32) gallons
Also ale be mixed with other major Ingredeints like Cock-Ale [Chicken broth] see feb 5th 06
References in the diary
- 1660
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Jan: 2
Mar: 18
Apr: 30
May: 7
Aug: 27
Sep: 13
Oct: 4, 26
Nov: 4, 8, 20, 23
- 1661
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Jan: 1, 2, 4, 18, 19, 23
Feb: 12
Mar: 4, 7, 28
Apr: 23
May: 30
Jun: 8, 10, 12
Jul: 20
Oct: 4, 21
Dec: 26
- 1662
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Feb: 14, 16
Mar: 8
May: 29
Sep: 14
Oct: 11, 27
Dec: 26
- 1663
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Jan: 5
Apr: 27
Jun: 12, 13
Oct: 12
Nov: 17
- 1664
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Feb: 4
Mar: 27
Apr: 8
Jul: 1
- 1665
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Sep: 15
- 1666
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Feb: 24