Beer in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance

11. Types of Beer and Their International Exchange

Chapter  Types of Beer and Their International Exchange Over the course of the sixteenth century, the number of beer types increased and the number of names multiplied. Brewers, in response to rising grain prices, lowered the quality of many beers. As a result there were rising complaints about beer being thin, and not just in north German towns like Wismar.1 Brewers also introduced higher-quality beers to replace those that were deteriorating. The adjustments in quality created more kinds of beer with an ever greater variety of names. The various designations do suggest some trends in the development of Renaissance brewing. The great number of names reflect extensive government regulation of all aspects of the brewer’s trade. The more precise names and fixed distinguishing features for beer types made it easier for towns and counties to tax properly, so governments as much as, or more than, brewers promoted the use of different classifications. Typically in the sixteenth century urban governments tried to promote some accuracy in the production and the naming of beers. In the process those governments created confusion since there was no guarantee of uniformity from town to town or over time in the same town. Some names were unique to certain towns or districts, others enjoyed widespread use but the meaning of a name could and often did vary. The names given beers were not always informative. At Aalborg in Denmark , for example, in , Danish beer was divided into two categories: ordinary beer and worse-than-ordinary beer. Fortunately many names were more precise than that. Distinctions were made, among other things, on the basis of the additives used, the color, the time of year or day the beer was made, the intended customers, the price of the beer, the strength of the beer, the thickness or thinness of the beer, or the origin of the beer. Color, which depended on the heating of the malt, ran from black to white, brown, yellow, and, many times, red. Another method of differentiation was according to the grains used, the combination giving beer a unique hue and taste. At Nuremberg from  brewers produced something called weiss beer or clear beer, made with wheat; it also got the name Dutch beer. The distinction and name lasted into International Exchange  the eighteenth century. Distinction by price, oddly enough, was uncommon until the sixteenth century.2 Before , the variety of names suggests that strength was a relatively unimportant criterion for distinguishing beers. Often it was origin that mattered. Beers from farther away were considered superior and not just because of the higher prices which reflected transportation costs. Stronger beers traveled better and their higher alcohol content also gave them prestige. Consuming them was something of a status symbol.3 In the sixteenth century under various names there were, in general, three types of beer: expensive and of high quality, cheap and thin, and another somewhere in between the other two.4 Whether the beer came from the first mashing, the second, or possibly the third or the fourth deeply affected strength, value, and, presumably, the name brewers and drinkers gave the beer. Nuremberg offers an example of what often happened. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries there were three types: earlier, middle, and later beer. The distinction depended on when in the mashing process the wort was made. In addition there was a seasonal summer beer. It was lighter than its winter counterpart , with less grain used to make each barrel. It was also boiled longer. By the seventeenth century the special summer beer had disappeared, leaving the standard three types.5 The Names Towns did what they could to maintain the fame of specific beers. Attaching a certain name could, in some cases, do the trick. Hamburg used terms like rotbier , matber, and langbier for the highest quality export beers. Names such as convent beer, mol, knol, porter, and uytset (that is export) also turned up. Very strong beers made for export were sometimes mixed with spices to make a festive drink intended for a wealthy clientele and then given an appropriate name. Kermisbier, though not necessarily for export, was a seasonal beer presumably made with some spices to add flavor and produced for celebrations before Ash Wednesday. In the southern Low Countries names like geuse, lambic , and faro appeared now and then. Lambic may have been a general term for the strong beer introduced in the fifteenth century and mais a term for small beer, with faro being...