There is far too little written about beer history that isn’t German White Male heavy. Thankfully that imbalance is reduced now with the upcoming release of Filthy Queens: A History of Beer in Ireland by Dr. Christina Wade.
Here is a little about this book:
“You’ll find an 18th-century courtesan who had a wicked streak of beer snobbery and early medieval monks who wrote beer reviews so terrible, any Untappd fan would feel right at home.
There will be beer tastings, parties, music and wakes.
You’ll meet thieves and murderers, saints and goddesses.
You’ll hear stories of kings and paupers, witches and bishops, Irish, English and Vikings from the Late Iron Age all the way up to the early 20th century.
Time to dig into some ancient beer history with Tate Paulette and his new book, In the Land of Ninkasi.
First off, Paulette seems to be a big beer fan so this book already is a step ahead of most academic inclined books where the author doesn’t seem excited about the topic or is tamping down excitement to remain scholarly.
Second, he is very clear about what can and cannot be guessed at when it comes to archaeology. Claims are made but they are backed up by evidence and when that evidence is too slight or flimsy, Paulette will say so.
With that housekeeping out of the way, In the Land of Ninkasi covers beer and brewing in Mesopotamia in ancient times. From where it was brewed and by whom. What is was brewed with. How it was brewed, all the way to who drank it and why. Each step is backed up with evidence and if there is an alternative thesis, he brings that up as well.
Paulette also isn’t afraid to be challenging to our normal thought process. An example being the Minimalist Trap. From our perch in 2024, we cannot assume that we are at the pinnacle of how to brew. We may be but that does not mean that Ancient Mesopotamian brewing wasn’t complex too. There were purpose built brewing areas and specialized equipment back then too.
Another interesting aspect is that the records we have from that time are basically inventories and sales slips. It can be hard to say what a day in the life of a brewer was when it is all just so much zeroes and ones.
Before you think this book is about literal dust and dry facts, the Epic of Gilgamesh is also wove into this tale and one part that I did not remember is about Shiduri, the tavern keeper at the end of the world. How cool that an epic warrior seeks help from a bar owner.
This book is academic in parts as well and those do make the reading drag a bit. There are instances of explaining the different languages and what the words translate to for our times and there is some inside baseball as well that glazed my eyes a bit but overall, this history opened my eyes as to how this time in beer will be remembered hundreds and thousands of years from now.
It is from the publishing arm of CAMRA and is described as a “new groundbreaking book that delves into the history of women in brewing, explaining the real reasons why women brewers became marginalised, while also debunking some tired old myths along the way.”
Since I am a beer history fan, you know I will be ordering this one.
I want to bring a documentary to your attention about an English brewery, Gale & Co. in the town of Horndean.
From the start, I was worries about how this was going to end but, thankfully, there is a bittersweet ending that gave me hope about how brewing and people history can be honored at least a bit.
Over-the-Rhine or the OTR is probably not known much past the city limits of Cincinnati but for a period of time in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was the Portland or San Diego of its craft beer day.
Michael Morgan starts and ends the book with a bit of archaeology as a street is surreptitiously dug up to find lagering caverns (felsens) that had been used by Cincinnati brewers to keep their beers chilled. And throughout the rest of the book, Morgan digs up a lot history including the small possibility that lager was a Mid-West invention as much as a German one.
German immigrants being the connector as they arrived in the OTR in a couple of waves that created a bustling brewery, beer garden and saloon trade. The latter being the example used most often by temperance campaigners as the font of all America’s ailments.
What sets this history apart is that Morgan delves into the thorny issues of anti-immigrants, machine politics and riots with an even tone. Of course many Cincinnati and Ohio natives do not come off well and Morgan is quick to compare current to past without losing the thread of the narrative.
There is not a lot of brewing talk in the pages, as with many histories the actual brewers and the ingredients and processes used are not brought up as the bulk of it is about the men with their names on the side of the brewery.
After reading this history, I did feel that it would be great to have one for each major brewing city.
This post isn’t sponsored by the Pumpkin Beer Alliance, but beer is pulled into history at many points, some of them not good.
The below video is labeled as the Dark History of Oktoberfest but I would say it is more bad shit that happened in history in Munich whilst Oktoberfest was happening.
Ron Pattinson if the Shut Up About Barclay Perkins blog has been amassing a history of brewing in the United Kingdom and his latest chunk of the timeline has been released ( find it HERE ) .
Blitzkrieg! covers the World War II years and along the other three books: Armistice!, Peace! and Austerity!. The years 1914 to 1973 are now accounted for.
Blitzkrieg! is in two parts, according to Pattinson, “the first volume cover all the fun history bits: brewing materials, techniques and equipment. Along with beer styles and background information about taxation, pubs and brewing restrictions.” The second volume has the recipes along with more brewery information.
The next book is in the pipeline, Free!, covers the years from 1880 to 1914.
Do you know who the owner of the first black owned brewery was? I didn’t. But if you read Clint Lanier’s book about Ted Mack and Peoples Brewing like I plan to, then we will both learn some beer history.
Here is a teaser of the story:
“Born a sharecropper in rural Alabama in 1930, Theodore A. (Ted) Mack, Sr., fought in the Korean War and then played football at Ohio State while earning a college degree. Brewing and selling beer, he believed, would be just another peak to attain. After all, it couldn’t be more challenging than his experience in organizing buses to the March on Washington or picketing segregated schools in Milwaukee. This is the story of Mack’s purchase of Peoples Brewing Company in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Though he had carefully planned for the historic acquisition, he underestimated the subtle bigotry of Middle America, the corruption of the beer industry, and the failures of the federal government that plagued his ownership. Mack’s ownership of Peoples Brewing is an inspirational story of Black entrepreneurship, innovation and pride at a time when America was at an important racial justice crossroads.”
Strangely, this book is in paperback at a first edition hard cover price, so Kindle may be the way to go. But I would suggest plumping for the actual book at a smaller local bookstore if you can.
