Strange Brew

This from Kenneth Walsh

The tall hats associated with witches can be traced back to ale wives, the ladies who back in the day used to dominate the brewing profession. They wore the tall hats so their stalls in the marketplaces could be easily found.

Women Dominated Beer Brewing Until They Were Accused of Being Witches

Tim adds:

I didn't know Nancy Pelosi used to brew beer!

From the article:

So if you traveled back in time to the Middle Ages or the Renaissance and went to a market in England, you’d probably see an oddly familiar sight: women wearing tall, pointy hats. In many instances, they’d be standing in front of big cauldrons.

But these women were no witches; they were brewers.

They wore the tall, pointy hats so that their customers could see them in the crowded marketplace. They transported their brew in cauldrons. And those who sold their beer out of stores had cats not as demon familiars, but to keep mice away from the grain. Some argue that iconography we associate with witches, from the pointy hat to the cauldron, originated from women working as master brewers.

Just as women were establishing their foothold in the beer markets of England, Ireland and the rest of Europe, the Reformation began. The fundamentalist religious movement, which originated in the early 16th century, preached stricter gender norms and condemned witchcraft.

Male brewers saw an opportunity. To reduce their competition in the beer trade, these men accused female brewers of being witches and using their cauldrons to brew up magic potions instead of booze.

Unfortunately, the rumors took hold.

Over time, it became more dangerous for women to practice brewing and sell beer because they could be misidentified as witches. At the time, being accused of witchcraft wasn’t just a social faux pas; it could result in prosecution or a death sentence. Women accused of witchcraft were often ostracized in their communities, imprisoned or even killed.

Some men didn’t really believe that the women brewers were witches. However, many did believe that women shouldn’t be spending their time making beer. The process took time and dedication: hours to prepare the ale, sweep the floors clean and lift heavy bundles of rye and grain. If women couldn’t brew ale, they would have significantly more time at home to raise their children. In the 1500s some towns, such as Chester, England, actually made it illegal for most women to sell beer, worried that young alewives would grow up into old spinsters.

Actually, there have always been brewsters - female brewers - and in fact most housewives brewed beer for their hubbies prior to the nineteenth century. There weren't a lot of commercial women brewers because, well, women had enough to do in an agricultural society without having to make booze. And women have never been especially happy about making liquor for drunken males. I imagine that was true at the time of the Reformation as well as now. Also, many of the newer Protestant sects were against drinking alcohol.


And there was always the danger of a guy getting transformed into a newt. But he got better.

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 12:51 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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