Fermented malt liquors had been native to the British Isles since primeval times. In Roman times the shopping lists of the garrison document that beer was an important constituent of the legion’s diet.
Historically, the term ale referred to a drink brewed without hops. In 500 AD the Angles and Saxons started arriving in Britain to conquer and settle. Their social life revolved around beer halls and ale houses. In the eighth and ninth centuries different types of malt liquors were already in common use: clear ale, mild ale and Welsh ale, the latter probably being an originally Celtic drink made from ale and honey.
In England in the Middle Ages, ale was a drink made from malted grains, water, and fermented with yeast. Malted grain would be crushed; boiling water would be added and the mixture allowed to work; later the liquid was drained off, cooled and fermented. The ale might have been spiced, but it would not have had hops as an ingredient.
At the end of the fourteenth century their trading partners from the Low Countries confronted the Englishmen with hopped beer. Up to then, ale was the characteristic British drink of the time.
Popular in England, where the term is now synonymous with beer, ale was until the late 17th century an unhopped brew of yeast, water, and malt, beer being the same brew with hops added.
During the late 15th century English ale and beer were brewed separately because no brewer was allowed to produce both at the same time. By the 16th century, ale had come to refer to any strong beer and all ales and beers contained hops.
In 1522 the licensing of alehouses was made mandatory by law in England. The census of 1577 lists 14 202 alehouses, 1631 inns and 329 taverns (which sold wine in addition to ale) – one license per 183 people.
In early 1900s, the first English brown ales appeared. It is beer style with a dark amber or brown color. Brown ales were lightly hopped and brewed from 100% brown malt.
History of ale brewing
