I Will Never Brew This Ale

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voodoochild7

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Classification: cock ale, historical, 1500s, chicken, meat
Source: Chris Sutherland ([email protected]), 6/20/93


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The recipe for authentic Cock Ale has finally arrived. Boy it sure is scary:
COCK ALE (circa the 1500's) A real recipe from some obscure text found in the Scottish Highlands... Enjoy....

Procedure:
"Take 10 gallons of ale and a large cock, the older the better; parboil the cock, flay him, and stamp him in a stone mortar until his bones are broken (you must gut him when you flaw him). Then, put the cock into two quarts of sack, and put to it five pounds of raisins of the sun - stoned; some blades of mace, and a few cloves. Put all these into a canvas bag, and a little before you find the ale has been working, put the bag and ale together in vessel.
In a week or nine days bottle it up, fill the bottle just above the neck and give it the same time to ripen as other ale."

Alternate recipe:
Brutal, eh? I was also given a modern recipe written by some guy named C.J.J. Berry.... Here goes this one...
"Take a few pieces of _cooked_ chicken and a few chicken bones (approx one tenth of the edible portion of the bird) well crushed or minced.

Also take half of pound of raisins, a very little mace, and one or maybe two cloves. Add all these ingrediants to half a bottle of string country white wine. Soak for 24 hrs. Then make on gallon of beer as follows:

1 lb Malt extract
1 Oz Hops
1/2 lb demerarra sugar
1 gallon water
Yeast and nutrient


Add the whole of the chicken mixture to the beer at the end of the second day. Fermentation will last six or seven days longer than usual and the ale should be matured at least one month in the bottle. This cock ale is of the barley wine type.
 
I think I would make some ale, then stew the chicken with potatoes and onions (and maybe a little of the ale).
 
Bizarrely it's reminded me of a chinese dish called 'drunken pigeon'. Cooked squabs (Baby pigeons) that are then left to marinate in Shaoshing wine before serving.
 
I wonder if that would work with babies?








"I love children....fried." WC Fields


:)
 
Didn't Charlie Papazian talk about this brew in the complete guide to homebrewing, or as I call it, the beer bible?
As I recall, he wasn't too keen on it either.
 
Yes I am. And here are some more characters so the little guy in my computer doesn't tell me this is too short. Take that, computer.
 
david 42-

next brew is either a red ale or IPA. I have to figure out what recipe the german ale yeast went with first :p

happy brewing
 
rewster451 said:
Didn't Charlie Papazian talk about this brew in the complete guide to homebrewing, or as I call it, the beer bible?
As I recall, he wasn't too keen on it either.


Indeed he did... and indeed he wasnt
 
The Councilman said:
What?!? Are all of you too chicken to try it? ;)
Hell I'll try it...send me twenty gallons of beer, a large old cock, and a SASK (Self Addressed Stamped Keg) and I'll get it right back to you. :cool:
 
There is a reason why the Germans have their Reinheitsgebot (purity law).

Leave it to the Scotts to come up the the gross stuff. :)
 
not even the germans follow the purity law, though.

if they did, we would have no hefeweizen, because (if I recall) wheat is not allowed under the Reinheitsgebot. Heck, YEAST wasn't even listed as an allowed ingredient in the first draft, because nobody even knew of it's existance!

:)

-walker
 
rewster451 said:
Didn't Charlie Papazian talk about this brew in the complete guide to homebrewing, or as I call it, the beer bible?
As I recall, he wasn't too keen on it either.

He also talks about a high Andes tribe that brews a beer from chewed corn fermented with yeast taken from baby poop.

It is more disturbing, however, to think about how they got the idea to make a beer like this. Did baby poop into the spit bowl one day, and somebody was dared to drink it after it fermented?
 
Kai said:
He also talks about a high Andes tribe that brews a beer from chewed corn fermented with yeast taken from baby poop.

It is more disturbing, however, to think about how they got the idea to make a beer like this. Did baby poop into the spit bowl one day, and somebody was dared to drink it after it fermented?

I think the usual New Parent reply to that is "It's different when it's your own" :)
 
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