Beers of the Middle Ages..?

Just curious, did anybody find a good read on the beers brewed, say, from the Middle Ages to the end of 19th century?

I seem to recall reading that 1600's English beer was a dark, strong affair, strength being required to prevent spoilage. (correct?)

Any scholars or history buffs to chime in?

- j

All i've heard was that it tasted pretty bad...
remember, access to hops was limited and unless just picked I'd think they lost a lot of flavor.

also, beer then was drunk with straws. You wouldn't want to drink off the top as it had floating grain pieces and hops...

"Brown Ale" Classic Beer Style series has a modest history of brewing. Anything before about 1700 would be on the order of "2 quarters of malt, 2 quarters of wheat and 2 of oats, add to boiling water from a height of 3 feet"

Hops are a relatively new innovation... only since the advent of the industrial age has the hop been the preferred bittering agent. For most of the middle ages people drank Gruit (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gruit)

Germans started playing with Hops around the 11th century or so, but from what I have read, Gruit and spice beers were the mainstay until the Protestant Reformation encouraged Hosp beers to counteract the Church's monopoly on the Gruit market.

I got this one for free when I joined the AHA and it has been a very interesting read:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0937381667/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I think a Scottish ale bittered with Heather would be something in that style range.

Radical Brewing by Randy Mosher has lots of recipes for historical beers:

Gruit, Heather Ale, Sahti...tons of stuff.

I'm looking at it now...there's a recipe for Devon White Ale which mentions that it may have been brewed as early as the reign of Henry VIII (16th Century)...it contains pilsener malt, wheat flour, egg whites, salt, bread yeast, coriander, ginger and caraway. Doesn't sound like the best beer in the world, but I say go for it.

I'm definitely going to try out the Gotlandrdricka (Viking Beer)

Most of these recipes, of course, are his renditions of the style...some of these actual recipes have been lost for centuries and need to be pieced together. It's a great book, tho, with some wonderful information on history, equipment, you name it.

Check it out