Wine, ale and other drinks

Whether one wants to attribute the fact to the philosophy of humours or bacteriological savvy, medieval people rarely drank water if offered a choice. Predictably cold and moist in terms of humours, water was considered detrimental to the humours a balanced diet was supposed to promote. Also, while the connection between water spoilage and using streams for waste disposal was not understood, the problem itself was. Whether to avoid bad humours or tainted drink, water was largely scorned. Even for cooking it was recommended that water be drawn from a spring. Milk was likewise disdained as a drink for children, sick people, and the elderly.

For those who could afford it, wine was the drink of choice. The knowledgeable praised its warm and dry qualities, and recommended it over beer and ale, which were however ranked as preferable to water. The wine found at English tables was imported from France; initially from the Rhone area, but as tensions grew with the onset of the Hundred Years War, trade shifted to favour the Bordeaux area. At the table wine was frequently served watered, mulled or spiced. In comparison to their modern counterparts, medieval wines fare badly; their quality was far inferior, largely due to poor preservation methods. However, their alcohol content - only 5%, approximately on par with today's beer - was sufficient to ensure that wine was among the safer, though not necessarily tastier drinks (Scully).

While the common man may occasionally have been able to afford a touch of wine, his usual drink was beer or ale. The distinction between the two was marked by the inclusion or exclusion of hops in the brew. Though the English originally preferred hops-free ale, continental influences steadily increased the consumption of beer, much to the dismay of certain contemporaries who decried beer as "a drink suitable for Dutchmen". Mead, favoured in Scandinavian and German societies, was known but not popular. Cider and perry were also made from apples and pears respectively; Mennell states that this industry probably consumed much of the crop. The resulting product was consumed both fermented and unfermented, and once bottling came about in the late 15th century, sugar could be added before sealing the bottle to make the drink frothy.

Distillation as a process was understood in antiquity, but did not come into active use in drink-making until the 14th century. Legend has it that cognac was invented by an attempt to cut down shipping costs for wine by removing some of the water; true or not, the new product quickly found a market unadulterated. Even better fared experiments managing to produce more or less pure alcohol; aqua vitae and aqua ardens (alcohol distilled once or repeatedly) quickly became popular as a drink, a medicinal base and as a means of producing singularly flamboyant centre pieces. Records indicate cotton soaked in aqua ardens being used on several occasions to produce a fire breathing roasts ranging from boars to swans. (Scully 159-165)