Jan 11 2010 12:16 pm
X100 history of beer lecture #6: Pre-Industrial England
Turns out it’s been more than a year since I've posted any lectures from X100, the history of beer class that I designed and taught at Indiana University for nine, count them, nine semesters. That's all over now, but I still have these lectures that contain years of my sweat, my tears, and a whole shit-ton of stolen, copywrited images.
When we left the story (lecture #5), we were looking at hopped beer brewing in continental Europe from roughly 1200-1600CE and its spread to England beginning about 1400. I refer to the period in England up until about 1750 as the "pre-industrial period."
In lecture #6, we'll take a closer look at the pre-industrial period in England, how beer was brewed, where it was brewed, who brewed it, the kinds of beer that were brewed, and some of the social and cultural forces that shaped this period in England’s brewing history.
Lecture #6 draws heavily on Pamela Sambrook’s excellent book Country House Brewing in England 1500-1900 (link to Google Books). The English country house brewery is a powerful source for historians of brewing because it was very resistant to change. While common (for-profit) breweries were rapidly “modernizing” through the 1800s and 1900s, the country house brewery putted along happily as if it were still 1695. Sambrook documents many of the extant country house breweries, interviews surviving brewers, and scours brewers’ books, butler logs, and house inventories to produce a vibrant picture of the pre-industrial brewery in England.
In lecture #7 we’ll turn to the practices and beers brewed in the common brewer context during the pre-industrial period.
Oct 21 2008 11:46 am
X100 History of Beer Tuesday: Pre-Industrial Europe
It's been a long time since we did any history of beer and brewing on Tuesday so here is the next lecture. This begins one of my favorite units in the course: pre-industrial brewing in Europe. In this lecture I set the stage by describing the state of brewing in Europe in the late first millennium AD. This draws heavily on work of Richard Unger from his book Beer in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (link to Google books). Then I discuss the rise of hopped beer and the development of hopped beer brewing on the continent and its journey across the channel from the low countries into England in the beginning of the 15th century. Judith Bennett, in her book Ale, Beer, and Brewsters: Women’s Work in a Changing World 1300-1600 (link to Google books), does some very interesting work in tracing hopped beer’s spread into and around England and particularly the effects it had on women in that country. Really cool book. There are some discussion questions in this lecture as well which I then go on to answer later in the lecture.
The course is sort of organized around a couple key technological innovations throughout the history of brewing. The development of hopped beer brewing is one of them. so pay attention. This shit will be on final yo.
Sep 30 2008 9:09 am
X100 History of Beer Tuesday: Early Global Context
OK class, today we're starting in on the real history of beer and brewing. I start with the widest possible context to show when in the "grand scheme of things" fermentation became part of human life. Then I go on to sample early beer styles and brewing techniques and drinking culture from China, near Asia, Africa, and the pre-contact Americas. This is a very quick, and broad overview, but it is a good place to start.
Sep 23 2008 12:08 pm
X100 The Art and Science of Beer- syllabus and lectures 1, 2, and 3
For seven semesters in a row I taught a course at Indiana University on the history of beer and brewing. It was called The Art and Science of Beer: History, Technology, and Culture. My department, the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, gives graduate students the opportunity to design and teach their own courses. Turns out there has been some very good work done in the history of brewing science so I thought, why not? I didn't think it would be as popular as it was. My class was full every semester. The students were oftentimes expecting a "blow-off" class and the seniors looking for an easy 100 level course to get their last few credits were sometimes frustrated that it was a real history class.
Alas, I'm not teaching it any more. My department has already extended my funding once and has other, younger graduate students to fund. So they cut me off (if you're thinking HPS departments are well funded you're wrong). Luckily the Philosophy Department picked me up this semester. Not sure what I'll do in the Spring.
Anyone want to give me a job?
I worked hard on designing and modifying my beer course over the three years I taught it and I don't want it to languish on my hard drive. So I thought I'd put my lecture notes up here for people that may be interested in the history of beer and brewing. I'd love to get feedback as well as I hope to teach the course again some day.
My lectures were all Powerpoint based. The Powerpoints are just outlines, but I think they are still worth something on their own.
Below you'll find links to the syllabus and the first three lectures. Lectures #1 and #2 are an overview of beer and the brewing process from a modern standpoint. Historians may say it is presentist or Whiggish to start this way, but you need to have a common vocabulary with the students and it is just a 100 level class so historiographical issues kind of take a back seat to content. Lecture #3 is about drinking on college campuses and is the token "responsibility" lecture I thought I should provide given the student's context. Lecture #4 really starts the history portion of the class and I'll post it next Tuesday.
All lectures I post here will be from this past summer session. Thus there are fewer and more condensed lectures than in a normal semester's class.
So study hard class and get ready for next Tuesday's lesson on the global context of early beer and brewing.
Lecture #1 and #2: beer and the brewing process
The readings for lecture #3:
Why the drinking age should be lowered