28th June 2010, 01:49 PM
deadlylampshade Wrote:Steady on Hosty...you're mixing your fonts there...
"small beer"...is there such a thing as a small beer??? Mines always a pint!:face-stir:
Small beer was an historical phenomenon - my understanding of the process was that you brewed normal beer, then boiled the mash again to get a weaker wort which would still ferment and that made "small beer", weaker than normal and drunk as a staple clean drink (boiled water and all that). Drink was part of agricultural wages for some jobs - so hot and heavy work would be "6d a day, plus bread and cheese and a gallon of small beer" or some similar arrangement.