Greg DoscherDec 20, 2022
Sheril Kirshenbaum

For thousands of years, fermenting beer was considered a household task for #women.

By the Middle Ages, some sold beer at English markets. Female brewers wore tall, pointy hats to be easily spotted. They stood by cauldrons & often had cats to keep mice away.

Sound familiar? It should.

You see, when male brewers felt threatened, they accused the women of witchcraft. These rumors may have led to some witch iconography we still recognize today.

https://theconversation.com/women-used-to-dominate-the-beer-industry-until-the-witch-accusations-started-pouring-in-155940 #history #HistoryRemix

Women used to dominate the beer industry – until the witch accusations started pouring in

Today, beer is marketed to men and the industry is run by men. It wasn’t always that way.

The Conversation
Dec 20, 2022 at 11:19amWeb
Show threadMrsMigginsDec 20, 2022
@Sheril they were known as ale wives...
Show threadasymetricjockeyDec 20, 2022
@Sarahadapt @Sheril @bobjmsn Is that true? Or an ale wives tale? 😆
Show threadrimboDec 20, 2022
@asymetricjockey @Sarahadapt @Sheril @bobjmsn It's almost entirely fiction. https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/c8nkep/were_female_brewers_persecuted_as_witches_in_the/esojmzu/
Were female brewers persecuted as witches in the European middle ages?

[I just read an article that makes the case for this](https://bigthink.com/scotty-hendricks/the-dark-history-of-women-witches-and-beer), and I...

reddit
Show threadMute Dog BrewingDec 20, 2022
@rimbo @asymetricjockey @Sarahadapt @Sheril @bobjmsn yeah, this idea has been pretty thoroughly debunked; weird that it keeps on popping up.
Show threadonlydaveDec 20, 2022
@Sheril witches Brew?
Show threadStephanie en ChileDec 20, 2022
@Sheril what about brooms?! They must have had brooms! 🧹
Show threadVAWeismanDec 20, 2022
@StephduChili @Sheril For sweeping up grain.
Show threadStephanie en ChileDec 20, 2022
@vaweisman @Sheril obviously! 😏
Show threadSean Jones KCDec 20, 2022
@Sheril I’ve always lived the word alewife
Show threadTurd BlossomDec 20, 2022
@Sheril Adding this to list of things I wish I had known, but do now.
Show threadCherylBlueWaveDec 20, 2022

@Sheril

That's an interesting video. I didn't know women fermented beer.

I'd thought monks in some monasteries made beer.

The accusations men made against women is also a tragic reminder of the horrors caused by misogyny.

The women who sold beer at the market not only lost their livelihood, but having been accused of witchcraft were condemned to death.

#Misogyny

Show threadSusaFeb 12, 2023

@CherylBlueWave
I read that in ancient Egypt, where beer was supposed to be invented, it was also a task of women to brew it. Unfortunately I have no sources to back this thing I heard up.
@Sheril

#misogyny

Show threadAlisterDec 20, 2022
@Sheril this history shits me so much. I wonder the amazing brewing culture we could have had if some thin skinned blokes hadn’t felt threatened by female brewers. I’m grateful to know so many amazing female brewers and beer industry professionals and grateful that the modern industry, while still not great, is at least slowly improving and is less of a sausage fest
Show threadBierFrau♀️♀️Dec 20, 2022
@Sheril while some of this is true, the portrayal of witches with pointy hats didn't show up until ~17C, long after brewing had been taken over by men. In medieval times, witches were more portrayed as naked and doing orgies with demons.
Show threadJohn Mark  ☑️Dec 20, 2022
@TheBierFrau @Sheril so... where do I sign up?
Show threadAcculation IncDec 21, 2022

@TheBierFrau @Sheril Agree many alternate explanations of these common items, although this is a good story.

For example, one explanation for the pointy "old crone's hat" goes back to the "Berlin Golden Hat" circa 1400 BC Europe, a type of encoded calendar worn by a 'wise old Time Lord" with a "magical" knowledge to decipher the calendar, vital in that ag society.

https://www.thiscityknows.com/golden-hats-europes-mysterious-bronze-age-artifacts/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_hat

'Course pointy hats were just common garb at one point (eg Puritans).

Golden hats: Europe’s mysterious Bronze Age artifacts

The Golden hats are rare Bronze Age artifacts that have been puzzling archaeologists and other experts for decades.

This City Knows
Show threadStien HeremansDec 21, 2022
@TheBierFrau @Sheril that's probably when the association caused by systematically protraying brewers as witches took hold in broader society
Show threadBierFrau♀️♀️Dec 21, 2022
@geostien @Sheril I suspect it's another one of those "just so" stories that plagues popular history. It sounds like it fits and gets spread around by multiple magazines and blogs all quoting each other, but the actual evidence for it is nonexistent.
Show threadGeri ™Dec 20, 2022

@Sheril

In medieval times, The church, controlled women by condemning and burning those who were in any way ‘different.’

Progressive and liberated women, well these were the witches weren’t they?

Show threadIris Richardson Fine Art 🇩🇪🇺🇸📷Dec 20, 2022
@Geri @Sheril You are so right and now they are starting the witch hunt again.
Show threadGeri ™Dec 20, 2022

@irisRichardson @Sheril

in medieval times
women were considered to be nothing more than a botched
version of the male. They said that we suffer from reproductive
narcissism, dependency and sexual timidity and they debased us
then with such words as promiscuity, which is both a female and a
non-female expression and thereby achieves nothing other than
keeping us in our place.

Show threadJuliDec 20, 2022
@Sheril that’s so interesting! Thank you for sharing!
Show threadBathysaurus FeroxDec 20, 2022
@Sheril These brewer women had widely varied formulas using all kinds of field herbs as bitters to prevent spoilage. Soporific hops were introduced by the church so that the whole herbal "superfun sexy time" or "trippin balls and sacking the next village" thing would quit happening
Show threadSusaFeb 12, 2023
@sciencecrank
Can you provide some sources for this? I would love to read more about that.
@Sheril
Show threadBathysaurus FeroxFeb 12, 2023

@suvidu @Sheril
In the chapter on Psychotropic and Highly Inebriating Beers, in particular pages 169-174...

Harrod Buhner, Stephen. Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers: The Secrets of Ancient Fermentation. Siris Books, 1998.

Show threadSusaFeb 12, 2023
@sciencecrank
Thank you :-)
@Sheril
Show threadChris AdamsDec 20, 2022
@Sheril this is the best historical fact I’ll learn all day! Thanks for sharing.
Show threadsuperkill3✔️Dec 20, 2022
@Sheril what you speak is heresy's haha jk they were known as Brewster's a very interesting topic.
Show threadEeeee WooooDec 20, 2022
@Sheril the hashtag #beer may help people find this post. #witches too.
Show threadDan Morgan Dec 20, 2022
@Sheril Soooo “Witches’ Brew” is a literal thing?
Show threadDerek BraudersDec 20, 2022
@Sheril is this of interest to @Braciatrix ?
Show threadMaryDec 20, 2022
@Sheril interesting info
Show threadBasilDec 20, 2022
@Sheril fascinating stuff.
My wife is producing a podcast that may be of interest, looking into the witch trials that occurred in the north of England in the 1600s.
https://anchor.fm/the-newcastle-witches
The Newcastle Witches • A podcast on Anchor

A podcast about the Newcastle Witch Trials of 1649, which caused the death of 16 people in 1650. We are on a journey to uncover how these murders took place and investigate what caused people to hunt and murder others in the name of Witchcraft.

Anchor
Show threadBert LatamoreDec 20, 2022
@Sheril A very interesting discussion. The theory that men used the accusation of witchcraft to get rid of inconvenient women is pretty well accepted in academia today. This is the first time I have heard a theory connecting witchcraft specifically with beer brewing. It is certainly easy to believe, but if you can cite any specific material supporting this theory I would like to see it.
Show threadEirikDec 20, 2022
@Sheril wow I never knew that. I’m struck by the similarity to the history of women in the computer programming profession and wishing that these things were more widely taught/known. Thanks very much for sharing that.
Show threadWinter Jo   ❄️Dec 20, 2022
@Sheril holy shit, what
Show threadEloy.Dec 20, 2022
@ShadowJonathan @Sheril Hmm, this scholar specialized in it seems to disagree https://braciatrix.com/2017/10/27/nope-medieval-alewives-arent-the-archetype-for-the-modern-pop-culture-witch/
Nope, Medieval Alewives Aren’t The Archetype For The Modern Pop Culture Witch.

braciatrix
Show threadSmintedDec 20, 2022
Use to give beer to kids too, as it was safer than giving them water..
Show threadEllen MartinDec 20, 2022
@Sheril My lovely German grandmother was a woman of many talents - dressmaker, amazing cook, baker of cakes that were good enough to grace the counter of any French patisserie, gardener and preserver of foods. The thing that amazed me most about her, was her ability to roll my grandfather's cigarettes and brew his beer.
Show threadVictor Plumley IIIDec 20, 2022
@Sheril very interesting. Credible.
Show threadShield MaidenDec 20, 2022
@Sheril Mainly because water was poisonous so only drinking ale or beer was safe. It wasn't primarily to make money, it was simply to be able to drink without dying.
Show threadMartin FarrentDec 20, 2022

@Sheril

Female chefs aren't really a brand new thing, either. I don't know what screwed up our preconceptions on that one.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugénie_Brazier

Eugénie Brazier - Wikipedia

Show threadJen&JoopDec 20, 2022
@Sheril i thought the cauldron motif came from Ceridwen?
Show threadChris Funderburg 🐝Dec 20, 2022

@JenJoop

Could be some truth in that!

Show threadKLBDec 20, 2022
@Sheril wow! That is fascinating!
Show threadnaDinMNDec 20, 2022
@Sheril sorry and hope this isn't mansplaining, but the Witches/Brewers thing is popular history, not factual history. I too used to believe it until a historian on a beer podcast set me straight
.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/taranurin/2021/10/30/no-that-halloween-witch-probably-does-not-represent-a-persecuted-beer-brewer/?sh=76195dbe1dba
No, That Halloween Witch (Probably) Does Not Represent A Persecuted Beer Brewer

A trending set of well-intentioned articles plays tricks on audiences by potentially spelling out a misleading plot connecting early brewers with witchcraft

Forbes
Show threadPorco AfterdarkDec 20, 2022
@Sheril
I want to believe this... but it sounds like there aren't any sources for this.
@NurseStacey
Show threadHey Nurse!!Dec 20, 2022
@pmpafterdark @Sheril but it just FEELS so true.
Show threadKLBDec 20, 2022
@NurseStacey @pmpafterdark @Sheril it does feel true. It explains a lot.
Show threadPorco AfterdarkDec 20, 2022
@KLB @NurseStacey @Sheril definitely. As the descendant of a woman falsely accused of brewing watery beer in colonial Massachusetts, I can see this.
Show threadCynthia Hanrahan 🏳️‍🌈 🌴🐾🍀Dec 20, 2022
@Sheril Well this explains a lot. @quinncy
Show threadeyajpngDec 20, 2022
@Sheril it will never not be weird how witches and wizards managed convergent evolution on the pointy hats thing.
Show threadNance millerDec 20, 2022
@Sheril great article, thank you! Shared with all my beer drinkers and witches.
Show threadAvery SenDec 20, 2022

@Sheril pairs well with "Witches, Midwives and Nurses: A History of Women Healers" by Barbara Ehrenreich

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24453.Witches_Midwives_and_Nurses

Witches, Midwives and Nurses: A History of Women Healer…

   Women have always been healers, and medicine has alw…

Goodreads
Show threadJonathanDec 20, 2022

@Sheril It could be the case but as the editor of the article states:

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to acknowledge that it isn’t definitively known whether alewives inspired some of the popular iconography associated with witches today...

The history of witches in Europe is not homogeneous i.e. people in different counties had very different views negative and positive e.g. Germany, bad for those accused but Hungary had no witch trials.

Show threadLeeny Bo-BeenieDec 20, 2022
@Sheril It's mentioned in one of my research books that when a woman had brewed more ale then she needed she would shove a broom into the thatch of her roof near the door indicating she had some to sell. Another connection to witches lore perhaps.
-Tippling Guide to the Mid-16th Century