Gavin Smith

While monasteries were very important centres of brewing, professional, secular beer-making activities spread across Europe, and during the mid-fourteenth century the German city of Hamburg was a world leader in brewing, though a series of catastrophic wars meant that it was really only during the eighteenth century that the production of beer on a commercial scale regained its former prominence.

By that time, Germany’s still surviving Reinheitsgebot or ‘purity law’ of 1516 was widely in force, specifying that beer should be made from only water, barley and hops.

In Britain, brewing was established as an organized, secular activity by the mid-fifteenth century, with brewers being granted their first royal charter of incorporation in 1445 by King Henry VI, which formalized a long-standing trade guild.

Additionally, the basic apparatus of brewing, including pots and vessels, would already be available within the household.

Beer-making was an ideal occupation for women as it did not require a great deal of physical strength, and dovetailed well with domestic chores, as significant periods of time had to elapse between the various processes.