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Jane Austen Brewed her own Specialty Beer

The modern brewing community gives a great misconception of women in the beer industry. In actuality, their role has been pivotal in its production from the dawn of time.

Beer itself dates back to ancient Mesopotamia. Most of the first brew masters were all women — but once the process was industrialized, men dominated the factories. Before that, brewing beer was a necessary and practical chore for women.

Alulu beer receipt – c. 2050 BC from the Sumerian city of Umma in ancient Iraq
Alulu beer receipt – c. 2050 BC from the Sumerian city of Umma in ancient Iraq

Necessary, because people needed to drink — and not just for the sake of keeping the local tavern afloat. Water treatment and purification was essential. It could carry diseases that wiped out large amounts of the population, especially in crowded cities. The process of boiling and fermenting water, which creates beer, produced a much safer beverage that wouldn’t make people sick.

Woman brewing beer
Woman brewing beer

Practical, because beer provided a level of nourishment, filling up stomachs used to more meager meals. It could also be useful to earn a bit more income for women that made an excess, adding to the household budget.

Every member of the family drank beer with every meal, even children. That wasn’t because of bad parenting. The most common home brew was called small beer.

Small beer, or table beer, was typically less than 1% ABV
Small beer, or table beer, was typically less than 1% ABV

It had a very low level of alcohol, anywhere from 3% down to 0.05%, allowing productivity to go unhindered throughout the day. Famed author Jane Austen brewed her own beer.

Portrait of Jane Austen, c. 1810
Portrait of Jane Austen, c. 1810

Born in 1775, she spent all of her life in England, living mostly in Hampshire county but spending a few years in Bath. Her family had an old and respectable lineage, but this didn’t excuse members of the family from the chore of brewing beer.

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A witty wordsmith who wrote six novels littered with social commentary on women’s dependence on the institution of marriage for social and economic reasons, Austen proved she was anything but dependent.

Jane Austen’s House, Chawton, Hampshire. Photo by randomduck CC BY 2.0
Jane Austen’s House, Chawton, Hampshire. Photo by randomduck CC BY 2.0

Even though she never married and the author didn’t necessarily find shining fame in her day, Austen managed to support herself through her work.

Excess kegs could have helped, too. The whole family was known for making beer, as well as mead and wine for the family estate. Jane Austen’s speciality was spruce beer.

Jane Austen
Jane Austen

Its flavor was somewhere into the root beer family and the brew was fermented with molasses as well as the obligatory hops, and had hints of pine.

Proof of Austen’s lesser known creations was found in letters to her beloved sister Cassandra. She writes, “It is you, however, in this instance, that have the little children, and I that have the great cask, for we are brewing spruce beer again,” paralleling her sister’s expanding family with Austen’s expanding enterprise.

The Jane Austen Centre, Bath, England
The Jane Austen Centre, Bath, England

Unfortunately, recipes for Austen’s brew have not survived the test of time. The Jane Austen Center, the museum officially dedicated to her in Bath, does have a recipe for the Austen family’s mead though, available if you sign up for their free membership.

In 2017, organizers of the annual Jane Austen Festival worked together with The Bath Brewhouse to create a new drink for the 200th anniversary of the author’s passing. Though not made of spruce, Head Brewer Max Cadman looked to the Georgian Era for inspiration.

Water could carry diseases that wiped out large amounts of the population, especially in crowded cities. The brewing process produced a much safer beverage that wouldn’t make people sick. Photo by ozimanndias8 CC BY 2.0
Water could carry diseases that wiped out large amounts of the population, especially in crowded cities. The brewing process produced a much safer beverage that wouldn’t make people sick. Photo by ozimanndias8 CC BY 2.0

He created a new style of brew in which he infused Earl Grey Tea. The Jane Austen 200 Beer, an Earl Grey Red Ale, was a limited release and is sadly no longer on the brewery’s tap list.

Women disliking beer is a recent stereotype that only seemed to crop up when brewing was moved from the family home into the industrial factory at the end of the 19th century.

Read another story from us: 90s Teen Hit ‘Clueless’ was Inspired by a Jane Austen Novel

For centuries, if not millennia, women were active participants in the industry and regular imbibers. It wouldn’t be surprising to learn of other famous women in history having brewed their own beer.

Samantha Flaum

Samantha Flaum is one of the authors writing for The Vintage News