THE BREWING OF THE BRAGGET

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 16, 18 July 1936, Page 27

THE BREWING OF THE BRAGGET

The General Commissioners of Taxes of the Tower of London Division recently gave a dinner in the social room of the Tower to Mr.*"Harry Machin in honour of his forty-three years' service as a Commissioner and his fifteen years' service as chairman of the board, says "The Times." A silver lov-ing-cup made in London in the reign of James II was presented to Mr. Machin. The dinner was the first of its kind to be held there since Royalty presided there 300 years ago.

As far as practicable it was made a replica of a Jtypical medieval bariquet. A haunch of venison from the King's forests, a young swan from the King's swanneries, and a giant boar's head from the Black Forest in Germany were included in the menu. ''Bragget," brewed according to an ancient recipe, was the chief drink served. The waiters were dressed in the livery of oldtime servitors.

At 2.30 in the afternoon the bragget served at the dinner was brewed by the Senior Beadle of Barnstaple in the social room of the Tower. Those present included the Governor of the Tower, the Chief Warder, Dr. H. Mansfield Robinson, Mr. Austin Balls, and two ale-conners of the city. Dr. Mansfield Robinson, in a preliminary statement, said that bragget was a very ancient, and at one time a very popular, beverage in England. It was a beer cup, a spiced ale, and unquestionably most suited for consumption in winter time. But in the old days it was drunk the whole year round at the Tower of London, the chilly recesses and the cool, possibly damp, rooms, perhaps,' being causes predisposing to its local-.popularity. The basis of ther drink' was strong ale and honey. To adhere as closely as possible to old forms, Messrs. Edward Hipwell and W. J. Harvey, two ale: conners of the city of London, would be asked to approve the ale.

The appointment of the ale-tasters was said to date as far back as the first charter of William the Conqueror. Originally they were elected by the folk-moot, but for the last 500 years they had been chosen by the Livery Guilds of the city. In the old days their approval was required for every fresh brew of beer, and they often had to fix its-price according to its strength and quality.

The recipe which was being used

was taken from a manuscript quoted in Wright's "Provincial Dialects." Bragget was supposed to have' been the favourite beverage of" Gog and Magog, the legendary city giants,.and it was definitely known to be one of the oldest in Britain, for "Bragawd" was mentioned in the laws of Hywel Dda as having been paid as tribute to the King by a free township. -It was fairly obvious that bragget had been drunk in every part of the country; according to Halliwell it was brewed in Wales and the West of England of wort, sugar, and spices'. In London .it was in such common "Use that in Queen Mary's reign the constables were ordered to make weekly search in the houses of the ' brewers to see whether they were making too high a charge for their ale, beer, or bragget. . '

The art of mixing bragget had died out. He knew of only one person in .Britain who still mixed such a drink as .part of his ordinary duties, and that was Mr. Edward Stowell, Senior Beadle of Barnstaple, who brewed the spiced ale from an Elizabethan recipe at the annual charter fair at Barnstaple. The senior ale-conner, Mr! Edward Hipwell, arrayed in the gold-braided purple gown and three-cornered hat of his office, then stepped forward and "consecrated" the ale which.was to form the chief ingredient of the brew. Bacchus was invoked to make it pure, wholesome, and stimulating. In a brief statement Mr. Hipwell said that he was over ninety years old and had been an ale-conner for thirty years.

The Senior Beadle of Barnstaple then proceeded to his work. He was dressed in a seventeenth-century costume., which included a black frockcoat -with large and brilliant silver buttons, edged with silver braid, a bright red waistcoat, black kneebreeches and gaiters, arid white' stockings. He poured a kettleful of boiling ale into a. dish containing honey, pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon, and other spices, which were mixed together and poured into a boiler holding a barrelful of cold ale.' Mr. Stowell proceeded to stir the mixture; and announced that it would be an hour before the ingredients were thoroughly mixed and .the beverage achieved its full flavour.