Beverages of the Ancient Irish.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXIX, Issue 31, 1 August 1901, Page 20

Beverages of the Ancient Irish.

So strong is the popular notion (says an American exchange) that whixky ha& been and still is the national beverage of Ireland, that it will be a surprise to many to learn that the ancient Irish brewed ale and that ale was their principal beverage. The Senchus Mor, a copy of the Brehon law tracts, which contains some of the oldest and most important of the ancient Irish laws, compiled about 430 A D., and alleged to hiwe been revised by at. Patriuk, mentions ale The Irish chief had the privilege of brewing, for he was obliged to have always two vats in the house — one of beer and another of milk — ready for the refreshment of those persons entitled to public entertainment, such as lords and bishops and their suite I.1 '. The ancient Irish word for beer was cuirm. The genitive of this word, chorma, says O'Curry, is almobt identical with the Greek word karma, a pre-Christian, and no doubt, genitive form of the Celtic name of beer, corresponding to the Irish rhorma. In the fragment of the ancient tale of Tocmarc Emere beer is called ol n-guala. The word id is borrowed from the Danish name of beer. The name al n guala is translated as 'ale of tho coal,' because the wort was boiled over a charcoal fir«. Barley, wheat, and oats were use \ for brewing beer by the ancient Irish, so th.it the notion, thut substitution of other grains for barl«y ia modern, is false. The beer was flavored with aromatic or bitter astringent plants before the, introduction of hops into Ireland. An old poem of the ninth or tenth century, praising the celebrated ales of Ireland, mentions the ' Saxon ale of bitterness.' From this we know that bitter beer was made at least 600 years earlier than is generally supposed. Another drink of the Irish in ancient times was a mixture of honey and water which was allowed to ferment, and was called by them Miobh-Mead or Metheglin. Considerable quantities of this beverage must have been made and consumed, as the Irish gave attention to bee culture, and paid a large part of their rents and tributes in honey In olden timeß the Irish also made cider from wild or orab apples, called Nenadmim O'Curry says, ' A drink bearing the same name is mentioned as being made from the " woodberry," probably the Vacinum myrtillus, and ulignosum, called in Irish Fraochaen or Fraochoga, and commonly called Frochans, popularly known in Cork and in the west of England as Whurts. This liquor ceems to have been the same as that known in later times as " bogberry wine." ' Cider of good quality is btill being made in the counties of Water ford and Cork.