Beer and Brewing in Medieval Culture and Contemporary Medievalism / The New Middle Ages (PDF)

Representations of Beer in the Middle Ages: Beer Culture and Medievalisms is a cross-cultural analysis of the role that alcohol consumption played in literature, social and cultural history, and gender roles in the Middle Ages. The volume also seeks to correct or offer new insights into historical beer production. By drawing on the expertise of scholars of history, archaeology, Old and Middle English, Old Norse, and Medieval and Early Modern literature, the book produces a sustained discussion of how beer and alcohol consumption in the Middle Ages directly contributes to the romanticized vision of the medieval ale-hall omnipresent in beer marketing today. The essays describe alcohol consumption in the Middle Ages across much of Northern Europe, engage with the various myths employed in modern craft beer advertising and beer production, and examines how gender intersects with beer production and consumption. The editors also raise certain critical questions about medievalisms which need to be interrogated, particularly in light of the continued use of the Middle Ages for white supremacist and colonialist ideals. The volume contributes to the study of the popular and historical understandings of the Middle Ages as well the issues of race and gender.