1903 The Flowing Bowl by Edward Spencer

So THE FLOWING BOWL the most part of vinegar and dirty water, in which had been soaked quassia chips, salt, bloater- heads, and some of the thatch from the roof. Beer was the current name in England for every description of malt liquor before the introduction of " the wicked weed called hops " from the Netherlands in 1524. According to the Alvhmal^ a didactic Scandinavian poem of the tenth century, this malt liquor was called ale amongst men, and beer by the gods ; and it was probably from this Scandinavian poem that the author of the anything-but-didactic poem quoted above got his ideas as to the real nature of the beverage partaken of on Olympus. In the Eastern counties of England, and over the greater part of the kingdom, ale signifies strong, and beer small, malt liquor, but in the West these names mean exactly the reverse—which must be con fusing in the extreme to the intelligent foreigner on his travels in search of facts and—refreshment. As now .used, ale is distinguished from beer I am alluding to the more civilized parts of our country—chiefly by its strength, and by the quantity of sugar remaining in it undecomposed. Strong ale is made from the best pale malt and the fermentation is allowed to proceed slowly, and the ferment to be exhausted and separated. This, together with the large quantity of sugar still left undecomposed, enables the liquor to keep long, without requiring a large amount of hops. The last few lines may give the reader the impression that the writer served his time in Burton-on-Trent; but this is not the case. I