Tudor Buttered Beer

Foamy, creamy buttered beer with a sprinkle of nutmeg on top

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City/Region: England

Time Period: 1594

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Beer was an important part of the Tudor diet, and pretty much everyone drank it every day. There was even an official post of ale taster or ale-conner, whose job it was to make sure that ale was up to snuff.

This ale-based drink is wonderful either hot or cold, and is kind of like a very thin spiced custard with beer as the main ingredient. It’s a little hard to describe, but I think it’s delicious. Opt for a beer that isn’t hoppy (save your IPAs and pale ales for another recipe, or for drinking), and go for a nice British ale for extra authenticity.

“How to make buttered Beere.
Take three pintes of Beere, put five yolkes of Egges to it, straine them together, and set it in a pewter pot to the fyre, and put to it halfe a pound of Sugar, one penniworth of Nutmegs beaten, one pennyworth of Cloues beaten, and a halfpennyworth of Ginger beaten and when it is all in, take another pewter pot and brewe them together and set it to the fire again, and when it is ready to boyle, take it from the fire and put a dish of sweet butter into it, and brewe them together out of one pot into another.”

— The Good Huswifes Handmaid by Thomas Dawson, 1594

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Ingredients:

• 5 egg yolks
• 1 cup (225 g) demerara or brown sugar*
• 3 pints (1.5 L) British ale, something not hoppy is best
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 cup (113 g) unsalted butter, diced

*If you’re using regular brown sugar and US measurements, it’ll be 1 cup packed

Instructions:

1. Beat the egg yolks and sugar with a whisk until it’s creamy and light.
2. Pour the beer into a deep saucepan. Whisk in the ginger, cloves, and nutmeg.
3. Heat the beer over medium heat until it comes to a light boil, then lower the heat and simmer for about two minutes. If you’d like to cook off more of the alcohol, you can boil it for 20 minutes.
4. Remove the saucepan from the heat. Slowly add a few ladles of the beer to the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly. This will heat the yolks up gradually and you’ll run less risk of scrambling the eggs. After you’ve added a few ladles, return all of the mixture back to the saucepan.
5. Return the saucepan to the stove over low heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until it starts to thicken slightly, about 5 to 7 minutes. It won’t thicken very much; you’re looking for somewhere around a whole milk or half and half texture.
6. After the beer mixture has simmered for about 5 to 7 minutes, stir in the diced butter until it’s all melted.
7. Froth the beer with a whisk, then continue to simmer on low heat for 10 minutes.
8. Take the beer off the heat and froth it again with a whisk, then serve it forth hot.
9. To serve the buttered beer forth cold, chill the buttered beer, then mix it with equal parts of milk.

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